Ashwell Mercer Interiors / BG-Demo – Training
Callcompleted
Ashwell Mercer Interiors · 14 Oct 2024 09:30
Training call on 14 Oct 2024. Sunil Kapoor flagged a variation total that does not tie to the ledger for one client. Both customer contacts said few of the licensed users open the brain. Callie Brennan took three actions.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Training call on 14 Oct 2024. Sunil Kapoor flagged a variation total that does not tie to the ledger for one client. Both customer contacts said few of the licensed users open the brain. Callie Brennan took three actions.
What happened: Callie Brennan ran a training session with Sunil Kapoor and Jamal Edwards on chat, search and the dashboards builder. Jamal left after about eleven minutes for a site walk.
Customer view: Sunil said the average over the last month is under four people a day out of forty. Jamal said his team asked what they were meant to be getting from it and he had no good answer.
Commercial: Growth is the plan in use, and adoption is thin against the licences held. Jamal said the client page could save him a good chunk of an hour a week by letting credit control see what was agreed.
Watch: One client's approved variations total is lower than the ledger across two project codes. Sunil said everything else he checked had tied, and Callie owes a mapping check, a retention mapping change and a note for the project managers.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Adoption and data reconciliation
Importance
neutral
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Sunil Kapoor to send the two project codes, the ledger total and line items on the day of the call.
- Callie Brennan to check how the project and finance systems are joined, then make the retention mapping change.
- Callie Brennan to send Jamal Edwards a short note and brief Marcus Bell before the next check-in.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Only a handful of the forty licensed users open the brain, and most project managers still start from their own spreadsheets.
- One client's variation total does not tie to the ledger across two project codes, which could undermine trust in the numbers.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Credit control can use the client page and the Growth dashboards builder to answer agreed-terms questions without ringing project managers.
- A small starter group of project managers on the biggest live jobs plus credit control can seed wider use.
Transcript
Callie BrennanMorning both. Can you hear me alright? I can see you but I'm not getting any sound from Jamal yet.
Jamal EdwardsMorning. Sorry, I was on mute. Can you hear me now?- Callie BrennanLoud and clear, thanks. And Sunil, hello.
Sunil KapoorMorning, Callie. Morning, Jamal.- Jamal EdwardsApologies in advance, I'm in the car park outside a site, so if I drop out that's why. I've got until about ten past ten before I have to go in and walk it with the client.
- Callie BrennanNo problem at all, we'll front-load the bits you need most. Mm, how's the week been so far?
- Jamal EdwardsMonday, so it's all variations and chasing sign-offs. The usual. Nothing's on fire, I'll say that.
- Sunil KapoorBefore we start, can I mention one thing? I found a discrepancy on Friday and I'd rather say it now than have it hang over the session.
- Callie BrennanYes, go on. That's exactly what I'd want.
- Sunil KapoorOne client, a landlord we do a lot of work for. When I ask the brain for the value of approved variations across their projects, the total doesn't tie to the ledger. It's lower. Not by a huge amount, but it doesn't tie, and I don't like a number I can't reconcile.
- Callie BrennanRight, okay. That's helpful, and I'm glad you flagged it. My first question would be which project code, because I suspect it's a mapping thing rather than missing data. Do you remember which one?
- Sunil KapoorTwo codes, actually. The older fit-out and a phase two that was opened under a new code last spring. I'd have to check which one is short. I'll reconcile it and send you the line items.
- Callie BrennanPerfect. What I need from your side is the two codes and the ledger total you're comparing against. I'll then check how the project system and the finance system are joined for that client. Before we switch on any more refreshes I want to be sure that maps cleanly.
- Sunil KapoorUnderstood. I'll send it this afternoon.
- Callie BrennanLovely. So, the plan for the next hour or so. First, asking questions in chat and how to phrase them so you get answers you can trust. Second, search and pages, so people can find a client's whole history in one place. Third, the dashboards builder, which is part of your Growth plan. Then last, ten minutes on who in your teams should be using this and how we get them there. Does that work?
