Brimham Academies Trust / BG-Demo – Discovery
Callcompleted
Brimham Academies Trust · 2 Jun 2025 09:45
Discovery call with a fourteen-school trust. Rosemary Haxby wants board reporting off spreadsheets. CFO Geoffrey Tasker wants the value stated before committing and the £56k deal amount in writing.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Discovery call with a fourteen-school trust. Rosemary Haxby wants board reporting off spreadsheets. CFO Geoffrey Tasker wants the value stated before committing and the £56k deal amount in writing.
What happened: Sophie Ling ran discovery with Rosemary Haxby and Geoffrey Tasker. Rosemary described pulling six spreadsheets together whenever the board asks a question. Geoffrey had to leave after about half an hour.
Customer view: Geoffrey said he needs to know what it is worth before committing, and that nobody has measured the hours lost. Rosemary's first concern is whether B-Viz reads the trust's data properly.
Commercial: Sophie positioned Growth for operations and finance together and quoted a deal amount of £56k. Geoffrey asked for it in writing. The evidence does not show a signed order form.
Watch: Geoffrey allowed one demo before deciding. Ownership is a stated worry, since Rosemary may be the only person who understands the HR spreadsheet.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Who was there
BG-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Sophie Ling to send the written note, demo options and budget questions on the day of the call.
- Sophie Ling to run a demo on the trust's own data, checked against existing reports.
- Sophie Ling to put the £56,000 deal amount and what it includes in writing for Geoffrey.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Nobody has measured the hours lost, so Geoffrey has no value baseline to approve against.
- Geoffrey allowed only one demo before deciding whether to go further.
- Ownership of the HR spreadsheet rests with Rosemary alone, which both sides see as a key-person risk.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Growth could cover operations and finance together across the trust's fourteen schools.
- Attendance dashboards would directly cut Rosemary's manual reporting time.
Transcript
Sophie LingMorning Rosemary, morning Geoffrey. Can you both hear me?
Rosemary HaxbyLoud and clear. Sorry, I'm in the car park, so if I drop out it's the signal.
Geoffrey TaskerMorning. I've got the next half hour and then I have to leave, so I'll keep an eye on the clock.- Sophie LingBrilliant. Let's start with what's going on across the trust, then we can look at what we'd connect.
- Rosemary HaxbyRight. We're fourteen schools, and every school does attendance, behaviour and staffing reports in its own way. When the board asks a question, I'm the one pulling six spreadsheets together.
- Geoffrey TaskerThat's the cost I want to understand. Hours, mostly. Everything else is secondary.
- Sophie LingThat's a useful place to start. Roughly how much time does that take each month, do you know?
- Rosemary HaxbyHonestly, nobody has measured it. Which is part of the problem.
- Geoffrey TaskerWe'd need to say what it's worth before we commit to anything. I'm not buying something because it's modern.
- Sophie LingTotally fair. Growth is built for several teams, so it could cover operations and finance together. The deal amount on our side is £56,000, and I'll show you what it includes.
- Geoffrey TaskerGood. I'd like that in writing, not on a call.
- Rosemary HaxbyAttendance dashboards would save me a lot of time, probably. But the first thing I'd want is to know it reads our data properly.
- Sophie LingThat's the right question. We'd start with a few connectors and check the numbers against what you already report.
- Geoffrey TaskerWhich systems are we talking about?
- Rosemary HaxbyThe pupil records system, Microsoft 365 for email and files, and the finance system for budgets. Some staffing sits in a separate HR spreadsheet, which is a nightmare.
- Sophie LingThe HR spreadsheet is common. If it lives in SharePoint or a shared drive, we can connect it.
- Geoffrey TaskerAnd who would own it? If Rosemary is the only one who understands it, that's a risk.
- Rosemary HaxbyFair. I'd want a second person in finance, possibly someone in the central team.
- Sophie LingGood point. We'd agree owners on both sides at the start. Could I suggest a demo next, on the data you actually have?
- Geoffrey TaskerOne demo, then I'll decide whether we go further.
- Rosemary HaxbyI'll look at dates with the team. Could you send an outline?
- Sophie LingI'll send a note and the demo options today, and I'll add the questions about budgets.
- Geoffrey TaskerPlease. I'm off in a minute.
- Sophie LingThanks both. Speak soon.
- Rosemary HaxbyCheers, Sophie. Bye Geoffrey.