What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Onboarding call on 3 Jun 2026: the helpdesk connector is live and the invoice query is cleared. Accounting access awaits written sign-off, and logins are about three against forty seats.
What happened: The helpdesk connector went live after its first load. Sana Rahman confirmed Nottingham tickets map well, and a filter now holds general resident queries out of the partner view.
Customer view: Bethany Cole said the partner review was pleased with the evidence and that the call felt like things were moving. Her concern is that only she and Sana really use it.
Commercial: Logins average about three against forty seats, though two partnerships staff were invited. A training session for four or five people is planned only after the accounting connector is in.
Watch: The finance director agrees in principle, but written confirmation of read-only access is still pending.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Who was there
BG-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Hamza Akhtar sends the exact read-only permission list to Sana Rahman straight after the call.
- Bethany Cole gets the finance director to confirm access in writing, then Sana Rahman sets up the service account.
- Bethany Cole names the training attendees, and the session is booked once the accounting load is checked.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- The accounting connector still depends on written sign-off from the finance director.
- Active use is about three people against forty seats, which leaves Bethany Cole without a story for the university.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A training session on Hartside's own data for four or five staff, including resident services, could widen use.
- A dashboards builder view of ticket volume by university would show the Growth tier's value to resident services.
Transcript
- Hamza AkhtarHi both. Can you see my screen? I've got the dashboard builder open already.
- Sana RahmanHi Hamza. Yes, I can see it. Bethany's just coming in, I think.
- Bethany ColeI'm here, I'm here. Hello. Sorry, I was finishing a note on the partner review. Good news, they were quite pleased with the evidence we took.
- Hamza AkhtarThat's lovely to hear. Was that the Nottingham one?
- Bethany ColeNottingham, yes. We only had the CRM side at that point, but even that helped. Now I want the tickets and the money in the same view, so it's not me explaining it from memory.
- Hamza AkhtarWell, that's where we are today. Good news first: the helpdesk connector is live, and the first load finished last night. Sana, did you get a chance to look?
- Sana RahmanI did this morning. It's all there for Nottingham. Tickets are tagged against the accommodation, which is what I was worried about, but it's mapped well. There are a few odd ones with no university at all.
- Hamza AkhtarThose are usually general resident queries, so they won't belong to a university. We can add a rule so they sit in their own bucket. I'll show you.
- Sana RahmanMm, please. I'd rather they didn't pollute the partner view.
- Hamza AkhtarThere. That filter holds them out of the partner pages, but you can still search them if you want. Does that look right?
- Sana RahmanThat's what I wanted. Good.
- Bethany ColeAnd the accounting system? Because that was the bit I was chasing.
- Hamza AkhtarThat's the one still outstanding. Where did you get to with finance?
- Bethany ColeI spoke to our finance director, and she's fine with it, in principle. She wants to see exactly what's read. I sent her your one-pager. And the invoice question is cleared now, by the way, so that's off the list.
- Hamza AkhtarThank you, that's one less thing. I'll let Hollie know. For the accounting connector, then, is she happy to give read-only access to Sana?
- Bethany ColeShe said so long as it's read-only and she can see the access list. I'll get her to confirm in writing so you're not left waiting.
- Sana RahmanI can set up the service account once she does. I just need to know which permissions to ask for.
- Hamza AkhtarI'll send you the exact list straight after this call. It's short. Reading invoices, credit notes and customer records, nothing that writes.
- Bethany ColeGood. Now, the people side. What will the university ask? They'll ask who in my team actually uses it. At the moment the answer is Sana and me, and that doesn't feel like a story.
- Hamza AkhtarIt's a little better than it was. We're seeing a few more logins this month, three or so on average, which is going in the right direction but is still small against forty seats.
- Sana RahmanI've invited two of the partnerships team since we last spoke. They've both logged in. One asked a couple of questions, the other mostly just looked around.
- Hamza AkhtarThat's a normal first week, honestly. What did the one who asked questions try?
- Sana RahmanWhich nomination agreements are up for renewal soonest, and whether any have open tickets. It got the first right and the second half right, once I told her where to look.
- Hamza AkhtarOkay, that's a perfect use. I can show a pattern that makes the second part easier. If you phrase it by university name first and then the question, it picks up the context. Let me share an example.
- Bethany ColeOh, that's good. So I can say, for this university, what's still open and what's due. Partners first.
- Hamza AkhtarExactly that. And once finance is in, you can add what's been invoiced and what's outstanding to the same question.
- Bethany ColeWhich is the whole reason I signed it off. James was very clear he wanted all of that in one place.
- Hamza AkhtarUnderstood. Do you want a training session for the wider team? We can do it on their own data, about an hour, once the accounting connector is in.
- Bethany ColeYes, please. But not before the finance piece, I'd rather they see the full picture first time. Can we pencil it in for after?
- Sana RahmanI'd like to sit in on it. And maybe someone from resident services too, since they live in the tickets.
- Hamza AkhtarGood idea. Growth includes the dashboards builder, so if resident services want a view of ticket volume by university, we could build that together in the session.
- Bethany ColeRight. Let me think about who. I'll come back to you with names, maybe four or five.
- Hamza AkhtarLovely. So, to recap. Helpdesk is live and tidy. Finance confirms in writing, Sana sets up the service account, and I send the permission list today. Then we load, and we book the training session once that's checked.
- Sana RahmanSounds right. I'll shout if the finance sign-off drifts.
- Bethany ColeI'll make sure it doesn't. Thanks, Hamza, this feels like it's moving now.
- Hamza AkhtarIt is. Speak soon, both. Cheers.