Introduction to sheepCRM Alpine (v6)
While many customers have been full users of sheepCRM Alpine since it first launched, some who have been customers longer have still be using v5, or at least parts of it, so we have produced this guide for you to move over in full to sheepCRM Alpine before v5 starts its retirement on 1st March 2025.
"sheepCRM Alpine is not just a 'software update' from sheepCRM v5 (blue), but a significantly more advanced system."
It carried over many of the core elements from v5 when first launched, but allowed us to start adding new and powerful tools (that would not have been possible in Version 5) to meet our customers needs as they evolve on your respective journey to success.
sheepCRM Alpine today provides a set of tools and workflows that enable our customers to manage their relationships and achieve their objectives, but there is more to come as we continue to invest and leverage the power sheepCRM Alpine provides to help you meet your challenges and objectives in the longer term.
If you are still using v5 in any way please use the information below to move to sheepCRM Alpine now. 🚀
⛰️ This guide is aimed at all users, but if you have a dedicated sheepCRM system administrator / trainer or support colleague within your team please seek any guidance directly from them to ensure your internal training and process resources are updated accordingly.
This is a detailed guide due to its purpose, this makes it quite a big document, please use the shortcuts to the right to go to the areas you need at any time.
Before you start - some important things to know!
sheepCRM Alpine will look different to what you are used to, and in some areas operate differently, but you will recognise many of the core items from v5 and get used to it and its differences very quickly, such as;
Search
Contact records for people or organisations
Membership records
The priority for you is to start using sheepCRM Alpine to do the jobs that you already do in sheepCRM v5, this guide will support you with that but please let us know if you have any questions or need assistance.
The most complex or hardest part of migration will be moving your saved filters from the v5 directory to the new segments, or learning to use the new directory for one off uses.
This area may seem a little daunting to begin with, some of the filter rules and names are different and also it is still going through a period of refinement.
Please be assured we will provide support and guidance if you hit any difficulties migrating your v5 uses, so please contact us if that happens.
There are a few items in v5 that you will not find in sheepCRM Alpine, at least temporarily.
One main example is the invoices, some of those features are not available as we are building new replacement tools which offer major simplification in the area of invoices and finance reports, and that means the v5 one has to go.
There are temporary work arounds but if any of these limitations cause you problems please let us know so we can provide guidance and share other options.
There are new features and more powerful areas for you to gain more value.
The documentation for all areas of sheepCRM Alpine is far improved to v5 so you have immediate access to guides etc to help you adopt these quickly.
If new features are not in your license you can contact us to arrange those.
🤝 The final point is we understand change can be difficult, changing habits, learning new things, but as always our support team will be responsive and have a number of options available to help if needed.
Time to learn more and have a go in sheepCRM Alpine! ⛰️
New Features and Functionalities in sheepCRM Alpine
sheepCRM Alpine introduces a suite of new features not available in Version 5. Here’s an overview for each, you can click the title to open the relevant article for more info.
For everyone
Segments: This feature provides you with a powerful tool kit for getting the most out of your data. With the ability to create a hierarchical or folder structure, segments provide filtered lists of data which users can monitor, report and perform actions against, such as syncing to Mailchimp, emailing in bulk or downloading detailed exports. Segments provide useful tools and access to lists of data for operational, marketing/communication and reporting but also your digital assets such as documents and directories published to your sheepApp for your members to access.
Segments Directory (Beta): A significant expansion on the contacts directory in Version 5 the Segments Directory provides a highly interactive way of managing your contact data to a far greater level than v5. Be in control of what you see and export by adding only the columns/fields you want and quickly filtering your whole data in real time. New features also include the ability to bulk replace data on a filtered set of contacts and quick exports.
Reporting: sheepCRM Alpine has a dedicated reports area where can can find a number of extremely useful out-of-the-box reports grouped by category. These range from finance reports to membership, events, teams, communication and more. They can be used to monitor your data and in the system with the ability to quickly export that data for offline use.
