What was said
What this says
Current to 13 Oct 26Kickoff for Ardenmore's Starter subscription. The data protection officer wants free-text notes out by default, the helpdesk connector is undecided, and Harjit Bains wants a careful, controlled message for the trustees.
What happened: The 4 Sep 2023 kickoff covered the Starter order form signed on 30 Aug 2023, at £20k a year with fifteen users and up to four connectors. Callie Brennan led, with Daniel Okafor as the ongoing contact.
Customer view: Harjit Bains wants no surprises for the client when trustees ask what is in the system. Yasmin Chaudhry, Data Protection Officer, wants sensitive free-text notes out by default and one signed document listing fields and folders.
Commercial: Three connectors are settled and the fourth Starter slot, the helpdesk, is undecided because member queries do not all reach it. Harjit plans to begin with four or five users out of fifteen.
Watch: Nothing connects until Yasmin signs off the in and out list. The evidence does not show the helpdesk decision.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Who was there
BB-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Callie Brennan sends the scope template the same day and Sukhvinder Dhillon returns the draft on Friday morning.
- Yasmin Chaudhry signs off the in and out list before any connector is switched on.
- Daniel Okafor sends Harjit plain sentences for the trustees' pack and a suggested invite list.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- The fourth Starter connector, the helpdesk, is undecided and Starter has a hard limit of four.
- The shared mailbox holds sensitive trustee and member correspondence, so scope must be signed off before anything connects.
- Harjit hoped to tell trustees about the brain within the week, and it cannot answer questions until the first refresh lands.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Careful handling of data protection builds trust with the Data Protection Officer and the trustees.
- Only four or five of the fifteen Starter users are planned at first, leaving room to widen use once value shows.
Transcript
- Daniel Okafor NoneHello, can everyone hear me alright? Thank you all for making the time. I can see Harjit and Sukhvinder. Yasmin, are you with us yet?
- Yasmin Chaudhry NoneYes, I'm here, sorry. The link dropped me into the wrong waiting room for a minute.
- Harjit Bains NoneMorning, all. Well, nearly afternoon. I've got the trustee meeting coming up at the end of the week, so I'm a bit distracted, apologies in advance.
- Daniel Okafor NoneNo apologies needed, Harjit. How is the team finding the week so far? Busy, I imagine.
- Harjit Bains NoneBusy, yes. Quarter end for a couple of the schemes. But this is the thing I'm most looking forward to, honestly.
- Callie Brennan NoneLovely. Thanks, Daniel. Hello, everyone, I'm Callie, I'll be running the implementation with you. Let me give you the plan for the next hour, and then we'll fill in the detail. First, a quick recap of what you've bought. Then the four connectors, who owns each one, and what I need from your side. Then data protection, because Yasmin has joined us and I'd rather we cover it early than late. And last, the dates.
- Sukhvinder Dhillon NoneSounds good. I'm the one who'll be doing most of the hands-on bits, I think, so I'll take notes.
- Callie Brennan NonePerfect, that's exactly what I hoped. So, recap. You signed the order form on Wednesday 30 August 2023. It's the Starter tier, £19,500 a year, fifteen users, and up to four connectors. The implementation is a fixed fee and runs for about four weeks, so we have a fair bit of runway but not a lot of slack.
- Harjit Bains NoneFifteen users is plenty for us. It's the client relationship team, so it's mostly me and the managers who prepare for trustee meetings. Plus Sukhvinder for the systems side.
- Daniel Okafor NoneAnd just to close the loop on that, Harjit, I'll come back to you by the end of next week with a suggested list of who gets an invite first, so you're not inviting all fifteen on day one.
- Harjit Bains NoneYes, please. I'd rather start with four or five people who'll actually use it, and see what the trustees' questions look like.
- Callie Brennan NoneThat's sensible. Right, connectors. Before we switch on the refresh, I want to be clear about one rule of mine: I don't start any connector until I have written access in my inbox. Not a verbal go-ahead, a written one. It protects you as much as it protects me.
- Yasmin Chaudhry NoneThat's music to my ears, actually. Can I ask the obvious question, then? Where does our data physically sit? Members' details, I mean. I've read the paperwork but I'd like to hear it said.
- Callie Brennan NoneOf course. The brain is built and run inside your own Snowflake account. Nothing is copied out to a BB-Demo store. We connect to your sources, the data lands in your environment, and the questions are answered from there.
- Yasmin Chaudhry NoneSo we remain the controller and you're effectively working inside our walls.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's how I'd put it, yes. And the paperwork you've seen reflects that. If anything in it reads differently to how Callie's just described it, tell us and we'll fix the paperwork, not the explanation.
- Yasmin Chaudhry NoneGood. Then my main concern is scope. Member data is in the scheme records, and I don't want every free-text note about a member's circumstances swept up. Some of those notes are, well, sensitive.
- Harjit Bains NoneShe's right, and I'd add that no surprises for the client is the whole point for me. If a trustee asks what's in the system, I need to be able to say exactly what.
