Merriott Lyle Distribution / BB-Demo – Onboarding
Callcompleted
Merriott Lyle Distribution: documents · 2025-03-26 15:30
Onboarding call with Tariq Saleem. Branch system rows load but do not join to CRM accounts. A cleaned reference field was agreed in principle. Tariq is the only admin, and the finance director wants the brain's value visible by renewal.
What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Onboarding call with Tariq Saleem. Branch system rows load but do not join to CRM accounts. A cleaned reference field was agreed in principle. Tariq is the only admin, and the finance director wants the brain's value visible by renewal.
What happened: Callie Brennan walked Tariq Saleem through connector status and traced his high priority ticket to the branch system sending the account identifier in two shapes. They agreed to keep the original value and add a cleaned reference, pending written confirmation.
Customer view: Tariq wants a small pilot first, because wrong data in week one would lose people for good. He chose role-based SSO groups over team-based ones.
Commercial: The finance director asked whether the brain's value would be visible by the renewal. Callie said the answer lies in questions asked and shared account views, and flagged it to Amara for the quarterly reviews.
Watch: Tariq is the only admin and has not yet named a second. The call recorder and branch system connectors wait on written access.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Onboarding, matching and renewal value
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- Tariq to send branch system access the next day and the call recorder access early the following week.
- Tariq to name a second admin.
- Callie to flag the value-by-renewal question to Amara for the quarterly reviews.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Tariq is the only admin on the brain and has not yet named a second.
- Branch system rows do not join to CRM accounts until the mapping is confirmed in writing.
- The finance director expects the brain's value to be visible by the renewal.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- SSO and SCIM are in scope under Enterprise, starting with role-based groups for a pilot group.
- The order form allows up to twenty connectors, and only some are live.
Transcript
Tariq Saleem NoneHello, can you hear me all right?
Callie Brennan NoneLoud and clear. Afternoon, Tariq. Sorry, I was just finding the right window, I've got about four things open.- Tariq Saleem NoneNo problem at all. Before we start, can I start with the open tickets? There are two. One is the sync problem on the branch system, which I marked high priority, and the other is a how-to question on the mapping screen. I'd like to know whether we cover them today or whether I should be chasing them separately.
- Callie Brennan NoneGood, yes, let's fold them in. So, the plan for the next half hour or so is this. First, a quick look at where each connector stands. Then the account matching between the branch system and your CRM, because I think that's what's sitting behind your high priority ticket. Then access and SSO, then who does what before we switch on the refresh. And I'll leave ten minutes at the end for questions.
- Tariq Saleem NoneThat works. Matching is the one I care about most, honestly.
- Callie Brennan NoneRight, I'd guessed. Okay, connectors first, then. I've got the list from the order form in front of me. Enterprise gives you up to twenty, and you're not using all of them yet, which is fine. What I have as live and loading is the CRM, the helpdesk and the accounting system. What I have as waiting on written access is the call recorder and the branch system.
- Tariq Saleem NoneWhich connector is showing the failure on the ticket? Because I thought the branch system was loading.
- Callie Brennan NoneIt's loading, in the sense that rows are arriving. But the load log shows the account identifier coming through in two shapes. Some branches send it with a leading branch code and some without. So rows land, but they don't join to the CRM account. That's a mapping question, not a connection one.
- Tariq Saleem NoneAh. Right. That would explain why the key-account team said half their trade accounts looked empty. I'll check the load log on my side as well, I don't want to take it on trust.
- Callie Brennan NonePlease do. I'd rather you saw it yourself. I'll share my screen, give me a second. Can you see it?
- Tariq Saleem NoneYes, I can see the table. Bit small, but I can read it.
- Callie Brennan NoneI'll zoom in. So on the left is the identifier as the branch system sends it, on the right is what the CRM holds as the account reference. See the ones that start with the branch code? Those are the ones that don't match. The ones without the prefix match cleanly.
- Tariq Saleem NoneMm. And how many are we talking about, roughly? Is it a handful of branches or most of them?
- Callie Brennan NoneI don't want to give you a number I haven't checked. What I can say is it isn't all of them. It's clustered. It looks like the branches that were migrated to the newer version of the branch system send the prefix and the older ones don't.
- Tariq Saleem NoneThat fits. We moved a batch of branches over last year and the rest are still on the old set-up. So two shapes, one system. Right.
- Callie Brennan NoneWhich gives us two options. One is we strip the prefix in the mapping, so everything arrives in the CRM shape. The other is we hold both and add a lookup table. The first is simpler. The second is safer if the prefix ever carries meaning on your side.
- Tariq Saleem NoneDoes it carry meaning? I'd want to be sure before I say yes. Give me a moment, I know the credit-control team use the prefix when they're chasing a branch for a dispute. So it might.
- Callie Brennan NoneThen I'd keep it. What I'd suggest is we keep the original value in its own field and add a cleaned reference next to it. Nothing gets lost, and the join uses the cleaned one. That maps cleanly and credit control keeps what they use.
- Tariq Saleem NoneYes, I like that. Plain English version: nothing is thrown away, we just add a column that matches. Fine. I'm happy with it, but let me tell the credit-control lead before it goes live, so nobody's surprised.
- Callie Brennan NonePerfect. And to be clear, I won't change that mapping until you've told me in writing it's agreed. I'll put it in the setup note as pending.