Settings: A key part of the initial launch of Alpine was consolidating the settings used across your flock (your sheepCRM) to one place and then grouping them in a logical way meaning you can adjust your controls from one place. Now, settings have a dedicated area where you can change settings by product or category quickly and easily.
You will also find many smaller additions and enhancements across all the core elements of sheepCRM Alpine.
User Articles: An area of major improvement and investment is our support resources, you will see more below but in Alpine there is an article for every page of the system, with specific sub sections that you can link directly to from your internal process and guidance documents.
Product specific (From some of our optional modules)
sheepFlow: sheepFlow is an exclusive set of tools for managing workflows that require a sequence of process steps, such as an approval process which triggers automated actions such as emails or returned applications. For example, application forms for membership sign-up approval, team and volunteer applications and more niche or unique complex workflows such as grants or accreditation.
sheepEvents: sheepEvents has now evolved into a full box office suite to manage a number of different types of events with the ability to sell tickets directly from sheepApp. With pro features including things like limiting tickets to segments of specific groups of people and members.
sheepTeams: sheepTeams has also evolved to be compatible with other new tools and features such as sheepFlow providing the ability to handle a formal approval process. Team leaders now have a new and updated area to manage their teams with the ability to include team news and team events and communicate with your team via bulk email actions.
sheepGiving: our fundraising module received a number of enhancements and new features, to raise the profile of your appeals and create things like regular giving, automated donation increases and more.
Other: There are also many smaller enhancements and new features throughout the sheepCRM modules and many more to come!
Getting Started in Alpine
Getting started with Alpine is easy, head over to https://core.sheepcrm.com and log in with your details the same as the ones you used in version 5
Once logged in you will be directed to your home page, see below.
📢 We recommend you set this as a bookmarked page so you can start there each time you need to access sheepCRM - it will take you via login if needed.
Main menu
Along the top menu, you will see core navigation links to get you where you need. To the left, you will see items relating to your license and other core parts of the system such as segments and reports. To the right, you will see the search bar and other useful action buttons such as the + icon to add a new record (such as a new person, organisation, event etc ), a tasks icon to view your assigned tasks, a notification icon for any relevant notifications, a help icon which will launch our help launcher and finally your user icon which opens up another menu for accessing other parts of the system such as settings and your account.
💡You will recognise a number of these items referenced above from v5, such as the + to add a new record, search etc - they are essentially the same as you used in v5 but with additions and enhancements in places.
See Navigating around sheepCRM for more information.
Help Launcher
You can access our help launcher anywhere from within Alpine, just click the question mark icon in the top right of the menu to open it.
The help launcher will show you recommended help articles depending on where you are in Alpine and you can also search easily from the launcher as well. See screenshot. You can also check system status easily from the menu on the left.
Getting to Settings
Admin users can get to settings from their home page or by clicking the profile icon in the top right of the main menu and in the dropdown menu select 'settings'. Once you have landed in settings you will see the below.
See sheepCRM settings for more information.
Navigating settings and other areas of Alpine
From settings and other areas of Alpine you can use the second navigation menu under the main green menu, the second navigation menu is used throughout Alpine to delve further into an area of the system. In settings, it is used to categorise the different types of settings.
If you click on 'Membership' you will see the below, on the left-hand side you will see another vertical menu. This vertical menu on the left allows you to further navigate the area you are in. Like with settings here, this can also be the case in other areas of the system like segments, teams or events etc.
Navigating contact records
Contact records can now be opened as a side panel from anywhere via search, just simply search for a contact in the search bar or open a contact via a segment or the Alpine directory to see something similar to the below.
🚀 This side panel provides some other improved uses for accessing contacts compared to v5, most importantly you can open the contact from within reports, segments and other places avoiding the need to search, go into the record and then click back to get your lists.
This means you can work through lists much faster than v5
💡You do not need to close a side panel when clicking through a list, you can just click on the next record from the list behind, and it will open on the same page you were in on the previous one.
On the left-hand side of the side panel, you will see navigation links to view different information about the contact. For example, if you want to see membership information, click 'Membership' and then you can see all the memberships a contact has and from there you can make any changes that you require such as editing, reviewing etc.
