Lornefield Pensions Administration / BB-Demo – Qbr
Callcompleted
Lornefield Pensions Administration · 2024-02-05 12:15
The 5 Feb 2024 QBR found connectors green and no tickets, but around four of fifteen licensed users active and questions concentrated in a few people. Imogen Hartley wants a value note before the 3 Apr 2024 renewal.
What was said
What this says
Current to 13 Oct 26The 5 Feb 2024 QBR found connectors green and no tickets, but around four of fifteen licensed users active and questions concentrated in a few people. Imogen Hartley wants a value note before the 3 Apr 2024 renewal.
What happened: Daniel Okafor, Imogen Hartley and Craig Paterson held the QBR on 5 Feb 2024. Craig reported all connectors green and refreshes complete before 07:00, with record counts still rising.
Customer view: Imogen says the issue is habit, not quality: two daily users would not give it up, others forget it. Craig added that newer starters were never walked through search.
Commercial: The order form is £20k a year, invoices match and nothing is outstanding. Imogen is not worried about the figure but needs a case to show people above her, and Craig stepped back from price.
Watch: A couple of scheme managers account for a good share of the questions, which is a key-person risk. Imogen also has trustee reporting ideas as a design partner and wants a proper hour.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Adoption habit, renewal value case
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 Okafor to send the plain-language usage note and a couple of slots for the new-starter session.
- Daniel Okafor to find a time for Imogen Hartley's trustee reporting conversation after that session.
- Craig Paterson to keep watching the ticketing connector and be told before any refresh timing changes.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Daily use is around four of fifteen licensed users and has come down a little on the previous quarter.
- A couple of scheme managers account for a good share of the questions, so the value rests on few people.
- Imogen needs a clear value case for the people above her before the 3 Apr 2024 renewal.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- A short new-starter session on the customer's own scheme data could build the habit within the existing licences.
- Imogen's trustee reporting ideas as a design partner could become a scope conversation with Nell.
Transcript
Daniel Okafor NoneHello, can you hear me all right? I think I've got you both on the screen now.
Imogen Hartley NoneLoud and clear, Daniel. Hello.
Craig Paterson NoneAye, I'm here. Afternoon. Well, just about afternoon, it's quarter past twelve.- Daniel Okafor NoneThank you both for your time, especially at lunchtime. I know Mondays are never quiet. Is it just the three of us today? Nell's not joining, she knows I'm covering usage and she's happy for me to lead.
- Imogen Hartley NoneJust the three of us, yes. The scheme managers are all out at trustee meetings this week, so I'll carry their views as best I can.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's perfect. So the plan is to look at how the team is using the brain, how the connectors are behaving, and then just to close the loop on the renewal in April. Does that suit?
- Imogen Hartley NoneIt does. Maybe I can set a bit of context first. The real question for us this quarter is whether the scheme managers reach for the brain by habit, or only when I nudge them. We bought it so that a scheme manager gets one view of trustee calls, member query tickets and fee invoices without opening three systems. That hasn't changed. What I want to know is whether it's become the default.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's a fair way to frame it, and I'll try to answer it honestly. Craig, would you start us off with the console? I always find the technical picture is the one that keeps us straight.
- Craig Paterson NoneRight. Reading it out as it sits just now: all of our connectors are showing green. The last nightly refresh completed before 07:00 this morning, and the one before that was the same. Nothing in the failed list, nothing queued.
- Daniel Okafor NoneLovely. And over the last month, has anything timed out, even briefly, that you'd have noticed?
- Craig Paterson NoneNot that I've seen. Just to flag, there was a slow run on the ticketing connector a while back, but that's the connector timing out again on a busy night and it recovered by itself. I'll keep an eye on it.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat matches what I see on our side. No tickets from you this past month, which I take as a good sign rather than silence. Is that fair?
- Craig Paterson NoneAye, fair. I don't raise anything without a screenshot, and there's been nothing worth screenshotting.
- Imogen Hartley NoneWhich is the highest compliment Craig pays anyone, by the way.
- Craig Paterson NoneI'd not go that far.
- Daniel Okafor NoneHa. Right, so usage. You have fifteen licensed users, and on a typical day it's been around four people actually in the brain. Over the quarter that's come down a little compared with the one before. Not dramatically, but I'd rather say it out loud than skate past it.
- Imogen Hartley NoneYes, I saw that when you sent the pack. Honestly, my first reading is the Christmas and new year weeks. We had a lot of annual leave, and a couple of the managers barely logged in between the holidays. But I don't want to hide behind that.
