Calderbrook Housing Group / BB-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Calderbrook Housing Group: documents · 2025-01-02 10:45
Helen Marsden's arrears gap looks like a timing difference, not a missing record. Use has roughly doubled to about six regular people, with Growth headroom and two new teams to bring in ahead of the renewal.
What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Helen Marsden's arrears gap looks like a timing difference, not a missing record. Use has roughly doubled to about six regular people, with Growth headroom and two new teams to bring in ahead of the renewal.
What happened: Helen Marsden raised an arrears figure that did not match a later system report. Natalie Eze explained the nightly load and will confirm in writing once Helen sends the report time.
Customer view: Helen said she can already say the pack reconciles faster, and wants it on one page. She said she had half expected a hole and it turned out to be the clock.
Commercial: Growth at £44,000 a year runs to 1 Sep 2025, with forty licensed users and plenty of headroom. The complaints and finance teams and a new analyst fit inside the licence, and the account executive picks up the renewal.
Watch: a source system moving is the main thing that trips a connector, and Helen has promised notice.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Arrears reconciliation and adoption
Importance
upsell
Sentiment
positive
Voice
champion
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Natalie Eze sends the written note on the arrears question once Helen supplies the report time.
- Natalie Eze runs two walkthroughs built on real questions from the complaints and finance teams.
- Natalie Eze brings a one-page summary of use to the next review ahead of the 1 Sep 2025 term end.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- The arrears timing explanation is not yet confirmed until Helen sends the report time.
- A move of the housing system or document storage could break a connector.
- The value case for the renewal is not yet written down on one page.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Walkthroughs for the complaints and finance teams could widen use within the 40-user Growth licence.
- A saved board page by area, with load time shown, could make the brain the board's single tenant view.
- A new analyst joining next month needs an account and an introduction.
Transcript
Natalie Eze NoneMorning, Helen. Can you hear me alright?
Helen Marsden NoneMorning, Natalie. Yes, loud and clear. Happy new year, though it feels slightly late to be saying it on the second.- Natalie Eze NoneHappy new year. Did you get a proper break, or were you in?
- Helen Marsden NoneProper break, mostly. I popped in for a few hours earlier in the week and the building was empty. Which is rather why I asked for this slot, actually, because there's something I'm chasing before the board pack goes to draft.
- Natalie Eze NoneGo on then. That's usually how you open.
- Helen Marsden NoneIs it? Right, well. The arrears figure in section four of the pack doesn't reconcile to the housing management system. It's out by a small amount, but the board will ask, and I'd rather know whether it's something in the brain or something upstream before I go knocking on anyone's door.
- Natalie Eze NoneOkay. Which question did you ask, and roughly when? If it's in the question history I can pull it up while we're talking.
- Helen Marsden NoneFirst thing this morning. Total current arrears across all tenancies. I've dropped the screenshot in the chat.
- Natalie Eze NoneGot it. Give me a second. Right, so the answer came back with a figure and the source underneath it, which is the arrears table from the housing management system, loaded overnight. What did you compare it with?
- Helen Marsden NoneA report one of the housing officers ran from the system itself, late yesterday afternoon. Hang on, let me look at the time stamp. Yes. Late afternoon. These don't reconcile, but I did wonder.
- Natalie Eze NoneThat might be it. Our nightly refresh finishes by seven in the morning, so the brain is showing you the position as the system stood when it was loaded. If the report was run later in the day, anything posted since will be in the report and not in the brain.
- Helen Marsden NoneSo it's a timing difference rather than a missing record.
- Natalie Eze NoneThat's what I'd expect. But I don't want you to take my word for it. If you send me the exact time the report was run, I'll line up the load time and we can show that the gap is just the postings in between.
- Helen Marsden NoneYes, please. I won't put a figure in front of them that I can't trace. Can you show me the source in writing, not only on screen?
- Natalie Eze NoneOf course. I'll send the question, the source table and the load time as a short note, probably later today.
- Helen Marsden NoneLovely. Thank you. Sorry, I know I'm quite particular about it.
- Natalie Eze NoneDon't apologise. It's why the board trusts your pack, and honestly it's the best use of the thing. Right, shall we do the usual? I've got a quick look at how the last few weeks have gone.
- Helen Marsden NonePlease. I've noticed more people in the workspace than I expected, so I'm curious.
- Natalie Eze NoneYeah, it's a nice picture. Over the last month you've had about six people using it regularly, which is close to double where you were the previous quarter. Questions asked are up with it, and it's not all one person, which is the thing I always look for.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's Paul and me, and then a few from the team. Two of the analysts have really taken to it. One of them said to me last week that she doesn't know how they did the monthly complaints summary without it.
- Natalie Eze NoneThat's a good sign. And I've seen nothing in the ticket queue for weeks. Either everything's working or you're being polite.
- Helen Marsden NoneHa. Nothing's broken. Paul would tell you, believe me. The housing system upgrade made a mess of the repairs counts a while back, but he's got on top of that.
- Natalie Eze NoneYes, I remember. He raised those very clearly. Are they all sorted?
- Helen Marsden NoneMostly. He keeps a spreadsheet of every one, so if it comes back he's got the job references ready. I'd rather he told you himself, to be honest. He's more precise than I am.
- Natalie Eze NoneFair enough. I'll ask him next time we speak. So, licence wise, you're on Growth with forty licensed users, and only a fraction of those are in regular use. There's plenty of headroom, and I wondered whether you've thought about who else might get value from it.
- Helen Marsden NoneI have, a bit. The complaints team would benefit, because they pull the tenant call notes and the repairs history together by hand at the moment. And our finance team ask me for arrears numbers constantly, so I'd much rather they asked the brain directly and I stopped being the middle person.
