Calderbrook Housing Group / BG-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Calderbrook Housing Group · 17 Mar 2025 14:30
Helen Marsden's board pack arrears figure was a month-end timing gap, not a data fault. She expects to renew but flagged an IT group data platform discussion and wants a one-page value summary.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Helen Marsden's board pack arrears figure was a month-end timing gap, not a data fault. She expects to renew but flagged an IT group data platform discussion and wants a one-page value summary.
What happened: Helen found the brain's arrears figure lower than the housing system report. On the call, Daniel Okafor traced it to a pull made before month-end postings landed. The figures matched after a refresh.
Customer view: Adoption is spreading. Her analysts use the brain daily, the complaints team has come round, and the board asked for the repeat repairs dashboard as a standing item.
Commercial: Helen expects to renew on Growth at £44k, with the term running to 1 Sep 2025. She wants to see the numbers first.
Watch: An IT group conversation about the data platform is under way. She is not leading it, and she wants a one-page case she can show them.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Arrears timing, renewal groundwork
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
positive
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Daniel Okafor to send a note on arrears and refresh timing naming section four, and a one-page usage summary before the end of the month.
- Daniel Okafor to offer dates for an area manager training session on reading the source panel.
- Helen Marsden to send the definitions of closed for the complaints and repairs systems and a de-identified survey sample.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- An IT group discussion about the wider data platform could reopen the Growth subscription before renewal.
- Helen needs evidence of value she can show IT, and none exists in one place yet.
- Analysts may take month-end figures at face value if the posting timing is not made visible.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Area managers want access and there is room within the 40 Growth users, with a training session first.
- The satisfaction survey spreadsheet could become a new connector within the current plan.
- The board's standing repeat repairs dashboard is a strong value story for the renewal.
Transcript
Daniel OkaforAfternoon, Helen. Thank you for making the time. I can see it's just the two of us so far, is anyone else from your team joining?
Helen MarsdenAfternoon, Daniel. No, just me today. I thought it would be easier to keep it small, because I've got a specific thing I want to chase. Can you hear me alright? My headset has been playing up since this morning.- Daniel OkaforLoud and clear. How is the week treating you? It looked properly grim over Leeds when I checked the forecast.
- Helen MarsdenOh, it's been raining sideways since Monday, and the board pack is due out later this week, so it's all a bit grey in every sense. Which actually leads me to it, if that's all right.
- Daniel OkaforPlease, go ahead. That's what the time is for.
- Helen MarsdenSo, the rent arrears figure in section four of the board pack. It doesn't reconcile to what the housing management system shows at month end. It's not wildly out, but the board will ask, and I'd rather know why before they do.
- Daniel OkaforRight, okay. And when you say not wildly out, is the brain showing a higher figure or a lower one?
- Helen MarsdenLower. The brain is a little lower than the housing system report. And I've checked my own joins, so I don't think it's us. Well, I don't think it's us.
- Daniel OkaforMm. Can I ask which day you pulled the figure from the brain? Was it the morning after month end, or later in the week?
- Helen MarsdenThe morning after. First thing, because I wanted to get the draft done early. Why, does that matter?
- Daniel OkaforIt might. Just thinking out loud, so stop me if this is wrong. The nightly refresh finishes before seven in the morning, but if your housing team posts their month-end adjustments during the day, the brain won't see them until the following night. So you'd have a snapshot that's correct for the night before, but not for the final month-end position.
- Helen MarsdenHm. So it could be a timing difference rather than a data difference.
- Daniel OkaforThat's my first guess. But I don't want you to take a guess to the board. Can you share your screen, or shall I? I'd like to look at the arrears page together and follow it back to the source.
- Helen MarsdenYes, please. Can you show me the source? That's what I always need. Not just the number, the lineage of it.
- Daniel OkaforOf course. Give me a second, I'm just sharing. Can you see the arrears page now?
- Helen MarsdenI can. That's the one I used, yes. The total is in the top corner there.
- Daniel OkaforRight. If I open the source panel on that total, it tells us which connector it came from and when it was last refreshed. So there, the housing system connector, last loaded early on the first of the month. Is that the day you pulled it?
- Helen MarsdenThat's the day. So the load was the morning, and then the month-end postings came in after that.
- Daniel OkaforWhich would explain a lower figure if some arrears charges or adjustments were posted later. Do you know roughly what your income team posts at month end?
