NauticalFlows vs Spreadsheets & email
Outgrown the maintenance spreadsheet?
Spreadsheets are where most fleets start: flexible, familiar and free. But once you manage more than a few vessels, version conflicts, emailed attachments and manual consolidation quietly become the biggest maintenance risk you have.
Common triggers
Why teams start looking
- Multiple ‘final’ versions of the same maintenance plan
- Running hours typed into three different places
- Monthly reporting that takes days to consolidate
- No audit trail when an inspector asks who changed what
The checklist
How NauticalFlows answers
| Criterion | NauticalFlows |
|---|---|
| Works fully offline on board | Yes — local database on every vessel; changes queue as pending and sync on acknowledgement. |
| Bandwidth-aware synchronisation | Incremental transfer, scheduled cycles (15 / 45 / 60 min) and manual sync on demand. |
| Running-hour and calendar maintenance | Both, generated from a reusable standard-job library. |
| Shore approval of postponements | Built-in request → review → decision workflow that returns through sync. |
| Fleet-wide equipment search | By name, code, maker, model, serial number, asset code, barcode and ERP code. |
| Job-library data quality checks | Automatic flags for duplicates, multiple open work orders and missing links. |
| AI over your own manuals and history | MARKS marine RAG with OCR, vessel/equipment scoping and source references. |
| Private / self-hosted AI model option | Yes — configurable LLM provider, including private models. |
| Local partner for customisation | Dubai-headquartered team building and extending the platform with you. |
Switching
A low-risk path to change
We import your existing equipment lists and job plans from structured spreadsheet templates, clean them with automatic duplicate flagging, and go live on one pilot vessel first.
- 01Discovery
- 02Pilot vessel
- 03Shore platform
- 04MARKS layer
- 05Fleet rollout
Ask every vendor
Questions worth asking in any evaluation
- 01What exactly happens to a work order completed on board while the vessel is offline?
- 02When is a vessel record considered ‘synced’ — on send, or on server acknowledgement?
- 03How much bandwidth does a normal day of synchronisation use?
- 04Can a superintendent search every vessel for one equipment model or serial number?
- 05How are postponement requests approved, and where is the decision recorded?
- 06How are vessel software updates released, and can we see which vessel runs which version?
- 07Can AI answers be restricted to our own approved documents, with source references?
- 08Who customises the system when our process changes — and how quickly?
This page describes NauticalFlows capabilities only. Verify every vendor against the same checklist.
See NauticalFlows on your own vessel data.
Book a 30-minute walkthrough with our team. We'll map your workflows, connectivity and data sources — and show you the platform live, including what happens when the link drops.