- Callie Brennan NoneUnderstood. So what I need from your side is a list of the fields and folders that are in scope, and, just as important, the ones that are out. Sukhvinder, would you be able to draft that, and Yasmin signs it off?
- Sukhvinder Dhillon NoneI can do that. I'd start from the field list in the client relationship system and mark each one in or out. The free-text notes would be out by default.
- Yasmin Chaudhry NoneOut by default, yes. And if we want one in later, we ask, rather than the other way round.
- Callie Brennan NoneThat maps cleanly onto how we work. Nothing comes in unless it's on the agreed list. I'll keep that list in the setup note so whoever picks this up after me can see it.
- Harjit Bains NoneWhat do you mean, whoever picks this up after you?
- Callie Brennan NoneAh, sorry, poor phrasing. I just mean that I write a handover note for every customer, so that you, or Sukhvinder, or Daniel could run things without me in the room. It's a habit, nothing more.
- Daniel Okafor NoneI'll be your point of contact once the implementation settles, Harjit, so I'll be reading that note closely.
- Harjit Bains NoneGood. I like a note. Right, so which connectors are we talking about?
- Callie Brennan NoneFrom the scoping, my suggestion is this. One, the client relationship system, which holds your scheme and contact records. Two, the shared mailbox the client team uses for trustee correspondence. Three, the call recorder. Four, the helpdesk for member queries. That's the full four on Starter, and it's a hard limit, so I'd like to be sure those are the right four before we commit.
- Sukhvinder Dhillon NoneThe helpdesk is the one I'm unsure about. Member queries come in through a couple of routes and not all of them end up there.
- Harjit Bains NoneThey don't. Some come by phone and are just logged in the scheme record by whoever picked up. So the scheme record is probably the more reliable place.
- Callie Brennan NoneThen let's not decide the fourth today. I'd sooner start with the first three, get a clean first refresh, and you tell me after a week or so whether the helpdesk earns its place. Does that work?
- Harjit Bains NoneYes. That's much more comfortable than guessing.
- Yasmin Chaudhry NoneCan I ask about the mailbox? That one worries me most. Trustee correspondence, member complaints, it's all in there, along with a lot of internal chatter.
- Callie Brennan NoneFair. We can scope a mailbox to specific folders or labels rather than the whole thing. So the question is whether the client team already files trustee emails somewhere separate.
- Harjit Bains NoneThey do, by scheme. Each scheme has its own folder. I'd be comfortable with those and nothing else.
- Yasmin Chaudhry NoneThen I'm comfortable too, provided the folder list is in the same document as the fields. One document, one signature.
- Callie Brennan NoneOne document. I'll set up a template today and send it over, and Sukhvinder fills it in. What I'd like is the first draft back by Thursday, so I have time to check it before anything is connected.
- Sukhvinder Dhillon NoneThursday is tight but possible. Can I say Friday morning, to be safe?
- Callie Brennan NoneFriday morning is fine. I'd rather have it right than early.
- Daniel Okafor NoneJust to close the loop, then. Callie sends the template today, Sukhvinder returns the draft on Friday morning, Yasmin signs off, and nothing connects until that's done. Have I got that right?
- Yasmin Chaudhry NoneThat's exactly what I wanted to hear.
- Harjit Bains NoneCan I ask something slightly different? When do I actually get to ask it a question? Because I've got the trustee meeting at the end of the week and I'd love to say we're getting this.
- Callie Brennan NoneHonestly, not by the end of this week. We have to get the first refresh to land before there's anything for it to answer from. I'd rather you told the trustees it's being set up properly than promise something that isn't there yet.
- Harjit Bains NoneNo, that's fair. And actually that's a better message. Careful, controlled, nothing leaves our environment.
- Daniel Okafor NoneI think that's right. And I can give you two or three plain sentences for the trustees' pack if it helps. I'll send them over tomorrow.
- Harjit Bains NonePlease do. Thank you, Daniel.
- Callie Brennan NoneSo, the dates. Template today. Draft back Friday morning. Sign-off after that. Then, before we switch on the refresh, a short call with Sukhvinder to walk through the credentials. First refresh the week after. And then a proper onboarding session with the whole group, where we sit in the brain together and ask it real questions. That's Monday of the week after next, and I'll send the invite after this call.
- Sukhvinder Dhillon NoneThat works for me. I'll block the time.
- Harjit Bains NoneAnd me. Thank you, Callie, this is the most organised kickoff I've been on.
- Callie Brennan NoneHa, thank you. Right, any last questions before we finish? Yasmin, anything else on your side?
- Yasmin Chaudhry NoneOnly that I'd like to see the setup note when it's written, not just hear that it exists.
- Callie Brennan NoneOf course. You'll be on the copy list.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThank you, everyone. We'll leave you to the rest of your day. Speak soon.
- Harjit Bains NoneThanks all. Bye for now.