See All Contact Articles for more information.
Helpful articles:
Contacts: Summary Information
Viewing all your contacts
To view all your contacts like you would have in version 5 you can do it one of two ways.
The first step is clicking 'Segments' in the main menu.
Once you are in segments (see below) you can select either 'Contacts' on the left-hand menu to view a segment of all your contacts. Or you can use the new Alpine Directory by clicking 'Directory' in the second menu. Depending on your needs and the task you need to perform it will influence which one you should use.
For more information on these please visit our article regarding the Alpine Directory
Contacts via the Contact Segment
See Segments: Manage & Using Segments for more information.
Migrating Key Workflows from Version 5 to Version 6 (Alpine)
There are a few workflows outlined below which will need to be handled slightly differently in Alpine. Below are general steps to help you migrate these workflows and for more specific task migration, consult individual task guides as linked below.
V5 Directory Saved Filters > V6 Segments
🤝 As per our introduction - this is the hardest part of your migration - please follow the guide but remember we will provide support and guidance if you hit any difficulties migrating your v5 uses, so please contact us if that happens.
If you use the directory in V5 along with saved filters you will need to migrate these over to Segments so you can carry on the routine tasks you set them up for.
💡Key Points
Saved filters from v5 need to be created as segments so you can reuse as you need.
For one off filtering you should use the new directory covered further below.
You can start creating segments by going here > https://core.sheepcrm.com/segment/
Key things to know when you land on segments
The left hand menu as seen above are top level segments which we use to help us structure and organise our segments into categories.
In the middle you will see a long list of all segments and default segments, most of these are automatically generated by the system and contain many uses for many different requirements. From membership, finance, events, domains in use etc and so on. It's common for this to be slightly intimidating. However, you should only focus on what types of segments you need to create at first.
Things to consider when creating segments
Before creating segments you should consider and plan what their purpose is.
As an example, are they going to be used for routinely creating lists of people you need to send mail to? Then we can create a 'Mailling Lists' segment at the top level so it shows on the left-hand menu and then create segments underneath that for things like 'Mailling List - South East', 'Mailling List - North West'.
Another common one could be 'Mailchimp Newsletters' at the top level and then a variety of segments to filter different groups of people sitting underneath that.
How to create a top-level segment (left menu item)
Click the 'add segment' button from https://core.sheepcrm.com/segment/
This will open the sidepanel, click the advanced mode button. Under segment type change this to 'Auxilary' and also add a name for the segment such as 'Mailing Lists' and hit save. See animated GIF below.
After 5 or so minutes this will then be added to the left side menu from the main segments page. As seen below. This acts as a good base to go on and create your main segments that would sit in that category for quick and easy access.
How to create a filtered segment
Now you can create any number of filtered segments that could sit within that top level one we just created. So, create a new segment using the 'add segment' button. Click 'Advanced mode' and under 'Parent segment' select the top-level segment you just created. You do not need to change the segment type on these ones, you can leave it as 'Dynamic'.
Then go to the bottom and start adding rules similar to V5. In this case we will use 'County' as the filter as we want this segment to be for contacts in a specific county. After this we can hit save.
The main difference between the filters/rules between V5 and Alpine is that the Segments field used for the filters may be different to that of V5, on the other hand there are many more fields available in Segments to help refine your data even further. You can search filter fields to quickly help find what you are looking for.
Now if you were to click on the 'Mailing List' left-hand menu item you will be taken to top level but now you can see a green button for the sub-segment we created which was based on the county.
When you click into the sub-segment you can now see a list of data that matches that filter. If you created a number of segments for each mailing list county and gave all of them the same parent you would see multiple green buttons so you can quickly click between them.
We strongly advise jumping in and giving creating segments a go based on the above principles and let us know if and when you get stuck. More detailed guides can be found below for specific infromation.
See Segments: Manage & Using Segments for more information.
See Settings: Segments > Creating segments for more information.
