Vantage Online ERP Link

Overview

Vantage ERP – Through the ERP link in the Control Panel an Administrator can import new companies into Sherpa from Vantage and with the ERP Link on the Customer Account record a rep can view the equipment a current customer has including accessories on each machine, all the machines in a Group Bill, meter history, service history, service call count to see which machines have had the highest number of service calls, meter detail, and contract details. The information can also be transferred into the TCO tab.

The ERP Link can be accessed from either the Accounts Tab or the TCO tab, and will only connect to the link if the proper ERP Customer Number is listed in the ERP # field in the Accounts Tab.

Admin Set up

ERP Link Tab

If your Company has purchased a link to your Vantage ERP (Enterprise Resource Program) this tab will allow you to import records from your ERP into Compass. Note: The ERP Link option is an add-on module.

API Settings: Enter your URL, Username, and Password for the link to work correctly.  You can choose Test Connection to make sure settings are correct and then hit Submit to save the API Settings. 

Import Companies from ERP

You can transfer in Current Customers from your Vantage ERP into your Compass Database. It will match your Compass Database to your Vantage ERP database (based on Customer number) and will only show you Customers that are not already in Compass.

1. You can view the list of available customers by searching for a group of accounts or leave blank to bring in the first 1,000 records and then clicking Go.
2. On the right-hand side of the list, you can see which accounts are Active and which are on Hold.
3. To transfer them, you can individually check accounts or check “ALL” in the search results by clicking the Check All Companies checkbox and then the Transfer Checked Companies button at the bottom. A record along with the basic account info and one main contact will be added for each customer into the Sherpa database. To avoid duplication, please make sure any current customers already in your CRM area have their ERP number listed in the ERP Number field. You will be asked to select the Region you want to import into and Submit.
4. You also have a Set Meter Type button in the ERP tab. The Set Meter Types button in the ERP tab in the Control Panel in Compass is used to identify the types of meters you want to see in the Compass interface, as well as what meters are imported into the TCO – this is a copy of your table in Vantage. If you have more than one-meter type for each mono and color, put a comma between each with no spaces (ex. 1,2,3).
5. You can Exclude accounts from being imported by checking the accounts you want to exclude and then choose See Excluded ERPs to revisit those accounts to import at a later time.

Please note, the importing of companies from the ERP tab into Sherpa is designed to be a manual process so that the Administrator can pick and choose which companies are desired to be transferred.  Unlike other databases that are designed to do an automatic nightly data dump from the ERP system, for example, the approach in Sherpa is intentionally not designed in this manner since not all data in the ERP system is necessarily desired to end up in the active sales rep database.  ERP systems often have old accounts or internal accounts that don’t need to be accessible to sales reps and would therefore carry dead weight in the sales rep database.  The Administrator can choose to leave those accounts out of Sherpa and will thus always see them in the display list whenever clicking the Go button (which is fine to continue ignoring them in the future).

Account ERP Access

Start by browsing to the account whose information you want to see, in the Accounts Tab, and clicking on the Vantage button in either the Accounts tab or the TCO tab. The ERP interface will open up based on the Vantage customer number that was in the ERP # field in the Accounts tab.

Searching: Once in the Vantage interface you can search by several different ways. Pick the search criteria from the drop down, enter it in the search field, and click the Search button. Once you receive your results, double click on the account to access it.

1. Account Search: You can search by Account Name, ERP Number, Phone Number, City, and Postal Code.

2. Contract Search: As an Administrator, you can search for current contracts by the Expiration, Make, Model, or City.  In this search, you can also create reminders for yourself. Select the Machines you want to be reminded of, it will add the equipment to the TCO with the lease expiration date, and automatically create an activity for you to contact the customer prior to the expiration. (The amount of time in advance you are reminded is set by your Administrator.)

3. Lease Search: As an Administrator, with the Lease Search option you can search by the months until the lease maturity date, Make, Model, and City. As with the Contract search, in this section you can also create reminders for yourself.  Select the machines you want to be reminded of, it will add the equipment to the TCO with the lease expiration date, and automatically create an activity for you to contact the customer prior to expiration. (The amount of time in advance you are reminded is set by your administrator.)

4. Search by Link Accounts: If you use the drop down you will see any accounts in the system that are linked to the account you are on; select the account to see the equipment information.

