Merriott Lyle Distribution / BG-Demo – Onboarding
Callcompleted
Merriott Lyle Distribution · 14 Mar 2025 16:45
Onboarding call with Deepa Chauhan and Tariq Saleem. Staging tables, the review list owner and accounting access gate the first load. Callie Brennan refused to give a date for branch waves, and Deepa welcomed that.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Onboarding call with Deepa Chauhan and Tariq Saleem. Staging tables, the review list owner and accounting access gate the first load. Callie Brennan refused to give a date for branch waves, and Deepa welcomed that.
What happened: Callie Brennan walked Deepa Chauhan and Tariq Saleem through connectors, account matching, ownership and user waves. Five connectors are in the order form, with email and the shared drive as a second wave.
Customer view: Deepa wants credit control and sales looking at the same trade account, with every number traceable to its source. She said she has been given dates before that turned into apologies.
Commercial: Nothing commercial was raised, and Callie said contract matters go to Lewis directly. The customer is moving towards a head office rollout first, then waves up to the licensed users.
Watch: Accounting access is still with the customer's finance team, and it gates the invoice view. Who can see question history must be settled before the branch waves, because credit control will not want branch managers seeing disputes.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Onboarding connectors and matching
Importance
neutral
Sentiment
positive
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Tariq Saleem to send table shapes and two branch names tonight, then the IT contact and accounting access on Monday.
- Deepa Chauhan to confirm the first user wave and credit control's view on question history before Wednesday.
- Callie Brennan to send the first refresh plan and a draft setup note once the table shapes arrive.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Accounting access is still with the customer's finance team and blocks the invoice view.
- No date is set for the branch waves, and the customer has been let down by dates before.
- Visibility of question history is unsettled and matters to credit control before the branch waves.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Email and the shared drive follow as a second wave within Enterprise connector headroom.
- The monthly account-data review can serve as the first proof, using an account the teams have argued about.
- Waves of users up to the licensed users give room to show value team by team.
Transcript
Callie BrennanHi both. Can you hear me alright? I'm getting a little echo on my side, hang on, let me mute the other tab.
Tariq SaleemYeah, clear here. Hello.
Deepa ChauhanHello, hello. Sorry, I'm just coming off another call, give me one second to get my notes up. It's been a long Friday already.- Callie BrennanNo rush at all. Friday at quarter to five, I'll take it as a good sign that you're both still here. Right, let me tell you the plan for the next hour, or the forty-nine minutes we've actually got booked.
- Callie BrennanFour things. First, connectors: what's connected, what isn't, and what I need from your side before we switch on the refresh. Second, account matching between the branch system and the CRM, because I know that's the one that matters most to you. Third, who owns what once I step back. And fourth, how you want to bring users in, because Enterprise means single sign-on and the provisioning side as well. Does that cover it?
- Tariq SaleemThat's about right. Can I start with the open tickets? Just so they're not hanging.
- Callie BrennanPlease do.
- Tariq SaleemThere's only the one, and it's mine. It's about the role the brain runs under in Snowflake. I asked whether it can be read-only on our source schemas and write only to its own area. I've had an answer but I'd like to say it back to make sure I've understood.
- Callie BrennanGo on, say it back.
- Tariq SaleemSo the brain reads from what we point it at, builds its own tables in a separate schema inside our account, and nothing it does touches the source tables. If that's wrong I want to know now rather than after the first load.
- Callie BrennanThat's right, and it maps cleanly to how I'd set it up. Everything runs inside your Snowflake account, so you keep the keys. What I'll do is put it in the setup note so it's written down and you can show your security people.
- Tariq SaleemGood. That's the one I'll close then. Thanks.
- Deepa ChauhanCan I add my one thing, so it's on the table? By the end of this call I need to know two things. When the branch managers and credit control will be looking at the same view of a trade account, and what has to be true before that happens. Everything else is detail.
