Calderbrook Housing Group / BB-Demo – Check In
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Calderbrook Housing Group: documents · 2026-04-07 09:15
Helen Marsden says the board pack repairs figure is higher than the housing system and usage has shrunk. She disclosed an in-house platform plan from the executive team. The contract runs to 2026-09-01 and renewal is not automatic.
What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Helen Marsden says the board pack repairs figure is higher than the housing system and usage has shrunk. She disclosed an in-house platform plan from the executive team. The contract runs to 2026-09-01 and renewal is not automatic.
What happened: Helen Marsden raised a repairs figure in the board pack that is higher than the housing management system. Daniel Okafor promised the actual rows, the source for each figure and a one-page note.
Customer view: Usage is down to around five active people against forty licensed. Helen said the unreliable number made people stop opening the brain, and that the executive team plans an in-house platform.
Commercial: The Growth contract runs to 2026-09-01 at forty-four thousand a year, and Helen had assumed renewal was automatic. Daniel confirmed the data sits in the customer's own Snowflake account.
Watch: Repairs knowledge sits mostly with Paul, a key-person risk. Helen would not put a date on the in-house platform and the complaints figures are unchecked.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Repairs figures and in-house platform
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
champion
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Daniel to send the repairs rows from last month with reference and source for each.
- Daniel to group the repairs tickets, check the other two and draft the one-page source note.
- Daniel to send the usage summary ahead of the renewal conversation.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- An executive-led in-house platform could replace the Growth subscription at renewal on 2026-09-01.
- Only around five of forty licensed users are active, so the value case is thin.
- Repairs knowledge sits mostly with Paul, a key-person risk for the board pack.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- A reconciled repairs figure with named sources would restore trust in the board pack.
- A usage summary ahead of renewal gives Helen something to take to finance and executives.
- A one-page note on where each repairs figure comes from protects the board pack whichever way the decision goes.
Transcript
Daniel Okafor NoneMorning, Helen. Can you hear me all right? I think I've just come in a touch quiet on my side.
Helen Marsden NoneMorning, Daniel. Yes, I can hear you fine. Sorry, I'm just finding the right window, I've got three things open.- Daniel Okafor NoneNo rush at all. Thank you for making the time, I know the quarter's busy for you. It's just the two of us today, is that right? I wasn't sure whether Paul might join.
- Helen Marsden NoneJust me. Paul's out on a site visit with the repairs team this morning, so he sends his apologies. He said to tell you the double-counting is still there, but I'll come on to that.
- Daniel Okafor NoneUnderstood, we'll get to it. How was the journey in? Are you in Leeds today or at home?
- Helen Marsden NoneHome. The trains were off again, so I gave up. It's pouring here, it's been pouring since about six.
- Daniel Okafor NoneSame in London, I'm afraid. Grey and wet and everybody walking round with their heads down. Well, we've got thirty minutes, so shall I say what I'd hoped to cover and then you tell me what's actually on your mind?
- Helen Marsden NoneActually, can I go first? Because there's a discrepancy I'm chasing and it's going to sit over everything else if I don't say it.
- Daniel Okafor NoneOf course. Please.
- Helen Marsden NoneIn the repairs section of the board pack, the completed repairs figure for last month comes out higher than the number the housing management system gives us. These don't reconcile. And the board will ask, they always ask, because the chair reads that page properly.
- Daniel Okafor NoneRight. And is the brain figure the higher one or the lower one?
- Helen Marsden NoneHigher. By a margin that's too big to be rounding. It's the same pattern Paul has been raising since the upgrade to the housing system, where a job gets written twice and then we count it twice.
- Daniel Okafor NoneMm. So it's a job that appears as two records with the same reference, rather than two genuinely different jobs.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's what Paul says. I'm not going to guess at the cause. What I need is the figures, side by side, with the source for each. Can you show me the source?
- Daniel Okafor NoneI can, and I'd rather not wave my hands about it. What I'll do is ask our team to pull the repairs jobs for last month with the reference, the date written and the system each came from, so you can see exactly which ones appear twice. Then you'd have something to put in front of the board that isn't just my word.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat would help. I'd want it in a form I can reconcile line by line. Not a summary, the actual rows.
- Daniel Okafor NoneRows, understood. Just to close the loop on how it's logged on our side, there are four tickets from your team in the last month, none of them marked high priority. Is the double-counting one of those four?
- Helen Marsden NoneTwo of them, I think. The other two are smaller. One's about a dashboard filter and I can't remember the other one. Paul keeps a spreadsheet of every one, he'd know.
- Daniel Okafor NoneSounds like him. I'll look at them this afternoon and make sure the repairs ones are sitting together rather than scattered about, so that somebody owns the whole thing.
- Helen Marsden NoneThank you. Honestly, that's what I'd like. It's not that anyone's been slow. It just feels as though each ticket gets answered on its own and nobody steps back.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's fair, and I'd take that as a note for me. Can I ask the wider question, then? How is the team finding it, day to day? Not just the repairs numbers.
- Helen Marsden NoneMm. Honestly? Quieter than it was. We were using it heavily in the first year, for the tenant calls and the complaints and the arrears. The board pack was built on it. Now it's a handful of us.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat matches what I see, if I'm honest with you. Over the last month it's been around five people active on average, and that's lower than the previous quarter. You've got forty licensed, so there's a lot of room that isn't being used.
- Helen Marsden NoneYes. I saw that. I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
- Daniel Okafor NoneI'm not asking you to defend it, Helen. I'd just rather we both said it out loud. Is it that people have drifted, or is there something that's pulling them away?
