Merriott Lyle Distribution / BB-Demo – Onboarding
Callcompleted
Merriott Lyle Distribution: documents · 2025-04-25 12:45
Onboarding working session with Tariq Saleem. The first CRM test load is missing trade accounts, a likely reference mismatch. Connector order, owners and a held branch system load were agreed. Freshness credit was confirmed for Enterprise.
What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Onboarding working session with Tariq Saleem. The first CRM test load is missing trade accounts, a likely reference mismatch. Connector order, owners and a held branch system load were agreed. Freshness credit was confirmed for Enterprise.
What happened: Laura Penhaligon and Tariq Saleem agreed a first wave of CRM, accounting, helpdesk, call recorder and the branch system, with the branch load held back until a match check passes. One ticket is open on trade accounts missing from the first CRM load.
Customer view: Tariq wants orders in early, because without them it is just a nicer CRM. He is protective of the branches and wants one clean key rather than blame.
Commercial: Laura confirmed Enterprise covers freshness as well as availability, and SSO and SCIM are included. Tariq asked about credit if the branch export keeps overrunning. The order form figure quoted is £116,500.
Watch: The mailbox decision sits with HR and legal and is parked. The branch export is slow and its timings are not yet known. Tariq will start with a small first user group, not the full licence.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Enterprise onboarding connector plan
Importance
neutral
Sentiment
positive
Voice
champion
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Tariq Saleem sends a sample of missing accounts and the branch export timings from the load log.
- Laura Penhaligon lays the sample side by side and sends the connector plan and IT note early next week.
- Tariq Saleem names the mailbox decision owner and the branch operations contact.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- The first CRM test load is missing trade accounts and the root cause is not yet confirmed.
- The branch system export is slow, so an overrun could leave the brain answering on stale data.
- The mailbox connection has no named decision owner and is parked.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Credit control, key-account and branch teams could all adopt the brain once matching is clean.
- SSO and SCIM set-up is included and IT is being brought in early.
Transcript
Laura Penhaligon NoneHello, Tariq. Can you hear me all right?
Tariq Saleem NoneYes, loud and clear. Afternoon, Laura. Give me a second, I've got the wrong headset on.- Laura Penhaligon NoneNo rush. I'm just getting my notes up. Good Friday for you so far?
- Tariq Saleem NoneBusy, but fine. Half the morning was a branch system export that wouldn't finish, so I've been in the logs. You?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneQuiet one, thankfully. Right, so today is the onboarding call, the proper working session. I'd like to leave with a list of connectors, an owner for each, and an order to do them in. Does that suit?
- Tariq Saleem NoneThat's what I wanted. Can I start with the open tickets, though? Just so they're not hanging.
- Laura Penhaligon NonePlease do.
- Tariq Saleem NoneThere's only one open. It's the one I raised about the first test load coming through with some trade accounts missing. I haven't got an answer on why yet, and I don't want to guess, so it's just sitting there. Which connector, you'd ask me, and it's the CRM one.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneYes, I've seen it. I'll be straight with you, I don't have the root cause either. What I can see is that the accounts that didn't come through are ones where the account reference in the CRM doesn't match the reference you use in the branch system. Does that sound right to you?
- Tariq Saleem NoneThat's plausible. But that's a mapping question, and I'd want to check the load log before I say it's the cause. Some of those accounts were created years ago by a branch, and the reference might have been typed differently.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneFair. And I'm not suggesting anyone typed it wrong, to be clear. Branches enter things the way their system lets them. It's more that the two systems grew up separately.
- Tariq Saleem NoneExactly. I won't have anyone saying the branches got it wrong. If there's a mismatch it's because we never gave them one clean key.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneAgreed. So the first thing I'd propose is that you send me a small sample of those missing accounts, with the reference as it appears in each system, and I'll lay them side by side. Then we know whether it's a pattern or a handful of oddities.
- Tariq Saleem NoneI can do that today. How many do you need?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneA couple of dozen would do. Mix of big key accounts and small cash accounts, if you can, because I suspect they were set up differently.