- Callie BrennanThat's a good frame, and I'll come back to it at the end so we don't lose it. Let's get into connectors then. Tariq, I'm sharing my screen, can you see the list?
- Tariq SaleemI can see it. Which connector are we starting with?
- Callie BrennanThe CRM first, since it's the spine. Then the branch system, the helpdesk, the call recorder and the accounting system. Those five are the ones in the order form, and I've kept the others you mentioned in the kickoff as a second wave.
- Deepa ChauhanWhich ones are second wave, just so I say the right thing to the regions?
- Callie BrennanEmail and the shared drive. They're wanted, nobody's arguing, but I'd rather the first refresh landed clean on five than half landed on seven. Once it's stable we add them, and the Enterprise tier has plenty of room for that.
- Deepa ChauhanFine. I won't promise the regions email search on day one. I'll say it's after the first month's check.
- Callie BrennanThat's exactly what I'd say. Right, credentials. This is where I need to be careful, because I don't start a connector without written access. Tariq, where are we on the service accounts?
- Tariq SaleemCRM is done, I sent it on Wednesday. The helpdesk and the call recorder are done as well. The accounting one is with our finance team and I'm chasing, I'll check where it's got to. The branch system is the awkward one.
- Callie BrennanAwkward how?
- Tariq SaleemIt doesn't have a tidy API. We get a nightly extract out of it and it lands in a staging area. So the question is whether you read from the extract or from our staging tables, and I'd say staging, because that's where we've already cleaned the branch codes.
- Callie BrennanStaging is fine by me, and I'd prefer it. Can you send me the table names and a sample of the branch codes before the weekend? Not the data, just the shape. I want to check the mapping myself rather than assume.
- Tariq SaleemI can do that. The shape, not the rows. I'll send it this evening.
- Callie BrennanLovely. And while you're at it, does the extract run every night including weekends, or only on business days?
- Tariq SaleemBusiness days only. The branches that trade on a Saturday get picked up on Monday morning. I'd have to check the load log to be sure how late it finishes. It's usually done well before the office is in, but I don't want to guess.
- Callie BrennanDon't guess, quite right. Look at it for a week and tell me the latest finish. The brain's nightly refresh is meant to be complete by seven in the morning on business days, so I want to know our extract finishes ahead of that, otherwise the brain will be reading yesterday's branch data.
- Deepa ChauhanWhich would be a rumour problem, wouldn't it. A branch manager looking at a view and it's a day behind.
- Callie BrennanIt would, yes. Stale and available are two different things, so I'd rather we catch the timing now.
- Deepa ChauhanAgreed. Put it on the list.
- Callie BrennanOn the list. Right, account matching, which I think is where you've both been waiting. Let me pull up what I've got. Bear with me, it's a big sheet.
- Callie BrennanOkay. So the CRM has a trade account with its own ID. The branch system has the same customer, but keyed by branch and account code. And one trade account can be served by several branches. Is that the right way round?
- Tariq SaleemThat's the right way round, and that's the whole difficulty. A plumbing firm in Coventry might buy from three branches. In the branch system that's three records. In the CRM it should be one. Mostly it is, but not always, and that's a mapping question, not a data quality question.
- Deepa ChauhanAnd I'd not want anyone to say the branches have done it wrong. They haven't. The systems were never built to talk to each other.
- Tariq SaleemNo, absolutely. The branches enter what they need to trade. It's on us to join it up.
- Callie BrennanThat's how I'd put it too. So here's what I propose. I match on the account code first, because that's the most reliable. Where there's no code match, I don't fall back on name alone. I put those into a review list for you rather than guess.
- Tariq SaleemGood. Name matching on builders' merchants is a minefield. You get three firms called something and Sons.
- Callie BrennanExactly. So the review list is where the human decisions go. And what I'd ask is that one person owns that list so it doesn't become everybody's and nobody's.
- Deepa ChauhanThat's Tariq to run it day to day. Anything that changes how an account is matched, he tells me first. We agreed that already, it's how we do the CRM.