- Jamal EdwardsYeah. Can I be honest about that last bit? Because I think that's where I've got the most to say.
- Callie BrennanPlease. Say it now if you like, it'll shape how I do the rest.
- Jamal EdwardsRight. We've got forty licences. I know that because Sunil told me. But when I look around the project managers, it's a handful of us actually opening it. Me, Sunil, one or two others. Everyone else has a spreadsheet they've had for years and they open that first, every time.
- Sunil KapoorThe numbers back that up. The average over the last month is under four people a day. Out of forty.
- Callie BrennanYeah. I'll be straight with you, that's lower than I'd want to see at this stage, and it's not a surprise. It's usually the same story. The people who were in the room at the start use it, and everyone else was never really shown why it's better than the thing they already trust.
- Jamal EdwardsThat's fair. And my team asked me last week what they were meant to be getting from it. I didn't have a good answer. That's not a dig, it's just where we are.
- Callie BrennanNo, it's useful. So let's make today about real questions your project managers actually ask. Jamal, give me one you'd normally go to a spreadsheet for.
- Jamal EdwardsOkay. Which of my live projects have variations that have been instructed but not yet priced or signed? Because that's cash we're carrying, and I normally build that by hand on a Friday.
- Callie BrennanGood one. Let me share my screen. Can you see the chat window?
- Jamal EdwardsYes. Bit small but I can see it.
- Callie BrennanI'll bump it up. Right. I'm going to type it nearly as you said it, and notice I'm naming the status words, instructed, priced, signed, because the brain answers better when you use the same words your own systems use.
- Sunil KapoorWhich is why the field names matter. If someone writes approved when we record it as signed off, they'll get a thinner answer.
- Callie BrennanExactly that. Okay, it's thinking. While it does, Jamal, notice it'll show you the sources underneath, so you can click through to the record rather than just trust the sentence.
- Jamal EdwardsOh. It's come back. That's, that's quite a few more than I'd have guessed.
- Callie BrennanMm. Is that more than your Friday list?
- Jamal EdwardsYes. Two of these I'd forgotten about completely. One's on a project I'm barely on now, it's with another PM. That's annoying, actually. Annoying in a useful way.
- Sunil KapoorCan I check one thing? Those at the bottom, the ones with no instruction date. Is that a gap in the data or are they genuinely undated?
- Callie BrennanGood catch, and I won't say they're fine without looking. Let me open one. Right, this one has the instruction in an email but no date in the project system. So the brain found it in the thread, which is a point in its favour, but the structured field is empty. That's a habit issue, not a connector fault.
- Sunil KapoorRight. So I can build a rule for that on our side. Flag any variation with no date after a week.
- Callie BrennanYes, though before you build a report for it, ask the brain. You could just ask it to list variations missing an instruction date and save the question.
- Sunil KapoorI'd rather not build a report the brain can already answer. Fair enough. Show me how to save it.
- Callie BrennanTop right of the answer, there's a pin. It saves the question, not the answer, so every time you open it you get the current picture. Try it, Sunil, you've got the admin rights.
- Sunil KapoorDone. It's in the saved list. Can I share it to the project managers as a group?
- Callie BrennanYou can, and that's the thing I'd do first. Share it to a group, and then it's something the others see when they open the brain, rather than something they have to invent.
- Jamal EdwardsSorry, to jump in. I've got maybe twenty minutes of battery and signal. Can we do the client history thing next? That's what the commercial lot kept asking about.
- Callie BrennanOf course. Search and pages. Let me type the name of that landlord client, Sunil, the same one with the ledger issue. Is that okay?
- Sunil KapoorYes, it's a good test. Though if the totals on the page look wrong that's the same discrepancy, not a new one.
- Callie BrennanUnderstood, I'll keep that in mind. Right. So search brings back projects, people, emails, calls and invoices for that client. This is the client page. Everything's grouped, projects on the left, recent calls and emails in the middle, invoices and credit control notes on the right.
- Jamal EdwardsCan the credit control people see this too? Because they're always ringing me to ask what's been agreed on a job before they chase.