- Helen Marsden NoneA bit of both. The double-counting didn't help, because once somebody sees a number they don't trust, they stop opening the thing. And there's a plan. Our IT team are building an in-house platform, and a few of the analysts have been asked to help test it.
- Daniel Okafor NoneRight. Thank you for telling me that plainly. Is that something you'd like to talk through, or would you rather leave it?
- Helen Marsden NoneNo, I'd rather you heard it from me. I want to be clear it wasn't my plan. It came from the executive team and a colleague in IT is leading it. I was asked to make sure the board pack keeps working while it's built, and that's what I'm trying to do.
- Daniel Okafor NoneI appreciate that. And I'd say the board pack is exactly the thing worth protecting, whichever way it goes. Do you have a sense of when the in-house platform would be able to carry the board pack?
- Helen Marsden NoneNot a date, no. They've given me a vague idea, and I'm not going to repeat it because I don't believe it. I'd say not before the autumn, but I wouldn't put that in writing.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's fine, I won't quote you. Let me say where we are on our side so there's no surprises. Your contract runs to 1 Sep 2026 at forty-four thousand a year, on the Growth tier. That's the contracted amount and it's what's been invoiced, and nothing is overdue.
- Helen Marsden NoneRight. Yes. Finance did mention renewal was coming up. I'd assumed it was sorted automatically.
- Daniel Okafor NoneIt isn't automatic, and I'd rather you weren't surprised by it. In the next few weeks I'll come back to you with a short summary of how the brain's been used and what it's been giving you, so that you've got something sensible to take to your finance team and your executives, whichever direction they decide.
- Helen Marsden NoneI'd value that. Can it include the repairs reconciliation? Because if the double-counting is on your side, I'd want that settled before anyone talks about money.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's reasonable. I'll be straight with you: from what Paul has described it sounds as though the duplicates are coming in from the housing system itself, not being created in the brain, but I'd want the rows in front of us before I say that to a board, and I'd want you to see them too.
- Helen Marsden NoneGood. Because that's the point where I'd lose the room, if I say it's the source system and then it turns out it isn't.
- Daniel Okafor NoneExactly. So, the rows first, then the explanation. Is there anything else in the board pack that's not sitting right? You said repairs, but I wondered about arrears or complaints.
- Helen Marsden NoneArrears is fine. Arrears reconciles, I checked it twice. Complaints I haven't checked this month because of the repairs problem eating my week.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThen it might be worth a quick look at complaints when the rows come back, so you're not discovering a second problem two days before the board meets.
- Helen Marsden NoneYes. Yes, that's sensible. I'll ask Paul to do that when he's back.
- Daniel Okafor NoneLovely. Now, one thing I wanted to raise gently. With only around five people using it, there's a question about who's carrying the knowledge. Is it mostly you and Paul?
- Helen Marsden NoneIt's mostly Paul, to be honest. He's the one who knows how the repairs data is joined. I do the board pack and a couple of the analysts ask questions now and then. If Paul were off for a month I'd struggle.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's useful to know, and I'd flag it as a risk for you rather than for us. If it would help, I could run a short session for two or three of your analysts on how the repairs data is put together, so it isn't all in Paul's head.
- Helen Marsden NoneI'd have to check whether they'll have the time, with the in-house testing. But I'll ask. I'd rather it was written down somewhere.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThen we'll write it down. I'll draft a one-page note on where each repairs figure comes from, and you can tell me what's wrong with it.
- Helen Marsden NonePlease. And I'd want the source named for each one. Not just the brain, the system underneath.
- Daniel Okafor NoneSource named for each one. Understood.
- Helen Marsden NoneSorry, I'm just writing that down. Right. Is there anything you needed from me? You said you had an agenda.
- Daniel Okafor NoneOnly what we've covered really. Usage, the open tickets and where renewal sits. I think we've done all three, and I'd rather leave you the time back than fill it.
- Helen Marsden NoneI appreciate that. Though, Daniel, can I ask you something slightly awkward?
- Daniel Okafor NoneOf course.
- Helen Marsden NoneIf the in-house platform does go ahead, and the board decides to move the pack over, what happens to our data in the brain? Does it just disappear, or can we take it with us?
- Daniel Okafor NoneGood question, and an easy one to answer. The brain runs inside your own Snowflake account, so the data sits with you, not with us. Nothing would be held back. I'd want to make sure the people moving things over understood how it's structured, and I'd be glad to help with that if it came to it.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's reassuring. I'd assumed so, but I wanted to hear it said.
- Daniel Okafor NoneAnd I won't pretend I'm neutral about it, I'd rather you stayed. But you shouldn't have to feel trapped to stay, and you wouldn't be.
- Helen Marsden NoneI'll say that's fair. Right, I should go and find some lunch before my next one.
- Daniel Okafor NoneOf course. Just to close the loop, so we're both clear. I'll send you the repairs rows from last month, with the reference and source for each. I'll group the repairs tickets together and look at the other two. I'll draft the one-page note on where each figure comes from. And I'll come back to you with the usage summary ahead of the renewal conversation. Have I missed anything?
- Helen Marsden NoneOnly the complaints check, which is mine and Paul's. Otherwise that's it.
- Daniel Okafor NonePerfect. Thank you for being so straightforward, Helen. It makes it easier to help.
- Helen Marsden NoneThanks, Daniel. Speak soon. Kind regards.
- Daniel Okafor NoneBest wishes. Bye now.
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