- Natalie Eze NoneBoth sound like natural next steps, and neither needs anything new on the licence side. Would it help if I ran a short walkthrough for each group? Half an hour, on your own data, so they see their own cases.
- Helen Marsden NoneYes. I think so. The complaints team are a bit wary of anything that looks like another system to learn. If they see it answering a question they actually had last week, that'll land better than a presentation.
- Natalie Eze NoneThat's exactly how I'd do it. Send me a couple of real questions they'd normally spend time on and I'll build the session around those. No slides.
- Helen Marsden NonePerfect. I'll ask them this week, though it might be next week before anyone's back at their desk.
- Natalie Eze NoneNo rush at all. Can I ask what the board are going to want from you this year? Because that tells me what to keep an eye on.
- Helen Marsden NoneMm. Well, the board want one picture of the tenant experience, not four. Repairs, complaints, arrears and the calls coming into the contact centre, side by side, by area. At the moment I stitch it together at the end of the month and it's quite a lot of manual work. If the brain can hold that view all the time, I can spend my time explaining it rather than building it.
- Natalie Eze NoneThat's pretty much what you bought it for, so I'd say you're closer than you think. The joins are already there. What's missing is probably a saved page that shows them by area and refreshes each morning.
- Helen Marsden NoneA saved page. Is that the thing Paul uses for his repairs board?
- Natalie Eze NoneSimilar idea, yes. He's built a few dashboards on the repairs side, which is great to see. You could do the same for the board view, and then the pack figures come straight from something you can point at. Can you show me the source? Yes, here it is.
- Helen Marsden NoneYou've borrowed my line.
- Natalie Eze NoneI have. Sorry. It's catching.
- Helen Marsden NoneHa. It is useful, though. If every figure on the page links back to the source table, I can answer the question before it's asked.
- Natalie Eze NoneRight, and that's the bit worth doing carefully. Let's start with arrears, since that's what you're chasing today. Once the timing difference is explained, we turn that question into the saved version, with the load time shown on it, and you can reuse it every month.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat would be very welcome. Could the load time be on the face of it? Not hidden in the detail?
- Natalie Eze NoneYes. It's a small thing to add, and honestly I think it's the right habit. Anyone reading the pack can see how fresh it is.
- Helen Marsden NoneGood. Because if somebody says the figure's different in the system, I want to say, quite calmly, that it's a different moment in time.
- Natalie Eze NoneExactly. Now, is there anything on the connectors I should know about? Any systems changing at your end this year?
- Helen Marsden NoneNothing that I know of for certain. There's always talk. The housing system supplier has a roadmap, and IT may move some of the document storage around, but nothing's been decided. If it is, I'll tell you before it happens, not after.
- Natalie Eze NoneThat would be brilliant, because a source moving is the main thing that trips a connector up. Even a heads up the week before is enough for us to be ready.
- Helen Marsden NoneUnderstood. I'll put it on my list.
- Natalie Eze NoneLovely. So, just to be open about the commercial side, because I'd rather you heard it from me than found it in a calendar. You're on Growth at £44k a year, you've been with us since 2 Sep 2024, and the term runs to 1 Sep 2025. Nothing to do now. Tom will pick up the renewal conversation with you nearer the time.
- Helen Marsden NoneRight. I know Tom. He's very relaxed about it.
- Natalie Eze NoneHe is, yes. But he does turn up. And between now and then my job is to make sure you can say clearly what the brain has done for the board. If you've got that, the renewal's a short conversation.
- Helen Marsden NoneI think I can say it already. The pack reconciles faster, and I'm not chasing three people for the same number. But I'd like to be able to put it on one page. Is that something you can help with?
- Natalie Eze NoneDefinitely. At the next review I'll bring a one page summary of use, who's asking what, and where the time has come back to you. You tell me whether it says what you'd say.
- Helen Marsden NoneYes, I'd like to see it. And if the numbers in it are numbers I can trace, all the better.
- Natalie Eze NoneEverything in it will come from the usage records, and I'll say where each line comes from. If there's something we can't evidence, I'll say that as well.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's all I ask.
- Natalie Eze NoneAnything else on your side before we wrap up? Training, anyone new joining, anyone leaving?
- Helen Marsden NoneOne new analyst starting next month, I think, in the performance team. She'll need an account, and a bit of an introduction. Would the walkthrough cover her too?
- Natalie Eze NoneYes, bring her along to the complaints session, or I'll do a separate fifteen minutes with her. Whichever suits. We've got seats to spare, so no problem on the licence.
- Helen Marsden NoneGood. Then I'll send you her name once it's confirmed.
- Natalie Eze NonePerfect. Let me read back what we've agreed. I send you the note on the arrears question with the question, the source and the load time, once you've given me the time the report was run. I run a walkthrough for the complaints team and one for your finance team, built on real questions you send me. And I'll bring the one page summary to the next review.
- Helen Marsden NoneAnd I send you the report time, the questions from the two teams, and the new analyst's name. And I'll warn you if any system moves.
- Natalie Eze NoneThat's it. I'll copy Tom on the note so he knows where things are.
- Helen Marsden NoneThank you, Natalie. It's a relief, honestly. I'd half expected to find a hole in it and it turned out to be the clock.
- Natalie Eze NoneUsually is, in my experience. Right, I'll let you get on. Enjoy the quiet, while it lasts.
- Helen Marsden NoneI will. Speak soon. Bye for now.
- Natalie Eze NoneSpeak soon, Helen. Bye.
Callsmade from