Calderbrook Housing Group / BB-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Calderbrook Housing Group · 2026-08-06 12:45
Calderbrook confirmed it is moving to the digital team's in-house platform and will not renew Growth when the term ends on 1 Sep 2026. Helen Marsden praised the product, called it not a quality issue, and wants traceable exports for the board pack.
What was said
What this says
Current to 13 Oct 26Calderbrook confirmed it is moving to the digital team's in-house platform and will not renew Growth when the term ends on 1 Sep 2026. Helen Marsden praised the product, called it not a quality issue, and wants traceable exports for the board pack.
What happened: Amara Obi, the new CSM, held an exit check-in with Helen Marsden and Paul Rigby, with Laura Penhaligon covering the export. Calderbrook is moving to the digital team's in-house platform and the Growth term ends on 1 Sep 2026.
Customer view: Helen said the brain did well for what it was bought for and that the decision is not about quality. Usage had fallen to two or three people a day on 40 licences.
Commercial: Amara said the order form and invoices agree at £44k a year with nothing overdue. A written non-renewal from the director of digital is still to come, and the renewal date of 2 Sep 2026 closes once it arrives.
Watch: Helen's worry is the gap before the in-house platform produces the board figures. Source traceability and a recorded last-refresh date matter to her.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Non-renewal and data export
Importance
churn
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
champion
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Helen Marsden to get the non-renewal email from the director of digital to Amara Obi that week.
- Laura Penhaligon to run the first export early the following week, with a reconciliation sheet and a connector accounts list.
- Amara Obi to send the written summary the next day, covering the agreed dates and the invoice position.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- The written non-renewal from the director of digital had not yet arrived, so the renewal date was still open on the call.
- Usage had already fallen to two or three people a day on 40 licences, with most analysts told to stop building in the brain.
- Helen worries the in-house platform will not produce reliable repairs and arrears figures for the autumn board pack.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Amara said the door is open if the picture changes, and Helen said the in-house platform will lag on repairs and arrears.
- The autumn board pack may lean on exported brain figures, so a clean, well-documented export protects goodwill for a later win-back.
Transcript
Amara Obi NoneHello? Can you both hear me? I've got the recorder going, so just flagging that this is being captured.
Helen Marsden NoneYes, loud and clear. Afternoon, Amara.
Paul Rigby NoneAfternoon. Give me a second, I've moved to the small meeting room because the echo in the open area is awful. Better now?- Amara Obi NoneMuch better. Laura's on too, I think. Laura?
Laura Penhaligon NoneI'm here, afternoon everyone. Sorry, I was stuck on mute, which is very on brand for a Thursday.- Amara Obi NoneBrilliant. So, Helen, Paul, we've swapped a few emails but I haven't properly introduced myself on a call. I'm Amara, I'm the customer success manager looking after Calderbrook now. I know this isn't the call anyone would have picked for a first proper hello, but I'd rather we do it well. So, what does good look like for you by the end of today?
- Helen Marsden NoneThank you, that's kind. I'll start with what's on my mind, which is the board pack. The repairs and arrears sections in the last two packs were built on figures out of the brain, and the board will ask where they came from once it's gone. I need every one of those to be traceable to source, and I need us to keep that trail.
- Amara Obi NoneThat's a fair thing to lead with, and we'll come back to it properly. Can I just set out what I think today is, and you tell me if I've got it wrong? You're moving to your in-house platform, the term ends on 1 Sep 2026, and you want your material out cleanly and the brain switched off tidily.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's right. And just so it's clear, the in-house platform is the digital team's programme. It was agreed above me. I'm not going to pretend otherwise, and I'm not going to pretend I'm not sorry to see the brain go either. You're not the first name we've had on this account, mind.
- Amara Obi NoneNo, and I won't pretend I know the history. I can only tell you what I'll do from here, which is see this through properly.
- Paul Rigby NoneSame from me. It's done what I needed on repairs. I just want my views out, because I'd not want to rebuild them from scratch.
- Amara Obi NoneUnderstood, and thank you both for being straight with me. So here's what the numbers say, so we're all looking at the same thing. You've got forty licensed users on Growth, and over the last month it's been two or three people actually in there on a typical day. That's down by nearly half on the quarter before. No tickets this past month either, which I read as quiet rather than unhappy, but tell me if that's wrong.
