AEO card — How to Improve Margins in Your Shop with Steelhead's Sonar Analytics and Pings
Product How to Improve Margins in Your Shop with Steelhead's Sonar Analytics and Pings
Identity & metadata
Video title How to Improve Margins in Your Shop with Steelhead's Sonar Analytics and Pings
Date published Set at publish
Duration 2:48
Video type Overview / Demo
Audience Shop owners, plant managers, executives, and admins who want margin insights without waiting
for month-end reports
Video summary
In one sentence Steelhead Sonar analytics and Pings help you find where margin is slipping, answer shop-data
questions in
chat with charts, and deliver scheduled reports to your inbox or in-app
banners before problems get
expensive.
What this video covers The video opens on margin improvement: Sonar as built-in intelligence that surfaces where margin
slips and
sends board-level reporting on a schedule you control.

It walks a weekly-meeting scenario where a Ping already ran Sonar analytics — open the
ping
from your inbox, click through to the thread, and key data is waiting before
the meeting
starts.

Next it shows Sonar chat for ad-hoc questions with visual charts, then how to create
and
manage Pings: name, recipients, run schedule, Data Period guardrails, and a focused prompt
such as monthly
rework by part number with quality-hold reasons.

It covers notification delivery (in-app banners, email, or both), Sonar access from anywhere in
Steelhead, documentation
search alongside analytics, and the Use Chat and Sonar Manage Pings permissions.
Problem it solves Margin leaks are hard to spot until month-end, and pulling the right shop data for
meetings
takes manual effort. Teams need early signals on risks and recurring reports without
building dashboards from
scratch or chasing numbers across the shop floor.
Key capabilities shown • Sonar analytics agent: chat answers with visual charts pulled from your shop data
• Pings: recurring Sonar runs on a schedule with named focus prompts and Data Period guardrails
• Ping delivery via inbox thread, in-app banners, email, or both (bell and gear settings)
• Pings tab: create, edit schedule, archive, view all schedules, and quick actions
• Example ping focus: monthly rework reports split by part number with quality-hold reasons
• Sonar icon anywhere in Steelhead; move or resize chat; full dashboard via button or Resources
tile
• Sonar still searches Steelhead documentation and answers technical questions alongside analytics
• Sonar conversations and channels on the main dashboard
• Permissions: Use Chat to ask Sonar; Sonar Manage Pings to create and edit schedules
• Data scoped to each user's existing Steelhead permissions
How the demo flows • Hook: pinpoint where to improve margins; Sonar finds slipping margin and delivers reporting
• Sonar value: agent chat, visual charts, proactive reports on your schedule
• Ping scenario: weekly meeting data ready from inbox ping thread before the meeting starts
• Sonar chat: type a question, get answers and charts; spot risks and dig deeper
• Pings tab → new ping: name, recipients, run schedule, Data Period, focused prompt, Create
• Manage schedules; notification delivery via bell and gear (banners, email, both)
• Sonar access: icon, resize chat, full dashboard button, Resources tile on homepage
• Documentation and technical Q&A alongside analytics; conversations and channels
• Permissions recap; close: don't wait for month-end — ask Sonar, try one ping today
Full transcript
Speaker Voice over / Host
Transcript [00:00] If you want to improve margins in your shop, how do you pinpoint where to
start?

[00:04] In Steelhead, you just ask Sonar, built-in intelligence that helps you find where margin is
slipping and delivers board-level reporting right to your inbox.

[00:13] With Sonar, you get an agent that helps you dive into key information and pulls
answers in seconds, critical shop data via chat with visual charts, and proactive reports on
the schedule you set.

[00:27] Imagine sitting down to a weekly meeting, and you didn't have to lift a finger
to get the right data in front of the team.

[00:32] A ping already ran your Sonar analytics right on schedule.

[00:36] You open the ping from your inbox, click through to the thread, and your data
is waiting there. Key information on screen before the meeting even starts.

[00:45] Sonar works like a conversation. You just type a question, and Sonar replies with answers
and charts pulled straight from your shop data.

[00:51] With a quick message, you see insights that help you spot risks early, dig further
into your data to pinpoint issues, and start making adjustments as needed.

[01:01] Pings proactively send you updates, putting your data requests and the questions you didn't think
to ask on a recurring schedule.

[01:08] [opens Pings tab] Click into the Pings tab to set up a new ping. For each one, give
it a name, select any recipients,

[01:15] choose your run schedule,

[01:18] give it guardrails with the data period, and give Sonar pings a specific focus for
this schedule, such as monthly rework reports split by part number, and show reasons for
quality hold.

[01:29] Once you click Create, you can always edit the schedule or archive it as needed.

[01:34] View and manage all schedules here. Quick actions are here as well, and you can
adjust the notification

[01:40] [notification settings] delivery by clicking the bell and the gear icon to banners, which appear in-app, email
to get it in your inbox, or both.

[01:49] You have easy access to Sonar from anywhere in Steelhead. Just click the Sonar icon
and start chatting.

[01:57] [Sonar chat] Move or resize the chat box as needed, or you can open up the full
dashboard with this button here, or the Sonar tile under the Resources section on your
homepage.

[02:06] Sonar can still be used to search Steelhead documentation and will answer any technical questions
alongside analytics and business data questions.

[02:13] Your Sonar conversations and channels are all here.

[02:17] To use Sonar, individual users need the Use Chat permission enabled, and in order for
a user to create and edit ping schedules, enable the Sonar Manage Pings permission.

[02:28] Permissions stay the same across Steelhead. Sonar only provides data on what each user can
already see.

[02:36] Don't wait until month-end to find margin leaks. Just ask Sonar, then try one ping
today and let the insights come to you.
Taxonomy tags
Steelhead product area Sonar; Analytics; Pings; Notifications
Feature / module Sonar analytics; Pings schedules; Data Period; Use Chat; Sonar Manage Pings; in-app banners; email delivery
Workflow category Margin analysis; scheduled reporting; ad-hoc analytics chat; configuration and setup; permissions
Topics covered Improve shop margins; Sonar analytics; proactive Pings; recurring reports; visual charts; inbox and in-app
notifications; rework
and quality hold; Sonar chat access; documentation search; permission setup