- Tariq SaleemYes. I don't change a mapping without telling Deepa. Even if it's tiny.
- Callie BrennanPerfect, that's written in my notes as a rule. Now, the monthly account-data review you chair, Deepa. Is credit control going to be in that, or is that still just the regional directors?
- Deepa ChauhanCredit control are in it, and I'd like them more in it. Let's get credit control in the room properly, that's what I keep saying. Right now they bring a spreadsheet, sales bring another one, and we spend half the meeting arguing about whose is right.
- Callie BrennanMm. So what would the meeting look like if the brain was working?
- Deepa ChauhanSomeone asks about a trade account. The orders, the disputes, the calls and the invoices are all there. Nobody says the figure's wrong, they say show me where that number comes from, and it does.
- Callie BrennanThat's a nice target, and it's reachable. The thing I'd say is that it's the invoices that will test us, because they come from the accounting system and the dispute history sits with the helpdesk. So the accounting connector is the one I'd most like to unblock.
- Tariq SaleemI'll go and find out where that's stuck as soon as we're off. Honestly, it's probably a form sitting in someone's inbox.
- Deepa ChauhanIf it needs me to nudge, tell me who and I'll nudge.
- Tariq SaleemI'll tell you after.
- Callie BrennanGood. Let me show you the first refresh plan, I'll put it on screen. Give me a moment.
- Callie BrennanRight. So before we switch on the refresh, there's a short checklist. Written access for each connector. The staging table names. The review list owner. And a test group of users, small, who'll tell us if something looks wrong. Once those four are ticked, I run the first load on a weekend so nobody's looking at half a picture on a Monday.
- Tariq SaleemWeekend's good for me. Quieter on the platform. How long is the first load likely to take?
- Callie BrennanI'd rather not put a number on it until I've seen the volumes. A hundred and twenty branches with years of orders is a lot of history. What I'll do is a small slice first, a couple of branches, and then I'll tell you how long the full run will take rather than say it'll be fine.
- Deepa ChauhanWhich two branches would you start with?
- Callie BrennanYour call, really. I'd pick one busy one and one quiet one, so we see both kinds of behaviour. Tariq, you'd know better than me.
- Tariq SaleemI'd go with one of the big city ones and one of the small market town ones. Different mix of products, and the smaller ones tend to have the odd account code that doesn't match, so we'd see the review list working.
- Callie BrennanThat's a good choice, and I like that it's deliberately a bit awkward. Put the two names in the email with the table shapes.
- Tariq SaleemWill do.
- Callie BrennanRight, users. You've got two hundred licensed users on Enterprise, and I know you won't switch on two hundred in a day. What's the thinking?
- Deepa ChauhanNo, definitely not. It's a handful at head office first. Me, Tariq, credit control, a few key-account managers. Then regional directors, then the branch managers in waves. I don't want two hundred people finding it on the same morning and half of them not knowing what to ask it.
- Callie BrennanSensible. Waves also help me, because if a question gives a strange answer we've got a small group to learn from. How do you want people signed in?
- Tariq SaleemSingle sign-on through our identity provider, and I'd like the provisioning to follow our joiners and leavers, so nobody has a seat after they've left. That's one thing I'll have to line up with a colleague in IT.
- Callie BrennanGood, that's included in your tier. What I need from you for that is the person in IT who can approve the connection, and I'd want it in writing, same as the connectors. Can you give me a name?
- Tariq SaleemI'll find out who's covering it and put them on the thread.
- Deepa ChauhanCan I ask something slightly off to the side? When someone in a branch asks the brain a question, who sees the question?
- Callie BrennanFair question, and I'd be careful with the answer. Let me not improvise it. The access side follows your roles, so people only see what they're allowed to see. The detail on who can review question history is something I'll confirm in the setup note rather than say from memory.
- Deepa ChauhanThat's what I wanted to hear. Not an answer from memory.
