SharePoint Replication Case Study.
SharePoint Replication for Regs4ships
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Keeping international shipping safe.
Regs4ships Ltd specialises in the provision of digital regulations, technical information and IMO material to ships and the shore infrastructure.
It operates the only database of its kind in the world providing an up to date and accurate resource of shipping regulations and technical information and utilises this database to offer an extensive and increasing range of products and services. These products and services are provided to many hundreds of ships and shore companies including some of the biggest names in shipping. Customers include the MCA, IMO, MAIB, Shell, BP, P&O, Cunard, Stolt, Stena, Dobson Ship Management, V Ships, Marshall Islands Registry, Cyprus Marine Department, Isle of Man Marine Administration and many ports, lawyers, insurers, suppliers, colleges and consultants.
New Safety Management System uses SharePoint with Geo-Replicator™
Regs4ships now offer a Safety Management System which is based on Microsoft SharePoint 2007. SharePoint has been chosen because it provides an easy to use interface for shipboard staff. It is also a flexible, widely used system with known interfaces to provide migration paths in the future. SharePoint enables the Regs4ships systems to be adjusted or changed to meet the requirements of individual shipping companies.
The system links to all the regulatory and statutory publications including all IMO Codes and Resolutions (e.g. SOLAS, MArpol, STCW) and Flag State regulations. The Regs4ships system is a standard Microsoft® Word® system built in SharePoint 2007: it uses no proprietary software or user interfaces. Updates to the SMS content are sent to remote users onboard ship by either Internet, or via the email system. Either way the update process is totally automated – requiring no user action. Notifications from ship back to shore comprise operational audits and checkpoints. These are entered into the ship’s SharePoint system, and the updated records are sent back to the shipping companies’ headquarters automatically when the ship is in satellite range.
In order to overcome the potential data communications challenges imposed by SharePoint, which is, by nature, a communications intensive software system, the Regs4ships system uses a SharePoint Services Server installed on each ship. This allows every user on board to have immediate access to all the manuals and forms they need without having to wait for long delays over a satellite link.
The system uses Infonic Geo-Replicator to handle all the updates between shore and ship, and vice versa. Infonic's powerful data compression algorithms compress all updates by up to 90% so that they can be efficiently sent over low bandwidth satellite networks to and from ships all over the world.
Geo-Replicator™ in action with APL Maritime.
One of the first customers for Regs4ships new system has been APL Maritime. APL had been looking at other proprietary SMS systems to deliver improvements in health and safety compliance but were concerned about the need to train staff on proprietary user interfaces, the requirement for external consultancy in the system deployment and their inflexibility in the event of migration to any other system. APL were worried that they would become locked into a proprietary SMS system that it was virtually impossible to migrate away from at any point in the future. The Regs4ships SharePoint based system addressed all these concerns and, with the Geo-Replicator interface, also offered control of satellite costs.
Roll-out of the new system to APL Maritime’s USA fleet started in April 2008 and, by early 2009, proved so successful that the APL Singapore fleet was added. Each fleet has different requirements, but the facilities available in Microsoft SharePoint allow fine-tuning of the basic model to be made without major effort.
Regs4ships offer Infonic system with development and hosting services.
Regs4ships not only design and produce the SharePoint based system, but they also provide the services needed to implement the software on board. This imposes many logistical challenges, since, due to the large volumes taken up by software files, installation and configuration can only be performed when ships are in port. With fleets sailing on schedules which span the globe, these ports can be thousands of miles away from shipping companies’ offices, and consequently very expensive to get staff to. Regs4ships have arrangements with many local IT service providers to perform installation under their control, to minimize the costs of travel for their software specialists.
In addition to the provision of shipboard implementation of their new system, Regs4ships also offer a hosting service based at a secure data centre on the south coast of the UK. This facility has SharePoint Servers dedicated to the customers’ systems, and links to the network systems to send and receive updates for each ship at sea. The shipping company does not need to get involved with the operation or maintenance of its SharePoint systems.
Richard Eastham, Technical Director of Regs4ships, says “Shipping companies no longer have to operate in a legislative vacuum. For the first time ever personnel can refer to company procedures which are directly related to the latest Flag State and International regulations. The Regs4ships/Infonic system allows Shore Managers and ships’ crews to refer to integrated data in near real time. Auditing of the integrated system is simplified. As a consequence the vessel vastly reduces the risks of non-conformities at ISM and ISPS audit compared to a standard paper based system”.