Operations and record books · Module 13
DP log and event reporting
The DP log, the capability plan, versioned DP checklists and an event report that does not wait for the office.
MSC.1/Circ.1580
What it is for
The requirement, and the problem
A DPO logging a position excursion has about four minutes of attention to spare and a screen that must not ask for anything it could work out. Everything else about DP recordkeeping follows from that: the plan is drawn once, the checklist is versioned so the wording is stable, and the log is prefilled with what the desk already knows.
DP hours belong to the person, not to a position. An officer who stands DP watch on two vessels in a rotation accumulates a record that follows them, which is what an IMCA logbook is for and what a per-vessel system quietly loses.
How it works
Three steps, on board and ashore
- 1
The DP desk
State, activity, location and heading, with the AIS position shown as information — never as an input to control.
- 2
One tap for an event
Marking an event freezes the state at that moment and asks nothing more; the report is written when the vessel can spare somebody.
- 3
Checklists and the plan
DP checklists are versioned, the ship plan is drawn once, and the log exports for the client and the flag.
Example with demo data
What it looks like
A working picture of the module with demo data from the Ocean Pioneer — the same ship you find in the demo.
Try the demo — no account, in your browser, with the PIN 1234.
- DP desk — the plan, the mode, the watch
- DP log — per watch, in order
- The ship plan editor — thrusters and references, by dragging
- DP settings and the checklist versions
In detail
What the module does
The vessel’s own plan, drawn
Thrusters, position reference systems and their arrangement on this hull, laid out on the desk with real colours and the right icons, edited by dragging rather than by filling in a table.
Versioned DP checklists
The pre-DP, the 500-metre zone entry and the watch handover checks are templates with versions, on the same engine as every other form. A signed one keeps its wording.
The DP log per watch
Mode, references in use, environmental conditions and the events of the watch, logged as they happen and readable afterwards in order.
The event report, raised on board
A loss of position, a reference dropout, a thruster trip — reported where it happened, with the log around it attached, without waiting for an office to open a form.
Read-only feeds that fail safe
Where the desk reads from another system it does so read-only, and when the feed stops the screen says the feed stopped. It never shows the last value as though it were current.
DP time on the person
Hours accumulate against the individual across vessels and rotations, which is the record an officer actually needs when renewing.
The decision
A stale reading is worse than no reading
Every feed on the DP desk fails visibly. If a value cannot be refreshed, the screen says so and shows nothing rather than showing the last thing it saw. This is the opposite of what most dashboards do, and it is not a close call on a DP vessel.
The same rule is applied to the AIS position everywhere else in the product.
Works with
One product, not nineteen
Operations log and daily report
Port calls, activity, the daily report to charterer and owner, and the Garbage Record Book.
MARPOL Annex V, Reg. 10Handovers and forms
One form engine behind every signed piece of paper on board, with the wording frozen at the moment of signature.
ISM Code, clause 11Crew and certificates
Who is on board, what each position must hold, and which certificate expires before the crew change.
FOR-2011-12-22-1523
Put one vessel on it for two months
No card and no implementation project. A company adds its own vessel and its own people on its own afternoon — and if it is not for you, you stop, with your data exported first.