- Tariq Saleem NoneGood. Same on my side, I never change a mapping without telling people who rely on it. Right, so that's the ticket. Does that close it, or does it stay open until the fix is in?
- Callie Brennan NoneI'd keep it open until the first refresh with the new mapping has landed and you've looked at a handful of accounts. I'll add a note on it today so the history is clear. And the how-to one, the mapping screen, I think we've just answered it by doing it. Is that fair?
- Tariq Saleem NoneMore or less, yes. My question was really about where the cleaned field shows up. If I can see that, I'm fine.
- Callie Brennan NoneIt shows under the derived fields tab, next to the source field. I'll walk you through that when we've done the access piece, if there's time. Okay, which brings me to what I need from your side. Two things. Written access for the call recorder, and written access for the branch system, from whoever owns each.
- Tariq Saleem NoneFor the branch system that's me, essentially, with sign-off from our IT lead. For the call recorder it's the head of the key-account team. I'd say she'll answer quickly if I ask, but she's out for a couple of days.
- Callie Brennan NoneThat's fine. I won't start either connector without it, that's just how I work, so it only matters when it arrives. What would help is if the credentials come before the next session, not after. Can you get me the branch system one first?
- Tariq Saleem NoneYes. I'll do the branch system tomorrow. The call recorder might be the beginning of next week.
- Callie Brennan NoneBrilliant. I'll note both against a date. Now, SSO. You're on Enterprise, so SSO and SCIM are in scope. Where are you with that?
- Tariq Saleem NoneHonestly, not far. I've had one conversation with a colleague in IT about it and that's it. They're happy in principle. What they need from you is the metadata and some idea of how the groups will map.
- Callie Brennan NoneOkay. I can send the service provider details today. On groups, the thing to decide is whether you map by team, so branch, key account and credit control, or by role, so admin, editor, viewer. Most people do role first and add team later, because team structures change.
- Tariq Saleem NoneRole first, I think. We reorganise the branch regions every so often and I don't want to be rebuilding groups each time. Roles stay put. And that keeps it simple for the first rollout.
- Callie Brennan NoneAgreed. I'd go with that. And the number of people we're provisioning, you have two hundred seats on the order form, but I don't expect you to fill them in the first month.
- Tariq Saleem NoneNo, definitely not. It's a small group to start. A pilot, really, the people who've been in the workshops. We'll widen it once the account views make sense. If we open it to all two hundred straight away and the data is wrong, we lose people for good.
- Callie Brennan NoneThat's a sensible way to look at it. Wrong data in week one is much harder to recover from than a slow start. So the order is: fix the matching, land a clean first refresh, you check it, and then we widen. Not before.
- Tariq Saleem NoneRight. And on the refresh, when do I see data? I'll get asked by the branch managers whether it's current in the morning.
- Callie Brennan NoneNightly refresh is complete by 07:00 your local time on business days. That's every tier, so it's what you'd expect. The first one after we switch on is the one I'd like you to look at properly, because that's when you'll see whether the join is working.
- Tariq Saleem NoneOkay. And if it's not complete by seven, who do I tell? Is that a ticket, or do I ring someone?
- Callie Brennan NoneA ticket, marked high priority, and copy Amara, she's your customer success manager. She'll keep an eye on it from her side. And Lewis is your account owner if anything commercial comes up, though I doubt it will for this.
- Tariq Saleem NoneGood, I've got both of them. Lewis was on the earlier calls, wasn't he? Yes. Fine.
- Callie Brennan NoneHe was. Okay, a quick word on the admin side before we go through the checklist. At the moment you're the only admin on the brain. I'd like a second one named, someone who can run things if you're off.
- Tariq Saleem NoneThat's fair. I've been the person who wires up every connector since the start, and I know that's a risk. Let me think about who. Probably one of the analysts in the data team. I'll come back to you on a name.
- Callie Brennan NoneLovely. Because part of what I care about at handover is that your admin can run this alone. So a second pair of hands matters. I'll write up the setup note with the connectors, the mappings, the open ticket and who owns what. You'll have it before the next session.
- Tariq Saleem NoneThat'd be really useful. I've had too many setups where the only record was an email thread nobody could find.
- Callie Brennan NoneNot with me. So, recap. You agree the cleaned reference with credit control. You send the branch system access tomorrow and the call recorder access early next week. I send the SSO details today. You name a second admin. And I hold the refresh until the mapping is confirmed in writing. Did I miss anything?
- Tariq Saleem NoneOne thing, the contract is for the year from 28 Feb 2025, and the finance director asked me whether the brain's value would be visible by the renewal. I said I'd find out what we'd be able to show. I don't need an answer now.
- Callie Brennan NoneSensible question to ask early. I'd say the honest answer is: questions asked by your teams, and whether branch and credit control are using the same account view. That's for Amara to build with you at the quarterly reviews. I'll flag it to her so it's on her list.
- Tariq Saleem NoneThanks. That's all from me, really. Oh, and the invoice for the first year has gone through finance, so nothing outstanding on that side. Just so you know.
- Callie Brennan NoneGood to hear, thank you. Right, I'll get the note and the SSO details out this afternoon. Speak soon, Tariq.
- Tariq Saleem NoneCheers, Callie. Speak soon.
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