- Tariq Saleem NoneYeah, they were. Cash accounts mostly come in from the branch counter, key accounts are set up centrally. Okay, I'll pull a mix.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneLovely. Right, let me share the plan so we're looking at the same thing. Can you see my screen?
- Tariq Saleem NoneI can. It's a bit small, hang on... that's better.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneSo you're on Enterprise, which gives you up to twenty connectors and two hundred licensed users. The order form is the annual figure of £116,500, and that's what we're working to. Implementation is the twelve weeks, and it includes support for your security review.
- Tariq Saleem NoneYes. And the security review, that's separate from this call, isn't it? I've got someone in IT who'll own that.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneSeparate, yes, but it runs alongside. I'll come back to it at the end. First the connectors. From the profile we agreed with Lewis, the teams who need to see a trade account in one place are the branches, the key-account team and credit control. So what each of them needs to see is orders, disputes, calls and invoices together.
- Tariq Saleem NoneThat's right. Credit control is the one that's most frustrated at the moment, because they're ringing a customer about an overdue invoice without knowing there's an open dispute with the branch.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneWhich is exactly the kind of thing the brain should stop. So I'd put the accounting system and the helpdesk, or wherever disputes are logged, quite high up. Where do disputes live today?
- Tariq Saleem NoneHonestly, in three places. Some are tickets in the helpdesk, some are notes on the account in the CRM, and some are just emails between the branch manager and the key-account person.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneRight. Mm. Well, the brain can read the helpdesk and the CRM notes, and email if we connect mailboxes. The emails are the delicate one. Who decides which mailboxes?
- Tariq Saleem NoneNot me. That would be a conversation with HR and legal. I'd rather not guess what they'll say. Can we park mailboxes and start with the systems?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneCompletely. Parked. I'll note it as an open decision with a name against it, and we'll come back once you've spoken to them.
- Tariq Saleem NoneI'll find out who that is and tell you.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneSo the first wave I'd suggest is the CRM, the accounting system, the helpdesk and the call recorder. Four, nice and contained. Then the branch system as a second wave, because it's the one that's going to need the most mapping work.
- Tariq Saleem NoneI'd actually argue for the branch system sooner. That's where the orders are. Without orders the whole thing is just a nicer CRM.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneThat's a good point. My worry is only that if the account matching isn't clean, the orders land against the wrong account and people lose trust on day one.
- Tariq Saleem NoneYeah, and that's the worst outcome. Someone sees a wrong order on a customer once and they never open it again.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneRight, so what if we do the branch system in the first wave, but load it into a holding area and only switch it on for users once the matching check passes? You do the CRM and accounting in parallel.
- Tariq Saleem NoneThat I can live with. The load goes in, nobody sees it, we check, then we release. Who does the check?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneWe run the match report, you and I go through the exceptions together. You know which ones are genuinely odd. I only know which ones are statistically odd.
- Tariq Saleem NoneHa. Fine. And anything that needs changing in a mapping, I tell the team who own the account hierarchy before I touch it. I've been bitten by that before.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneGood, that's sensible, and I'll put it in the plan as a rule so nobody changes it quietly on our side either.
- Tariq Saleem NoneCan I ask about the nightly refresh? Because the branch system export I mentioned this morning is slow. If it overruns, what happens?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneThe refresh is meant to be complete by 07:00 on business days. If a source overruns, the brain still answers, but on the previous night's data for that source, and we flag it. So people can ask questions, they're just not fresh. That's a different thing from the brain being down.
- Tariq Saleem NoneOkay. And as Enterprise, that's something you'd credit us for if it kept happening?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneFreshness is covered at Enterprise, yes, as well as availability. I'd rather it never came to that, so let's get the export timing understood early. Can you share how long it takes at the moment?
- Tariq Saleem NoneIt varies. I'll pull a few weeks of timings from the load log rather than give you a number off the top of my head.
- Laura Penhaligon NonePerfect, that's exactly what I'd want.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneOkay, next, users. Two hundred licensed users is the ceiling, and I know you'll want to roll out in stages. Who's in the first group?
