Navigator implementation · Developer guidance
Website integration for web developers
Use Navigator web services to keep vehicle stock, enquiries and online service booking connected to the dealership website.
Vehicle stock
Web services provide stock and image data
Enquiries
Send leads back into Navigator automatically
Service booking
Embed or link to Navigator online booking
Vehicle stock feed
Keep website stock in sync with Navigator
Navigator exposes vehicle stock data through web services so advertised vehicles and associated images can be loaded into the dealership website database.
01
Use the developer API
Technical documentation is available at developer.dmsnavigator.info. API keys are issued on request through the customer’s Project Manager for security reasons.
02
Store the feed locally
Use the web service to populate a local website database rather than calling the Navigator feed directly for every live page request.
03
Poll sensibly
Do not poll more than once per hour. Larger stock databases should update less often where practical, with once or twice daily being sufficient for many sites.
04
Match by stock number
Use the Navigator stock number as the primary key. Newly advertised vehicles appear in the feed and sold vehicles disappear from it.
Advertising requirement
Vehicles must have advertising details before they appear in the web feed
The feed reflects vehicles prepared for advertising in Navigator, including available images.
View the advertising guidance →Website enquiries
Send leads back into Navigator
Website enquiries can be converted into Navigator Sales Enquiries and routed to the appropriate sales team.
Simplest route
Email
A dedicated Navigator email address can be mapped to a sales team with the appropriate enquiry type, source and sub-source. This creates a basic enquiry for the sales executive to complete.
Most complete route
Web service
Use the API when the website needs to create a richer enquiry automatically with customer and lead details already populated.
View API documentation →Online service booking
Embed Navigator booking into the dealership website
Navigator Online Service Booking can be placed inside the dealership website using an iframe or supplied as a standalone page. Email service reminders can also link customers directly into a pre-populated booking journey.
Booking URL format
https://services.dmservices.co.uk/osb2022?branch=[navigator branch]&apikey=[apikey]&id=[customerid]
The customer ID is optional and should be omitted when it is not available. The branch value must match the relevant Navigator workshop branch.
Branch handling
Multi-branch sites need a branch decision
Web developers are responsible for either providing separate booking pages per workshop branch or asking the customer to choose a branch before the Navigator booking page is displayed.
Linking Vehicle Stock data to the Web Site
Webservices
The primary requirement for most web sites is to integrate the Navigator Vehicle Stock with the Web site so that vehicle stock is updated in near realtime.
Navigator provides web services which provides a vehicle stock list.
This is documented at https://developer.dmsnavigator.info
An API key can be issued on request. Please contact your Project Manager to gain an API key - please note though that requests must come from the DMS Navigator customer for security reasons.
An example of the data that comes in the feed is available on our help pages at : http://v21manual.dmservices.co.uk/vehicle_web_services_2.asp
Images are also available.
Methodology
The web service feeds should be used to upload the vehicle stock and associated images into a local Web Site database - the data should not be relied on for live display on the dealer's web site.
It is recommended that the stock is polled no more than once an hour - and less frequently the larger the stock database is (ideally once or twice a day shold be sufficient). Every vehicle has a stock no and this should be used as the primary key when matching to the local database. New vehicles will appear in the feed when advertised, and the feed includes all vehicles up to the point they are sold, in which case they will disappear from the feed.
Advertising a Vehicle
Vehicles need to have advertising details added to them before they appear in the web feed above. To review the options available, please see
https://vimeo.com/412308095/8a3be4905f
Sending Enquiries back to Navigator
Web site enquiries can be sent back into Navigator where they are automatically converted into Sales Enquiries. Navigator Sales People can be organised into Teams (eg Used Sales Team or Contact Centre Team) and enquiries can be automatically routed to the correct team .
There are two ways that an enquiry can be sent back to Navigator :-
Email
The simplest way of sending an enquiry to Navigator is to simply forward an email to a Navigator Email address. An email address can be configured and mapped to a sales team and have an Enquiry Type, Source and Sub-Source attached to it as appropriate. Please discuss this with your Navigator Project Manager to have an email address allocated.
This creates a blank enquiry and requires to Sales Executive to refer to the email itself to create the details on the enquiry.
Web Service
The most comprehensive way of creating an enquiry is to use a Web Service.
This is also documented at https://developer.dmsnavigator.info
Configuring Online Service Booking
The Navigator Online Service Booking allows a web page to host the Navigator Online Service booking so that customers can book themselves into the workshop.
This can either be added as an iframe into the Dealer's own web site or alternatively, Navigator can supply a standalone web page that can be linked from the dealer's web site (or not be linked as it can still be used).
It is also possible to send an Email Service Reminder which has a link to the customer and vehicle in - this will then auto-populate the Online Service Booking with the Customer and Vehicle Details to make it even easier.
To see how the Online Service Booking looks and request configuration, click on this web page
Once the Online Service Booking is configured, Navigator will issue an API key which can be used in an iframe, as well as the url for a standalone web page.
The URL for the Online Service Booking is as follows :-
https://services.dmservices.co.uk/osb2022?branch=[navigator branch]&apikey=[apikey]&id=[customerid]
The id parameter is optional and is supplied by the email link - so the web page linked to from an email may be https://customerwebsite.com/servicebooking?id=xxxx - the iframe will need to then pick up the id from the url. If there is no customer id to supply, then the id parameter must be omitted.
The branch no is the Navigator branch for each dealership workshop. It aligns with the branch setup in Navigator. It will be the web designers responsibility to either create different web pages for each branch, or to have a selection of branch before displaying the online service booking page.