- Helen MarsdenCourt costs and a batch of rent account corrections, I believe. I'd have to ask the income team to be sure. Honestly, that's probably it. I just hadn't thought of it, because for the first months I only looked at mid-month figures and they matched.
- Daniel OkaforThat makes sense, and it's a very easy thing to miss. Mid-month there's nothing big to post, so they agree. Shall we test it? If you pull the same total from today's refresh and compare it to the housing report for the same cut, we'd see whether the gap has closed.
- Helen MarsdenLet me do that now, actually. Hold on, I'll open the report. Give me a minute, sorry.
- Daniel OkaforTake your time. I'm in no rush.
- Helen MarsdenRight. I've got the month-end report for the housing system open, and the brain figure for the same date, from last night's refresh. They match. To the pound.
- Daniel OkaforOh, that's good to hear. So the number was fine, it was the cut that was early.
- Helen MarsdenYes. Well. Thank you. I'm relieved, I'll be honest. I had a bit of a knot in my stomach about that one.
- Daniel OkaforUnderstandable, with the board reading it. What I'd suggest, just to close the loop, is that I write you a short note with the refresh times and what the source panel shows, so you can put a footnote in the pack. And for month end, pull the figure on the second morning, once postings have landed.
- Helen MarsdenYes, I'd like that. A footnote with the cut date means nobody on the board has to wonder. Could you also name the section so that my team knows where it applies? Section four, arrears. I always reference the section, I'm afraid.
- Daniel OkaforI noticed. And I rather like it. It makes it easy for me to follow. I'll put section four in the note.
- Helen MarsdenLovely. Right. That was my one worry. Is there anything you wanted to cover? You'll have your own list.
- Daniel OkaforA few things, mostly good news. How is the team finding it, day to day? That's the question I always want answered by the person who knows.
- Helen MarsdenBetter than I expected, if I'm honest. My analysts use it every day now. Two of them have more or less stopped building the old spreadsheets for repairs and complaints, they just ask the brain. And the neighbourhood managers have started coming to us with questions in a different way. Fewer of them say, can you run me a report, and more of them say, I looked and it says this, is that right?
- Daniel OkaforThat's a real shift, and it's one I like to hear. It shows in the usage as well. The number of people active in the brain is clearly up on last quarter, which tallies with what you're describing.
- Helen MarsdenIs it? I knew it felt busier. Who's driving it, do you know?
- Daniel OkaforIt's spread out, which is the healthy sign. It's not one person asking all the questions. Your analysts are the heaviest, but there are housing managers and a couple of people from the complaints side who are regulars now.
- Helen MarsdenYes, the complaints team. They were sceptical at first. I think it was when they saw that a complaint could be tied to the repairs ticket and the tenant's calls that it clicked. They'd been doing that by hand.
- Daniel OkaforThat's exactly the case we hoped for when we set it up, joining tenant calls, repairs tickets, complaints and arrears into one picture. And you've got forty licensed users on Growth, so there's plenty of room if more of the neighbourhood teams want in.
- Helen MarsdenI was going to ask about that. Not yet, but the area managers have been asking. I'd want to bring them on carefully, with some training, so they don't start quoting things they don't understand.
- Daniel OkaforVery sensible. We can run a session for them, an hour or so on how to read the source panel and what the refresh means. After today I think I'd put the month-end timing at the top of that list.
- Helen MarsdenHa, yes, that would have saved me an afternoon. Please do.
- Daniel OkaforI'll come back to you with a couple of dates. Now, the other thing I wanted to ask. Your support tickets have been very quiet. Nothing at all in the last month, in fact. Is that real, or are people just not logging things?
- Helen MarsdenHonestly, I think it's real. Nothing has broken. The connectors have just run. The only thing I'd have raised was the arrears figure, and that turned out to be me.
- Daniel OkaforWell, it's good for us to hear it, and the quiet matches what I see on our side. Nothing overdue on the account either, so it all looks tidy.
- Helen MarsdenOur finance team are very good at paying on time. I'll pass that on.
- Daniel OkaforPlease do. And tell me about the dashboards. Last time you mentioned the board wanted a view on repeat repairs.
- Helen MarsdenWe built it. One of my analysts did most of it. It shows addresses with more than one repair for the same fault inside a window, and then lines up the complaints raised on the same property. The board found it quite striking, and the chair asked for it to be a standing item.