- Tariq Saleem NoneA small group. Me, a couple of people from credit control, someone from the key-account team, and a couple of branch managers who volunteered. A handful, really. I don't want two hundred people logging in to something half-built.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneThat's wise. And are the branch managers the sort to tell you honestly if it's rubbish?
- Tariq Saleem NoneOh, very. That's why I picked them.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneBrilliant. So I'd suggest a short session with that group once the first load is checked, with real accounts they know, and we get them to ask the brain about a customer they've dealt with. If it gets that one right, they'll tell the others.
- Tariq Saleem NoneYes. And if it gets it wrong, they'll tell the others that too.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneThey will. So that's why we check first.
- Tariq Saleem NoneSingle sign-on. I've been asked about it twice this week. When does that come in?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneSSO and SCIM are part of Enterprise, so they're included. They're normally set up toward the end of the implementation, once we know who the users are. But if your IT colleague wants to start early on the identity side, there's no reason to wait.
- Tariq Saleem NoneI'll introduce them. They'll want to know what you need from them, in plain terms, not a form.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneFair enough. I'll write them a short note, a paragraph, saying what we need and what we don't. You can forward it.
- Tariq Saleem NoneGood. That's less painful than a call.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneRight, let me go through owners, because I want each connector to have one name. For the CRM, that's you, I assume.
- Tariq Saleem NoneYes. And the branch system, me again, though I'll need a branch operations person who knows how the account codes were built.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneCan you find out who that is for next time?
- Tariq Saleem NoneI think I know, but I'll confirm before I give you a name.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneAccounting system?
- Tariq Saleem NoneThat'll be someone in our finance team. I'd rather they were the named owner, since it's their data. I'm just the one wiring it up.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneThat's the right way round. Helpdesk and call recorder?
- Tariq Saleem NoneHelpdesk is mine for now. The call recorder is the key-account team, but they've never had to give anyone access before, so go gently.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneI'll be gentle. I'll write down what the connector can see and what it can't, so they can read it before they say yes.
- Tariq Saleem NoneThat would help a lot.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneOne more thing on the commercial side, just so you're not surprised later. The contract runs for the year, and your CSM, Amara, will be the one who picks up adoption and the review conversations once we're live. I'm the implementation, so I'll hand over to her.
- Tariq Saleem NoneYes, we met briefly. Okay. And Lewis is still the person for anything contractual?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneLewis, yes. Anything about the order form, extra users, more connectors, that goes to him.
- Tariq Saleem NoneFine. I just like to know who to ring.
- Tariq Saleem NoneLast practical thing. Documentation. When I'm gone for a week, someone's got to be able to read what we built. Do I get that?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneYou do. I keep a running page of every connector, its owner, its mapping rules and any exceptions we've agreed. It sits in the brain's admin area, and you can export it.
- Tariq Saleem NoneGood. Fewer spreadsheets passed round by email. That's honestly half of why I wanted this.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneHa, I'll hold you to that. So, to recap. You send me the sample of missing accounts today. You pull the load timings for the branch system export. You find out who owns the mailbox decision, and who in branch operations knows the account codes. And you introduce me to your colleague in IT.
- Tariq Saleem NoneYes. And you?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneI send the connector plan as we've just changed it, the note for IT, the plain-language note for the key-account team about the call recorder, and I'll lay your sample side by side and tell you what I see. Early next week, I'd hope.
- Tariq Saleem NoneEarly next week is fine. If it's later I won't panic, I just want to know.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneI'll tell you if it slips. Shall we put another call in for a couple of weeks' time?
- Tariq Saleem NoneYes. Same time of day suits me, early afternoon, before the branches ring in with their end of week problems.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneDone, I'll send the invite. Anything else on your list?
- Tariq Saleem NoneNo, that's everything. Thanks, Laura. That was more useful than I expected.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneGood, glad to hear it. Have a decent weekend, Tariq. Speak soon.
- Tariq Saleem NoneCheers, Laura. You too.
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