Vantage Interface Account and Equipment Details 

If you clicked the Vantage interface button while in an account with an ERP number listed on it, the initial view will show you any equipment that is at the location and their details in the Equipment section.  If you highlight a piece of equipment, you can also see the accessories that are tied to that machine in the Accessories section at the bottom.  Now you can use the buttons on the bottom right to view information about the device and that customer.  Keep in mind that not all information may show.  What you can see is based on what fields are being utilized by your company in Vantage.

Group Bill: Looks at the Bill To ID on the account in Vantage and shows equipment for all other accounts with that same Bill To ID set.

Meter History: This will show a list of all meters for the device selected that have been entered into Vantage.

Service History: Will show a service history for the selected machine.

1. Start by selecting a date range for the history you want to see. The Company Name and Serial # fields will already be filled out based on the machine that was highlighted in the previous screen.
2. Click on Show History to see the history for that date range or click on Last Service Call to just see the last call.  If you want to view all Service History based on the date range entered for the account and not just the machine selected choose Account Service and Show History.
3. Click on print to print the history, or Close to go back to previous screen.

Service Call Count:  Will allow you to search ALL accounts for equipment that has had excessive service based on a date range and threshold that you choose.

1. Enter the date range you want to search for.
2. Enter the number of service calls you feel would be excessive for the date range.
3. Click on Submit – the report will give you any equipment that has had the number of service calls or more that you put in the Threshold field, within the date range that you entered.
4. You will get a list of equipment matching the criteria you entered, and you can now double click on any of the machines to view a detailed report of that machines service history or click on the Detail button.

Meter Detail:  Will show a summary of the service details and last meter.

1. The customer’s Account Information included account name phone number.
2. The model information including serial number, model, make, and install date.
3. You can also get a snap shot of the service history including the total number of service calls the machine has had overall and in the current year, average repair and down hours, average monthly volume and hours spent repairing the machine, and the most recent service meter.
4. The last meter read and date.

Contract Detail:  Shows the details of the contract billing based on what is entered in Vantage.

1. Select a machine and choose Contract Detail
2. Pick the contract you want to view and hit Select
3. Location and Equipment Information.
4. Service Contract, meter and lease billing information.

Transfer to Sherpa: This allows you to transfer the equipment from the account record you are on, into that account’s TCO. When you click this button, it will ask if you want to transfer the equipment into the current account you are viewing in Sherpa.

It is important to make sure you are still on the same account in Sherpa and the Vantage interface; if you started working in a different account in either of these places, the equipment will not be transferred into the proper account’s TCO.

A list of equipment to choose to transfer will pop up. This will only show you equipment that is not currently in the TCO.

1. You can choose individual machines by clicking in the check box next to the machine.
2. Use the Check All button to select all.
3. Click on the Transfer Checked Equipment button.

When the equipment is transferred from the interface to the TCO, it will

bring in the service cost per page (if applicable). However, it will not look for a match in the Sherpa drop down list of equipment.

Please note, the transferring of equipment from the ERP Interface into Sherpa is designed to be a manual process so that the user can pick and choose which machines are desired to be transferred. Unlike other databases that are designed to do an automatic nightly data dump from the ERP system, for example, the approach in Sherpa is intentionally not designed in this manner since not all data in the ERP system is necessarily desired to end up in the active sales rep database. ERP systems often list old equipment that is no longer in place and would therefore carry dead weight in the sales rep database. Also, any manual updates made by the sales rep in the TCO area would be constantly overwritten if there was an automatic data dump in place. Allowing the sales rep, the ability to pick and choose which equipment they want to transfer to Sherpa gives them full control over managing an up-to-date TCO equipment list.

Update Equipment: This has the same function as the Transfer To Sherpa button, except it will give you a list of equipment that IS currently in the TCO, so you can transfer any changed that may have taken place in Vantage. It will ask if you want to transfer the equipment into the current account you are viewing in Sherpa.

1. Once you click on the Update button you will be taken to a screen to choose the equipment you want to update. Check the selection box next to the machine(s).
2. You can also use the Check All and Uncheck All buttons.
3. Click the Update Equipment button.
4. Choose if you would like to Update Meters Only (just update the most recent meter read on the equipment selected),or Delete and Re-import Equipment (All information will be updated including meters, contract information, etc.).