- Callie BrennanThey can, they're licensed, and that's one of the reasons Growth was set up across those three teams. So instead of ringing you, they open the client page, and they can see the variation and the email where it was instructed.
- Jamal EdwardsHonestly that alone would save me about an hour a week.
- Sunil KapoorI'd be careful promising that. But it would cut some of it.
- Jamal EdwardsFine, a good chunk of an hour. Better?
- Sunil KapoorYes. Thank you.
- Callie BrennanHa. Okay, I'll let you two settle that. Jamal, you said you've got a site walk. Is there anything specific you want me to leave you with before you go?
- Jamal EdwardsYes. One thing. If I'm going to push my team onto this, I need to know it's not going to give them a wrong number. If one of them quotes a figure to a client and it's off, that's me explaining it.
- Callie BrennanThat's the right concern, and I'd rather you had it now. So here's how I'd put it to your team. The brain tells you where it got the answer. Anything going to a client, you click through and check the source. And where a number doesn't tie, which is what Sunil found, we fix the mapping, we don't ask people to work round it.
- Sunil KapoorAnd I'll say, so far the discrepancy is one client and two codes. Everything else I've checked has tied. I wouldn't want to overstate it.
- Jamal EdwardsOkay. That helps. Right, I've got to go in. Can you two carry on with the dashboards bit and send me anything I need to forward on?
- Callie BrennanYes, I'll send a short note this afternoon. Safe walking, Jamal.
- Jamal EdwardsCheers. Speak soon.
- Callie BrennanRight. Sunil, shall we carry on? The dashboards builder is the piece I most want you to feel comfortable with, because you're the one who'll build for others.
- Sunil KapoorYes. I've opened it once and then stopped, because I wasn't sure which source tables it was drawing from.
- Callie BrennanSensible. It draws from the same governed layer as the chat, inside your own Snowflake account, so a dashboard tile and a chat answer should never disagree. If they do, that's a bug and I want to know. Let's build one together. What's the one view you'd want every project manager to see on a Monday?
- Sunil KapoorOpen variations by project, with value, status and age. And then retention held versus released, if it's possible.
- Callie BrennanBoth are possible. Start with variations. New dashboard, give it a name, and choose the question you pinned a minute ago as the first tile.
- Sunil KapoorOkay, it's there. Age is a column now. Can I sort it oldest first?
- Callie BrennanClick the header. Yes. Now the interesting bit, which is that anyone you share this with sees only what they're allowed to see. So the credit control team won't see something you've kept to project managers.
- Sunil KapoorGood. That was the second thing I wanted to ask. Right, retention. Which project code, I mean, which field is retention under?
- Callie BrennanI don't want to guess that and then say it's fine. Let me look at what's mapped. Hold on.
- Callie BrennanRight. Retention is coming through on the invoice lines but not as its own field. So you can ask for it in chat and get a good answer, but a tile will need a small mapping change. That's one for me to do and note down, not something to improvise live.
- Sunil KapoorFine by me. I'd prefer it done properly. Add it to the list with the two project codes.
- Callie BrennanWill do. So, a quick recap of what I owe you. One, look at the two codes and the ledger total once you've sent them. Two, the retention mapping. Three, a short note for Jamal to forward to the project managers, with the saved question and how to find it.
- Sunil KapoorAnd from my side, the line items this afternoon, and I'll put a list of who to start with. Not forty names. Maybe the project managers on the three biggest live jobs, plus someone from credit control.
- Callie BrennanThat's exactly the right size. Small group, a real question each, and then we look again in a couple of weeks. And I'd mention this to Marcus as well, your customer success manager, so he can see where you are before the next check-in.
- Sunil KapoorYes, please do. I'd rather he heard it from us than found it in a usage chart.
- Callie BrennanUnderstood. Anything else before we stop? We've gone a little over, sorry.
- Sunil KapoorNo, that's all. Thanks, Callie. This was more useful than I expected, to be honest.
- Callie BrennanGood, I'm glad. Thanks, both. Speak soon.
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