Sherpa Navigator

 

***NOTE*** - Customers who have requested and been issued the April 2024 release of Sherpa or any release afterwards: 

Please see this new article discussing the changes introduced with Navigator 2.0!

Sherpa Navigator 2.0 

 

Sherpa Navigator is a data mining tool that allows dealers the ability to quickly and easily mine their Sherpa and ERP databases for critical information that otherwise might go unnoticed.  Throughout Compass Sherpa and your ERP system you can virtually combine any available fields to uncover opportunities by pulling data, or custom lists, of customer information.  You can then export these lists to Excel and create customized frequently used lists and assign them to Compass Sherpa users.

Admin Set-Up
For any user you want to have access to Sherpa Navigator, you will need to authorize them in the Manage Users area.  In the General tab choose to give them access to it (Sherpa Navigator Access), or to just saved filters from the Administrator (Sherpa Navigator Filter Only).  In the Reports/Exports tab you can choose to give the user to export filter results to Excel Sherpa Navigator Export

You will also want to set a default user in the Administration Control Panel for who will receive activities when creating bulk activities and no user is present on an account.  

Using Sherpa Navigator
In the Home Screen, you can find Sherpa Navigator under Reports menu.
Once in Sherpa Navigator, first choose the type of data you want to see from the Data dropdown and click the Load Grid button; the default columns will vary based on what you choose from this list.  You can click on the column heading to sort by that column, and also rearrange the columns by clicking and dragging the column to the position you want.  

Once you run the filter you will see the number of records in the bottom left hand corner, if you don’t want to see that tally you can right click and choose “none” and it will no longer show.

You can type in the blank field below the column header name to search for specific key words, and also fit the column width to the amount of data by right clicking on the column header and choosing the "Best Fit (all columns)" option or click the Auto Size Columns button.

You can also group the columns by clicking and dragging the heading to the blue area above it.  Once you create a group, you can right click on the group name in the blue area to see other options.  For example, the Group Summary Editor option will allow you to see the number of results in each group.  Choose the column you want to see the total count for and check the Count check box.  

To remove the grouping, click and drag the heading back to the position you want it in the grid.  

To add columns, use the Add/Remove Columns button - available columns will vary

based on what you choose in the Data dropdown.

This will give you a list of other available fields you can pull from in the database - double click on the field and it will be added to the grid.

To run an advanced filter, click the Advanced Filter button

This will allow you to search for accounts based on a combination of information using "And", "Or", "Equals", "Is Less Than / Greater Than", etc.  Click on the Apply button to see the results.

 

You can set Format Conditions by clicking on the Set Format Condition button.

This will allow you to see matches based on the conditions you set.  You can then choose to have the fields with the matching information highlighted (Select Back Color), just the text color changed (Select Font Color), or have the entire row highlighted (check Highlight Entire Row).  Click on Font Color to choose the color.

A more robust conditional formatting feature is available. Right-click on the header row in the grid and you’ll have Conditional Formatting options. You can use the Custom Condition feature which is a much easier tool than using “Expression” in the other conditional formatting tool. You’ll also have a ton of options such as color scales, data bars, and icon sets which can be used for some great looking reports.

 

 

 

To clear the format conditions, click the Clear Format Conditions button.

Once you have the results you want, you can export it to Excel using the Export button.

You can also save the filter criteria by clicking the Personal Filter button and naming the filter; only you will have access to the saved filter.

To save the filter so that a specific Rep(s) can run that filter, click the Global Filter button and choose the Rep name(s) you want to save it for.  Only Administrators can save a filter to a specific Rep, and only the Administrator of the filter can make changes to it or delete it.  Administrator can also save a Global Filter to ALL Reps including new Reps that are added in the future and they will have access to the Filter.

They will then see this filter option under Saved Filters dropdown - Note: The Rep can only see results for accounts that they have access to.

Note that on both Save Filter options, if a filter is saved with a date range option, that date range will have to be updated for it if next time you run it you want the current date, otherwise you will always get the same results.
For overriding a Global Filter with new dates (or any criteria) click the Global Filter button and highlight the current filter you want to override.  You will get a message asking if you want to overwrite the filter.

To Access the training documentation on Sherpa Navigator, click the Tutorial button and it will open this document.

We have also provided Pre-Loaded filters are also available under Sample Filters.

To create activities in bulk for accounts in the filter result, click the Activities button.  This function is only available by Administrators.  

1. Choose whether you would like to open a new activity (pending) or complete an activity on the accounts from the filter.
2. Pick a time and duration (not required) and choose the type of activity.  You can also mark it as Urgent by checking the Mark as Urgent box.
3. Enter the Objective of the activity.
4. If completing an activity instead of opening one, you will also put your notes, or the result, in the Notes area.

When opening pending activities, they will automatically be assigned to the primary rep on the account.  If the account has no primary rep, but has a single non-primary rep, that rep gets assigned to the activity.  If the account has no named reps, it will go to the territory rep.  If none of these factors exist, the activity will go to the default rep listed in the Administrator Control Panel.  

As an Administrator or Manager, you are also able to run a filter as any other user to see the results.  You will (As an Admin only) have an additional dropdown on the left of the screen to choose from any users and run the filter as if it were them:

Just set up the filter as usual and choose the user’s name you want to run the filter as from the dropdown.  When selecting a user to run a filter with and you choose to save the filter it will now pay attention to the Sales Rep dropdown when this module is turned on. Making it now available with the Saved Filters.

Example – for Activity creation for E-Automate filters, you must be in Sherpa Navigator to create the activity.  You cannot create an activity in the ERP interface

 

Example Filters

Owner Query – Sales subtotaled by branch and by manufacture sold

• Under Data: Choose Accounts and Opportunities - this will pull from the Opportunities tab in Accounts.
• Add the additional columns you want to have exported: In this example it is "Region Name" and "Equipment Details" - this will bring in the region and the make of the equipment.
• Double click on the filed in the list or click and drag it to the position you want it to in the grid. (This applies for any time you want to add a field.