- Daniel Okafor NoneI think that's likely part of it. What I'd say is that the questions being asked are good ones. They're mostly about trustee call history and member queries on a scheme, and a fair few about fee invoices ahead of the trustee reporting cycle. So the people who use it use it for the thing you bought it for.
- Imogen Hartley NoneThat's encouraging. Is it the same two or three people asking most of them, though? I've seen that pattern before. One enthusiast carries the whole thing and then goes on leave.
- Daniel Okafor NoneYou've got a point, and it's a bit concentrated. A couple of scheme managers account for a good share of the questions, and you yourself ask quite a lot. How is the team finding it, though? That's the bit the numbers don't tell me.
- Imogen Hartley NoneMixed, if I'm candid. The two who use it daily would not give it up. The others say it's useful and then forget it exists when they're busy, which in pensions administration is most of the time. It's a habit problem, not a quality problem.
- Craig Paterson NoneIf I can add from the admin side, a couple of the newer starters were never walked through the search properly. They were given a login and told to have a go. I only know because they asked me where things were.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's really useful, Craig, thank you. That's something we can fix cheaply. We could run a short session for the newer people, thirty minutes or so, using your own scheme data so it's not generic. I'd want to do it on their questions, not mine.
- Imogen Hartley NoneI'd welcome that. Let's make it count, though. If we do it, I'd like the scheme managers to bring a real query they'd otherwise have chased across three screens.
- Daniel Okafor NoneAgreed, that's much the best way. I'll come back to you with a couple of slots, and you tell me which suits the managers' diaries.
- Imogen Hartley NoneGood. Can I ask about the records side? I never quite know whether to worry about that. Is the volume of what's been indexed still moving, or has it stopped growing?
- Daniel Okafor NoneStill moving, and steadily. Nothing flat, which is what I'd be wary of. Craig's console would show it first, in fact.
- Craig Paterson NoneAye. The record counts tick up each morning after the refresh. I check them against the source when I do the weekly look. They're not drifting apart.
- Imogen Hartley NoneGood. Then the data side of my worry is a small one.
- Daniel Okafor NoneWhich brings me on to the contract. Just to close the loop on April: your current term runs to 2 Apr 2024, so the renewal date sits on 3 Apr 2024. The order form is at £19,500 a year, and the invoices have matched that, with nothing outstanding on your side.
- Imogen Hartley NoneYes, finance would have told me otherwise. Look, I'll be straight. I'm not worried about the money as a figure. What I need is something I can put in front of the people above me that says what we get for it. Usage that's dipped a touch doesn't help me there.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's completely reasonable, and I'd rather we built that case together than leave you to assemble it. I can put together a short note: who uses it, what they ask, what's been indexed, how steady the connectors have been. Plain language, not a dashboard dump.
- Imogen Hartley NoneThat would be ideal. And if it's honest about the dip, so much the better. I'd rather they heard it from me.
- Craig Paterson NoneJust to be clear, anything on price or the order form isn't my call. I'll give you the technical side, Imogen, and that's where I'll stop.
- Daniel Okafor NoneUnderstood, Craig, and that's exactly the right split. The technical side is the part I'd lean on you for anyway.
- Imogen Hartley NoneOne more thing, since we're here. Because we were a design partner, I do have a few ideas about what the brain could do for trustee reporting. I won't go into them today. I'd like a proper hour on it, not five minutes at the end of a review.
- Daniel Okafor NoneI'd like that very much. Let's not squeeze it in now. I'll find a time with you after the new-starter session, and I'll bring Nell in for the commercial side if any of it touches scope.
- Imogen Hartley NoneSensible. Right, I think that's everything from me. Craig, anything left on your list?
- Craig Paterson NoneOnly a change window. If there's any refresh timing moving on your side, I'd like to hear before it happens, not after.
- Daniel Okafor NoneNoted, and I'll make sure that goes to the right people. Nothing is planned that I know of, but I'd never guess at a date that isn't mine. If anything changes you'll hear first.
- Craig Paterson NoneThat'll do me.
- Daniel Okafor NoneSo, to recap. I'll send the usage note, a couple of slots for the new-starter session, and a time for Imogen's reporting conversation. Imogen, you'll tell me which managers should come. Craig, you'll keep an eye on the ticketing connector.
- Imogen Hartley NonePerfect. Thank you, Daniel. Thank you, Craig. Best, Imogen.
- Craig Paterson NoneCheers. Regards, Craig.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThanks both. Speak soon, and enjoy the rest of the day. Best wishes, Daniel.
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