- Paul Rigby NoneIt's not unhappy. Nothing's broken. Team's just stopped opening it because the new reporting's coming in and nobody wants to build in two places.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's fair. Most of my analysts have been told to stop building anything new in the brain. So it's me and Paul, mainly, and the occasional person from finance looking at arrears.
- Amara Obi NoneOkay, that's useful. Commercial side, so nothing's left hanging: you're on Growth at £44k a year, the order form and the invoices agree, and there's nothing overdue on your side. I'll confirm that in writing afterwards. The one thing I do need from you is the notice that you're not renewing, in writing, from someone who can sign for Calderbrook.
- Helen Marsden NoneI can get that. It'll come from our director of digital, not me, and I'll chase it this week. Is there a form, or is an email enough?
- Amara Obi NoneAn email from them to me is fine. Say it's non-renewal at the end of the term and copy you in. I'll acknowledge it and note that the renewal date of 2 Sep 2026 has been closed off.
- Helen Marsden NoneGood. Right. Back to the board pack, if you don't mind. The section on repairs completed within target, and the arrears by tenancy type table. Those two I can't lose. Can you show me the source for each?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneYes, and that's partly why I'm on. It's worth explaining how this works, because it's different from a normal software exit. The brain runs inside your own Snowflake account. So your underlying tables, the copies of your housing system data, the repairs, the complaints, all of that sits in your Snowflake and it stays there. None of that is ours to take away.
- Helen Marsden NoneRight, so what actually goes?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneWhat we built on top. The connectors and their credentials, the search index, the pages and saved chats, the dashboard definitions and the scheduled refresh. That layer we switch off and remove from your account at the end. Before we do, I'd export what's useful to you, in files you can open without us.
- Paul Rigby NoneDashboards as what, though? A screenshot's no use to me.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneNot screenshots. Each dashboard comes out as its definition plus the SQL behind every tile, so you can rebuild it against your own tables. Pages come out as documents with the source references kept in, which goes to Helen's point.
- Helen Marsden NoneWhen you say source references, is that the table and the row, or just the name of the system?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneTable and the record identifier where we hold one. So if a figure on a page came from a repairs job, you'd see which table and which job. I'd rather show you one live than describe it. Can I share my screen? Paul, you might spot something.
- Paul Rigby NoneGo on.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneRight, so this is the repairs completed in target page from your last board pack. Underneath each figure there's a little source line. See, repairs jobs, the cleaned view, and then the count. That cleaned view is the one Paul built after the housing system upgrade started counting jobs twice.
- Paul Rigby NoneAye, that's my dedupe. Job ref against every row. I'd want that view out as SQL as well, not just the page. That's the bit that took me longest.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneDefinitely. The views we created in your schema come out as plain SQL files, with the notes you left in them. If you give me a list of the ones you care about, I'll make sure they're all in the manifest.
- Paul Rigby NoneI'll send you the list. I've a spreadsheet of every ticket I raised, I'll send that over as well so you've got the job refs.
- Amara Obi NoneThat'd help, thanks Paul. Who else should have access to the export, Helen? I don't want it landing in one inbox and getting lost.
- Helen Marsden NoneMe, Paul, and someone in our finance team for the arrears side. I'd also want our information governance lead aware, because there's tenant data in some of those pages and they'll want to know where the files are stored.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneThat's a good flag. The export lands in a location in your own account first, not emailed anywhere. You decide who can read it and where it goes after that. We don't keep a copy.
- Helen Marsden NoneAnd you confirm that, when it's removed?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneYes. Once we've removed the connectors and our objects from your Snowflake, I'll send written confirmation saying what was removed and when. You can forward that to governance.
- Amara Obi NoneCan we talk timing? The term ends on 1 Sep 2026, so that's getting on for four weeks away. Here's what I'd suggest, and Laura, shout if it's unrealistic. First export run early next week. Paul and Helen review it the week after. Anything missing gets re-run. Then connectors are paused towards the end of August so nothing changes under you, and we do the removal after the term ends.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneThat works. One thing, I'd like the review to be proper, not a skim. If the export's wrong and we've already switched things off, it's awkward for everybody. So I'd say connectors stay live until you've signed off the export.
- Helen Marsden NoneI'd prefer that. And the autumn board pack will still need figures from the brain, so I'll want to keep reading it until the end. Is that possible?