 

• Run an Advanced Filter -

Choose the "And" option (default)

1. Choose [Region Name]  
2. Choose "Equals", and type in the Region Name (branch)
3. Click the + next to "And" to add, and choose [Equipment Details]
4. Choose "Contains", and type in the Manufacture
5. Click the "Apply" button, and you will see you results in the grid

Territory Management – Number of customers, machines and total contracted volume by territory 

• Under Data: Choose EAuto / OMD Meter Information and enter a date range - this will pull from your ERP.

        

• Add the additional columns you want to have exported: In this example it is "Avg Monthly Volume 12Mo" and "Location Zip" - this will bring in the average monthly volume over 12 months and the zip code of the location of the equipment.
  

• Run an Advanced Filter -

Choose the "And" option (default)

6. Choose [Avg Monthly Volume 12Mo] - you can also choose 3 or 6 months  
7. Choose "Is greater than", and type in 0 (or the number you want)
8. Click the + next to "And" to add, and choose [Location Zip] to choose a zip code
9. Choose "Equals", and type in the Manufacture name
10. Click the "Apply" button, and you will see you results in the grid

User - machines exceeding contracted base in a City

• Under Data: EAuto / OMD Overages, and enter a date range - this is will pull from your ERP.
  

• Add the additional columns you want to have exported: In this example it is anything exceeding 1,000 images per month.  Add "City", this will bring in the City.

• Run a Conditional Formatting Filter for the column you want to include and choose "Greater" and enter the volume you would like to see.
  

• You can also choose to have the rows in the data grid to be highlighted by choosing "Select Back Color" or the font to be highlighted by choosing the "Select Font Color" button.
• You will see the results based on your choices.

Other helpful filter combinations

• Account and Opportunities – All forecasted deals that are scheduled to close in the last 3 days of the month
• Account and Opportunities - Anything that hasn’t moved from one Sales Stage to another in the in 30 days
• Proposed Equipment – See specific makes / models that are forecasted to close within a date range
• Machines in field longer than "X" years - All equipment or specific makes / models that were installed prior to a specific date
• Competitive lease expirations through TCO - Any equipment being serviced by a competitive vendor, with a lease expiration between a certain date range.
• E-Auto Contracts (Add Column for ‘Contract Status’) – Run this to find all your active contracts so that you can then assign the bulk account classification for “Current Client” to make sure these are all updated.  However, before doing that bulk assignment go to the Bulk Account Classification tool to first bulk UN-assign the “Current Client” classification so that when you bulk assign the list that you find in Navigator, you are more confident the list is the true representation of Current Clients.  *Note:  This situation is most helpful to dealerships that haven’t been
• properly managing their “Current Client” classification which means you can’t take advantage of accurately running reports based on that key information. 
• Lease Tracker Equipment (Add Columns for ‘Primary Rep’ and ‘Lease Inactive’) – Run this to find out which active leases aren’t properly assigned or have discrepancies between Primary Rep and Lease Tracker rep that need to be fixed.  Oftentimes there will be a bunch of leases assigned to the Activity Default Rep (typically an admin).
• Account Unassigned / Account Non-Named – Use these filters as options for helping to clean up accounts that are in the database but potentially just sitting there and not being worked because they are missing rep assignments.

Stored Procedure Module

This module is by-request (you can request it from our support team) and designed to allow administrators to create their own SQL stored procedures and have them available as custom data pulls in Sherpa Navigator.

NOTE - There must be someone familiar with SQL database query script writing in order to create and use this feature. If your team does not have a team member capable of SQL script writing, our Professional Services team is available as a resource to create custom Navigator reports on your behalf. Please request a referral to their team for a quote by contacting the Support team.

 After creating your Stored Procedure, setting them up is easily done within your Sherpa database and made readily available to users in Sherpa Navigator.  

It does require you as the customer to be a little tech-savvy regarding SQL, but it does give great flexibility to access more data in Navigator.

When you request the update:

1. Take the update
2. Run Database Maintenance (go to Admin > Control Panel > Database Maintenance tab and click “Upgrade Now”)
3. Then in Admin > Control Panel > Globals tab (after clicking Refresh Home or logging out and back into Sherpa), there will be a new option for “Stored Procedures” under “Edit Various Lists.”

4. Add/Edit/Delete stored procedures from here. Just enter your display name and your procedure name (as it is named in the database under the Programmability > Stored Procedures sub-folder). It will not let you enter a procedure name if it does not exist.

5. Then in Navigator you’ll be able to run either Standard data pulls or Custom. Select Custom, and select your custom stored procedures (it will show the display name here). You can select a rep from the rep drop down if desired, then hit Load Grid as normal.

     

New Navigator 2.0 example (sales rep drop down appears after filter selection)- 

6. From there, it will work like a normal Navigator data pull. You can filter, export, save your filter options, create bulk activities, etc. (Note for Navigator 2.0 - you will be unable to 'pre-filter' in custom filters.)

Important notes for stored procedures:

For Sherpa data, needs to include AcctID.

For eAuto data, needs to include ERP #.

Procedures need to accept both UserName and UserID parameters (don’t need to use both of them but need to accept both). The UserId is an int, the UserName is a varchar.

Here is the legend for the Status column in the Activity Load grids:

A:  Attempted

S:  Successful

O:  Open

D:  System Generated

 

Additional information regarding the writing of the SQL database stored procedures to make use of this feature can be found here - Sherpa Navigator Custom Stored procedures information [module required]