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V5 Directory > V6 Alpine Directory
You can now use Alpine Directory as a direct replacement for V5's which is a more advanced and dynamic version allowing for full control over things like the display of columns/fields allowing you to do quicker data checks as well as exporting this directly to a CSV with ease.
It also has a new bulk action for replacing field data on contact records which can be useful for making amendments to your contact data in bulk. This makes maintaining good data far easier.
You can access it my clicking 'Segments' in the top menu and then selecting 'Directory' in the second menu.
We strongly advise reading our full guide on the new directory and if for some reason you do not see a link to the directory from within Segments please get in contact with support.
See Segments - Directory (Beta) for more information.
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The segmentation area covered above has been a major investment to provide powerful tools now and in future for our customers, data utilisation (📖 see the mountain two section) is increasingly more critical for your success.
The scale of data you capture, and is therefore available to the segmentation feature is significant, this makes it a powerful area with huge opportunities to dig into your data in many ways, but that can also be complex and require specific support.
If you are interested in climbing further up mountain two on your journey to success, for example creating more structured marketing and reporting segments, or advanced automated syncing with an analytics dashboard system, please get in touch to find out more about these specialist services.
V5 Your/All Tasks > V6 Your/All Tasks
🏗️ Coming soon. We are currently working on a solution to view all your tasks and all tasks in Alpine.
You can view your own tasks from the main navigation task list as was covered above, but we will soon release a way to view all tasks also.
V5 Donations > V6 Donations
Only applicable to customers with the sheepGiving module included.
Donations (Giving) has seen several improvements in Alpine.
To find all your donors in Alpine you can use the automatically created 'Donors' Segment. This provides you with the same information as the 'Donors' list in V5. Just go to 'Segments' > 'Donors'.
You also have access to several giving-related reports which help you visualise your donation data quicker and easier with the ability to take actions like exports.
Finally, various improvements have been made to the contact record in regards to donations providing a visual summary of their donation history.
See sheepCRM Giving articles for more information.
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V5 Calendar vs V6 Calendar
Only applicable to customers with the sheepEvents and/or sheepSpaces modules included.
The Events calendar in Alpine is available via 'Events' in the main menu and then clicking 'View Calendar' on the second menu.
There are two views for the calendar one for events and one for reservations if you are also using sheepSpaces: Reservations.
If you are only using reservations without events, you can access the reservations calendar via 'Segments' > 'View Reservations' instead.
See Events: Calendar for more information.
After clicking 'Events' in the top menu you will see up to two options in the second menu depending on whether you are using only events, or sheepSpaces reservations or both. |  |
From the Events calendar you can view all your events including drafts, clicking on an event will reveal a small popup and you can then navigate to the full side panel and or main event page. |  |
From the Reservations calendar, you can view reservations, and from the side panel view the buyer, and edit the details of it. |  Reservation via Alpine Calendar |
V5 Streams (Duplicates) vs V6 Segments (Duplicates)
Streams have been removed in Alpine in favour of using Segments. You can access duplicates from a Segment named 'Possible Duplicates'.
You can review the records by clicking on a record and viewing the contact in the side panel. From the side panel go to Admin > Record Data and scroll down to the possible duplicate section to perform an action.
See Contacts: Admin> Record Data (Metadata and Duplicates) for more information.
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V5 Recycle Bin vs V6 Segment (Recycle Bin)
Similar to duplicates the recycle bin in Alpine is accessed via a Segment named 'Recycle Bin'. You can review the records and restore them from the side panel that opens when you click on a record.
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V5 My Account vs V6 My account
Users can manage their accounts in Alpine by clicking on the avatar in the top right of the menu and then from the dropdown selecting 'My Account'.
See sheepCRM: Navigating around sheepCRM for more information.
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Additional Help
For more detailed instructions on specific tasks, refer to the Latest Version, sheepCRM Alpine documentation available within the CRM help portal. Also, don’t hesitate to contact support if you encounter issues or need additional assistance.
We will support you with this change in the same way we always do in other areas, some limitations may exist based on the services you have included in your agreement.