- Amara Obi NoneYes, access stays exactly as it is until the term ends. Nothing gets cut early. After 1 Sep 2026 it's closed.
- Paul Rigby NoneWhat about the nightly refresh? If it's not going to change anything, I'd sooner it kept running so my morning numbers are right till the end.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneIt keeps running until you tell me to stop. Honestly I'd leave it, your stand-up numbers stay right and the final export is as fresh as it can be.
- Amara Obi NoneOkay. While I've got you both, can I ask something a bit different? Not to change anything, I'd just like to understand it. When you think back to when you joined on 2 Sep 2024, how did the brain do against what you wanted?
- Helen Marsden NoneHonestly? For the thing we bought it for, it did well. We got tenant calls, repairs tickets, complaints and arrears into one picture, and the board pack stopped being three people with three spreadsheets. That's the legacy. I'll say that to anyone who asks.
- Paul Rigby NoneRepairs was the bit for me. Took a while to get the double counting sorted, but once it was, I trusted it first thing in the morning. That's all I ever wanted.
- Amara Obi NoneThat's good to hear, and I'll pass it on to the team. Last thing on this, and you can say no: is there anything we could have done that would have changed the outcome? I'm new to the account, so I'm asking honestly.
- Helen Marsden NoneI don't think so, not really. It's a platform consolidation. If it had been up to the BI team alone we'd have kept the brain alongside. It's not a quality thing. Put that down, because I'd not want it read as a complaint.
- Amara Obi NoneI will. And if the picture changes down the line, the door's open. I'm not going to push, I just want you to know.
- Helen Marsden NoneAppreciated.
- Paul Rigby NoneCan I ask about the connectors? The housing system one, and the helpdesk one. They've got service accounts on our side. When do those get shut?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneGood question. I'll put a list in the manifest of every account and token we used for each connector, and where it lives. You revoke them on your side once I've confirmed the removal, or I can walk a colleague in your IT team through it. I'd rather you did the revoking, it's your keys.
- Paul Rigby NoneFine by me. I'll get a colleague in IT on the next one.
- Helen Marsden NoneGoing back to the reconciliation. Laura, could the manifest include a sheet that lists every figure on the pages tagged for the board pack, with the source table beside it? I'll file that with the board papers so the trail is there if anyone asks.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneI can do that. I'll need to filter on the page tag, so Paul, do the board pack pages have a consistent tag? If not I'll go by title.
- Paul Rigby NoneThey should be tagged board. A couple of older ones might not be. I'll check and tell you.
- Helen Marsden NoneAnd if a figure on a page doesn't match its source, I want it flagged, not smoothed over. These don't reconcile is something I'd rather hear now than in front of the board.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneUnderstood. I'll run a check of the page figures against the live tables before I export and I'll list anything that's moved. Some will have, because the refresh has run since the pack was written, and I'll note that rather than overwrite the page.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's exactly right. Thank you.
- Amara Obi NoneLet me pull up my checklist, give me a moment. Right. I'll send you one document tomorrow with everything we've agreed. Export dates, review, connectors paused, removal after the term ends, written confirmation, and who does what. Then you can tell me what I've got wrong.
- Helen Marsden NonePlease. And I'd like the notice email and your acknowledgement in the same thread, so there's a single record.
- Amara Obi NoneDone. Same thread.
- Paul Rigby NoneOne more from me. Forty licences and a handful of us use it. When you shut it, do people lose access straight away, or can they log in to download their own saved chats?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneSaved chats are in the export, per user, so people don't need to log in to get them. If someone's got something they need, tell me by the end of the month and I'll make sure it's in. After removal there's nothing to log in to, so that's the cut-off.
- Paul Rigby NoneRight. I'll put a note round the team.
- Helen Marsden NoneCan I check one thing on the commercial side? There's nothing owed either way, no early termination, nothing like that?
- Amara Obi NoneNothing owed either way. The term runs to 1 Sep 2026 and it simply ends. The invoices are paid, and I'm not aware of any credits outstanding. If anything on our side changes that, I'll tell you before you hear it from finance.
- Helen Marsden NoneGood. That's the answer my director will want.
- Amara Obi NoneI'll copy Tom Ashdown on the acknowledgement as account owner, just so there's a name on our side for anything commercial. For the export itself it's Laura, and for anything else it's me.
