Ovenden Software

Period: this digest rests on one read, a news item. There were no calls, email threads or tickets in the quarter.

News: on 17 Feb 2026 Staffing Systems Monthly reported that Ovenden Software, a Halifax supplier to recruitment agencies, will widen the range of accounting and payroll tools its timesheet product connects to. The new integrations will be open to existing and new customers, with more detail on the rollout later in the year.

Weight: the read rates the item as neutral importance and low significance. Customer numbers and commercial terms were not disclosed, and the item does not show any effect on the account.

Open at the end: the read suggests asking at the next routine contact whether the new integrations matter to the company. It also notes that the payroll and accounting links may become a topic when more detail follows. No risks are recorded.

Renewal: On 2 Apr 2025 Duncan Greenwood agreed to keep Growth for another year but asked what he is paying for with under seven daily users. Tom Ashdown quoted £40k from the order form, to be confirmed in writing, and Deborah Cockcroft said invoices are paid and the renewal must match the order form figure.

Seats: Louise Sutcliffe defended the seven users as the right people but accepted they may not reach forty by spring. Tom said the seat count was his to sort, so a reduction is possible and was not agreed.

Support: On 15 Apr 2025 Aaron Crowther could not find PDF export for a monthly board pack. Olivia Grant pointed him to the three-dot menu, with first response after 119 minutes, solved 29 Apr 2025 and closed 3 May 2025.

Access: On 14 May 2025 Aaron could not change user roles or remove a leaver before a recruiting intake. Olivia made him an admin and asked to be told if the option stayed greyed out for his team lead.

Open at the end: The draft renewal order form, the seats review and the sync issue note were next steps from the call. The evidence does not show whether they were done, or whether the £40k was confirmed.

Renewal: on 21 Feb 2025 Marcus Bell sent Duncan Greenwood an early notice for the Growth subscription, term ending 23 May 2025, at £40k for 40 users. Duncan would have finance check the terms and asked for Tom Ashdown to join on commercial matters.

Support: on 25 Feb 2025 Aaron Crowther reported a warning on the HR connector. Bethan Lister saw connection refused, and IT had changed the service account password.

Support: the ticket closed on 15 Mar 2025 with no reconnection recorded.

Support: on 12 Mar 2025 Aaron asked for the quarterly review pack to use the headings of the old report. The layout was fixed for now, and a sample of the old report was requested.

Support: on 25 Mar 2025 Aaron asked whether he could add a user himself. Connor Webb confirmed he could via the Users page, and the ticket closed on 5 Apr 2025.

Renewal: on 26 Mar 2025 Marcus offered a usage walkthrough, noting active users were up on the quarter. Duncan said the team was pleased and wanted the renewal lined up early.

Open at the end: no renewal call was booked, and the walkthrough date was not fixed. The HR connector recovery and the arrival of the old report sample were not shown.

Access: On 9 Oct 2024 Aaron Crowther said two new recruiters could not see team dashboards. Bethan Lister found both set to viewer and asked him to confirm the intended role; the final role is not recorded.

How-to: On 14 Oct 2024 Aaron asked how to schedule a saved question for the team, and Bethan gave the steps. The ticket closed on 20 Oct 2024, and he had called the help wording unclear.

Connector: On 28 Oct 2024 Aaron reported the timesheet connector showed connected but had added no records since Friday. The customer had updated its timesheet product, and its IT colleague said the API address was unchanged.

Settings: On 29 Oct 2024 Aaron could not find the Start page option. Bethan said a Growth admin may need to turn on personal settings; the ticket closed on 19 Nov 2024 with no recorded outcome, and the tier is not shown.

Request: On 19 Nov 2024 Aaron asked for department tags on saved questions. Connor Webb passed it to the product team, and Aaron said the team would keep using search.

Open at the end: The connector ticket was solved on 5 Nov 2024 and closed on 9 Nov 2024, but the cause and fix are not recorded. Tagging has no product decision, and the recruiters' role is unconfirmed.

Onboarding: On the 11 Jul 2024 call, Callie Brennan confirmed the first full refresh landed before 07:00 from the timesheet and payroll sources. Aaron Crowther said it was in time for the team.

People: Use looked limited to the two admins, Aaron and Louise Sutcliffe. Louise called that a risk, so training with Marcus was to be booked before Callie handed over.

Training: On the 19 Jul 2024 call, Callie trained Louise and Aaron on pages, search, chat and the dashboards builder. Louise wants team leads building their own dashboards, and Callie flagged a fall in active users as the early warning.

Support: On 19 Sep 2024 Aaron reported stale pipeline numbers after a late refresh. The default view had cached a stale snapshot after a queue delay, and the cache was cleared on 20 Sep 2024.

Open at the end: Duplicate project codes awaited Aaron's answer, and the helpdesk feed was not yet switched on. Dashboard permissions were unresolved, and the stale-view cache issue had still to be flagged to the product team. The record does not show whether Aaron was told the cause.

Sales: On 2 Apr 2024 the demo satisfied Aaron Crowther on audit and stale data, but he wanted data residency wording in writing. On 9 Apr 2024 Duncan Greenwood heard the £52k Growth proposal and mentioned a cheaper quote from elsewhere.

Negotiation: The 26 Apr 2024 call kept the deal at £52k, implementation included, with a 10 May 2024 signing target. Tom Ashdown had not confirmed the split, the connector list or the renewal list price.

Order form: Tom sent it on 8 May 2024. On 13 May 2024 Duncan said finance had points to check. The target was missed and no signature is shown.

Billing: Nell Ashcombe sent two invoices, dated 13 May 2024 and 24 May 2024. The second covers the first-year Growth subscription for 40 users at net £40k. Payment is not shown.

Onboarding: The 31 May 2024 kickoff showed thin usage, mostly Louise Sutcliffe's. On 10 Jun 2024 project codes between timesheet and payroll did not match.

Support: Duplicate candidate records, traced to two CRM organisations sharing a domain, closed on 25 Jun 2024 without a shown fix. A CSV export request closed on 17 Jun 2024 as a feature request.

Open at the end: On 24 Jun 2024 the helpdesk feed had gone flat after a field rename. Louise said they pay for B-Viz to flag quiet feeds. Callie Brennan's remap was untested, and the first refresh still waited on credentials.

Discovery: On 8 Mar 2024 Louise Sutcliffe described a monthly spreadsheet joining helpdesk tickets to usage that is out of date by the time it is done. Chief Executive Duncan Greenwood asked early about cost and left follow-up to Louise.

Proposal: On 11 Mar 2024 Tom Ashdown sketched the Growth tier at £52k and asked for agreement by 10 May 2024. Duncan replied that Louise will lead on detail and wants the number written down with inclusions, so he can compare like with like.

Demo: On 25 Mar 2024 Tom ran a demo with Tobias Renwick answering technical questions, and Louise and Aaron Crowther attended. Louise said seeing usage next to tickets is the whole point, and she wants to know if one person is doing all the asking.

Security: Aaron said security will want data to stay in their own Snowflake account, with no second set of permissions. Louise had said earlier that her customers dislike data leaving the building, and a firm answer was deferred to the CTO.

Open at the end: The written proposal with inclusions had not been sent, and no budget is shown. The first-response definition for reopened tickets, a roadmap note, the demo data set-up and the data-residency answer were all still owed. The tone was positive, with price scrutiny the main risk.