- Daniel OkaforThat's wonderful. And it's you building that, not us, which is what I'd hoped. A dashboard the board asks for by name is quite a good sign that the thing has found its place.
- Helen MarsdenIt's made my team look good, which I won't pretend I'm unhappy about. The credibility with the board matters a lot to me.
- Daniel OkaforI know it does, and it's well earned. Is there anything the board has asked for that the brain can't currently answer? I'd rather hear about the gaps from you than find them later.
- Helen MarsdenA couple. They want to see how long it takes from a complaint being logged to the repair being completed, and the dates sit in two different systems with different definitions of closed. I've got a rough version, but I don't trust it yet.
- Daniel OkaforMm. That's a definitions problem more than a data one, I think. If you can write down what closed means in each system, in your words, I can sit with you and we can map them onto one measure. Then you'd have something you can defend.
- Helen MarsdenI can do that. I'll draft it with my analyst and send it across. I'd rather it was written down than carried around in people's heads.
- Daniel OkaforAgreed. Is there a new source needed, or are both of those already connected?
- Helen MarsdenBoth are connected. Though I'd like to bring in the satisfaction survey results at some point. They're sitting in a spreadsheet at the moment, and honestly it makes me wince.
- Daniel OkaforWe have room for that within your plan, so it's a conversation about when, not whether. If it's a spreadsheet in a shared drive it should be straightforward. I'd want to see the layout first, so send me a sample if you can, with the personal details taken out.
- Helen MarsdenOf course. I'll strip it down before I send anything. We're careful about that.
- Daniel OkaforI know you are. Right, can I turn to the contract for a moment, only briefly. You're on Growth at forty-four thousand a year, and the term runs to 1 Sep 2025. There's plenty of time, and I'm not here to push anything today. I just like to put the date on the table early so nobody is surprised.
- Helen MarsdenYes, I have it in my diary. I'd expect to renew, given where we are, but I'd want to see the numbers properly before I put it in front of anyone. And I should say there's a wider conversation going on in our IT group about the data platform generally. I'm not leading it, and I don't know where it will land.
- Daniel OkaforThank you for telling me, that's very helpful. I wouldn't want to second guess it. What would be most useful from my side, so that you've got what you need when that conversation comes up?
- Helen MarsdenA clear picture of what the board gets from it. Questions asked, who's using it, what we've replaced. Something I can put on one page. If IT ask me why we need it, I want to be able to show them rather than say it.
- Daniel OkaforI can do that. A one-page summary of usage and what's been built on it, with the repeat repairs dashboard in there. I'll have it with you before the end of the month.
- Helen MarsdenThank you. And if it's useful to have someone from IT on a call at some point, I'd rather bring them in properly than have them hear second hand.
- Daniel OkaforI'd welcome that, whenever it suits you. No pressure either way.
- Helen MarsdenGood. Right, so what else have you got? I've got a bit of time before my next meeting.
- Daniel OkaforNot much more, honestly. One question on the refresh timing, since it caught you out. Would it help if the housing system's month-end posting day was marked somewhere visible in the brain? A small note on the page, so anyone pulling a number that morning knows to wait?
- Helen MarsdenOh, that would help a lot. Particularly for the newer analysts. They'll take the number at face value.
- Daniel OkaforThen I'll add it to the note I'm sending, as a suggestion for how your team might set it up. The dashboards builder lets you put a text panel at the top, so it can be done on your side without waiting for us.
- Helen MarsdenPerfect. I'll get one of the team to do it this week.
- Daniel OkaforLovely. Then just to close the loop on what we've agreed. I'll send you the note on arrears and refresh timing, with section four named. I'll come back to you with dates for a short training session for the area managers. And I'll prepare the one-page usage summary, before the end of the month.
- Helen MarsdenAnd from me, the definitions of closed for the complaints and repairs systems, and a sample of the survey spreadsheet with the personal data removed. I'll aim for the end of next week.
- Daniel OkaforThat works. And we'll speak again around June for the next check-in, and I'll be in touch about renewal properly before then, so you're not waiting on me.
- Helen MarsdenThat's fine. Daniel, thank you. It's been useful, and a lot less painful than I'd feared when I joined.
- Daniel OkaforGlad to help. Do give my regards to your team, and good luck with the board pack. You'll be fine.
- Helen MarsdenThanks. Speak soon. Kind regards.
- Daniel OkaforBest wishes, Helen. Bye for now.
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