- Helen Marsden NoneTom's been fine to deal with. Good.
- Paul Rigby NoneWhat format are the tables, Laura? If it's something odd I'll need to convert.
- Laura Penhaligon NonePlain CSV for the tables, pages as documents, dashboard definitions as text files and the SQL as text files. Nothing proprietary. Anything you can open on a laptop, you can use.
- Paul Rigby NoneGood. That's what I wanted to hear.
- Helen Marsden NoneLaura, once the export's done, would you have time to take Paul through it? He's the one who'll be rebuilding the repairs views on the new platform, and I'd like a proper handover, not just a folder of files.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneOf course. An hour with Paul once he's had a look, screen share, we go through the views and which tables they lean on. And I'll write the notes up afterwards.
- Paul Rigby NoneCheers. That'll save me a lot of guesswork.
- Amara Obi NoneWhile we're at it, anything that worries you about the move? Not about us. I mean, is there anything we can do that makes your next few weeks easier?
- Helen Marsden NoneMm. Maybe. Honestly, the worry is the gap. The in-house platform won't be producing the repairs and arrears sections the way the board is used to for a while. So the autumn pack may have to lean on the exported figures, and I'd want to be able to say they came from the brain, up to a date, and what that date was. Can your confirmation say when the final refresh ran?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneYes. I'll record the last successful refresh in the manifest, and the export timestamp. You'll have both.
- Helen Marsden NoneThen I think I'm comfortable.
- Amara Obi NoneLet me read back the actions so we're not relying on memory. Helen: the notice email from your director to me, this week, and who else gets the export. Paul: your list of views and dashboards, the ticket spreadsheet, and confirm the board tag. Laura: first export early next week, the reconciliation sheet, the connector accounts list, and the handover with Paul. Me: the written summary tomorrow, the acknowledgement of the notice, and the commercial confirmation. Did I miss anything?
- Paul Rigby NoneThat's it for me.
- Helen Marsden NoneOne thing: you said you'd confirm the invoices in writing. I'd like that in the summary too.
- Amara Obi NoneYes, it'll be in there. Growth, £44k a year, all invoices paid, nothing outstanding.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneCan I add something? Once the export's out, please don't delete anything on your side straight away. Keep it all in place for a week or so in case you find a gap, and then it's safe.
- Helen Marsden NoneNoted. Wise.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneShall I use the time to look at the dashboards list while I've got you? It'll save a round of emails. Sharing again. So there's the repairs ones, Paul's, then one for arrears, one for complaints, and a couple of drafts with no real owner.
- Paul Rigby NoneThe drafts are mine. Bin them, there's nothing in them worth keeping.
- Helen Marsden NoneArrears and complaints, both. And the one that joins tenant calls to repairs tickets, if that's a dashboard and not a page. That was the whole reason we bought it.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneIt's a page with saved questions behind it. I'll export both. Give me a second while I tag them.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneRight, tagged. So that's the keep list: repairs, arrears, complaints, and the joined-up tenant page. Drafts out. I'll note it in the manifest and you can correct me when you see it.
- Helen Marsden NonePerfect.
- Amara Obi NoneBefore I let you go, diaries. Paul, when are you around over the next few weeks? I don't want to plan a review you can't attend.
- Paul Rigby NoneI'm off the week after next. Back the Monday after that. Before then I can do anything.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneThen I'll run the export early next week so you have it before you go, and the walkthrough waits till you're back. Does that work, Paul?
- Paul Rigby NoneAye, that works. I'll look through it before I go.
- Helen Marsden NoneAnd I'll be in that following week as well, so I can sit in on the walkthrough if it's useful.
- Amara Obi NoneLovely. I'll put holds in for both of you. Let's get the walkthrough in the diary for the week Paul's back.
- Helen Marsden NoneBefore we finish, Amara, and Laura, I know it's not a happy call. Thank you for making it straightforward.
- Amara Obi NoneThat means a lot, honestly. We'll make the exit as good as the rest of it. I'll get the summary out tomorrow, and if anything's different from what I've read back, just say so.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneAnd I'll send the export schedule and the connector list early next week, ahead of the run.
- Paul Rigby NoneCheers all.
- Helen Marsden NoneThanks everyone. Speak soon.
- Amara Obi NoneBest, everyone. Take care.
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