- Tariq SaleemIt'll matter for the credit control team. They won't want a branch manager seeing a dispute they're handling.
- Callie BrennanUnderstood, and I've noted it. I'd flag it as a question to settle before the branch waves, not before head office.
- Deepa ChauhanYes, that's the right order.
- Callie BrennanLet me do the ownership piece now, because I'm not here forever on this. When I hand over, I want Tariq able to run the connectors alone. I don't hand over without a setup note, so by the end you'll have one document: connectors, credentials, mappings, the review list, and what to do if a load fails.
- Tariq SaleemI'd like that. Especially the last bit. If a connector stops loading I'd want to know what to look at first. I'll check the load log, obviously, but what then?
- Callie BrennanI'll write the order of things to check. Usually if records stop growing, it's because a system changed upstream, a field renamed or a credential rotated. So the first question is always what changed on your side. You'd be the first to know that.
- Tariq SaleemWhich is why I'd want to be told before anyone changes the branch extract.
- Deepa ChauhanI'll make sure that's said at the next meeting with the platform people.
- Callie BrennanBrilliant. Now the thing I said I'd come back to. Deepa, your one thing. When will branch managers and credit control look at the same view, and what has to be true first.
- Deepa ChauhanGo on then.
- Callie BrennanWhat has to be true: the accounting access arrives in writing, Tariq's staging shapes come over, the review list has an owner, and the first slice of two branches loads and looks right. Then the full load on a weekend. Then the head office group sees it first. I'd say credit control and key accounts together at head office are your first shared view, and the branch managers follow in waves after that.
- Deepa ChauhanSo credit control and sales in the same room, looking at the same account, before the branches.
- Callie BrennanYes. And I'd use your monthly review as the first real test. Bring one account that you've argued about before and see whether the brain settles it.
- Deepa ChauhanOh, I've got a few of those. Plenty of accounts we've argued about.
- Tariq SaleemMore than a few.
- Deepa ChauhanRight. That's clear. I can take that to the regional directors and not overpromise.
- Callie BrennanOne honest caveat, though. I'm not putting a date on the branch waves today, because it depends on the staging and the accounting access. I'd rather give you a date when I can stand behind it.
- Deepa ChauhanI'd prefer that. I've been given dates before that turned into apologies.
- Callie BrennanUnderstood. Let me summarise who sends what, and then I'll let you get to your weekends. Tariq, you send me the table shapes, the two branch names, and the IT contact, tonight or Monday at the latest. And you chase the accounting access with your finance team.
- Tariq SaleemYes. Table shapes and branches tonight. IT name and the accounting access, Monday.
- Callie BrennanDeepa, you confirm the first wave of users and the question about who can see question history, with credit control's view on it.
- Deepa ChauhanYes. I'll get credit control's answer before Wednesday. And I'll tell the regional directors it's waves, no promises on email search yet.
- Callie BrennanAnd I send you the first refresh plan and a draft of the setup note, once I've got the shapes, and I'll tell you how long the first slice takes rather than say it'll be fine. Daniel's looped in as your customer success contact, so he'll see all of this, and Lewis knows the commercial side is untouched.
- Deepa ChauhanGood, thank you. Does Lewis need anything from me?
- Callie BrennanNothing from this call. If anything about the contract comes up in your internal meetings, send it to him directly and I'll keep out of it.
- Deepa ChauhanFine. I like to keep money conversations on the proper channel anyway.
- Tariq SaleemBefore we go, one small thing. The ticket I'm closing. Do I close it, or do you?
- Callie BrennanYou close it, it's yours. I'll add a note on the thread with the read-only answer so it's recorded.
- Tariq SaleemCheers. That's me.
- Deepa ChauhanThank you, Callie. That was more useful than I expected for a Friday afternoon.
- Callie BrennanThat's kind. Have a good weekend, both of you. Speak next week. Thanks, bye.
- Tariq SaleemBye, have a good one.
- Deepa ChauhanBye both.
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