MAIN HEAD ARI e-business announces OceanManager - a ship-shore document and process automation tool www.ariebiz.com ARI, a maritime software company based in New Delhi, has developed a suite of software applications called "OceanManager," that offers a cost effective method of managing electronic content between vessels and shore offices. In the case of documents such as quality manuals or any other company literature, OceanManager maintains a consolidated database, tracks changes and updates to documents, and makes the information rapidly available to all shore locations and vessels. In the case of ship to shore reporting, OceanManager allows seafarers to send reports back to the shore office in the form of small attachments to any existing emailing system. To do this, OceanManager uses "Smart Forms" that then automatically extract the information into a database in the office, in a form amenable to subsequent analysis. Customized "Smart Forms" are available for various functions including QA, Accounts, Personnel, Technical and several others. The software is already being deployed on over 200 ships for companies such as Anglo Eastern Shipmanagement, Tanker Pacific and others. The software works like this. The master fills out a "Smart Form" on the shipboard computer; only the content of the report is sent as a small email to the head office, where the software recreates the whole form for the benefit of the recipient who can then view, comment, forward or print it. The forms work with existing email systems such as Microsoft Outlook, probably the most popular shipboard e-mail front end. Once the information is captured via smart forms, an Analysis tool, running on the shore computer, can perform sophisticated analysis of data in the forms and make graphs and reports. SUBHEAD Document manager OceanManager's Document Management features allow offices to maintain a centralized repository of company manuals and documents. All changes to documents are tracked and versions automatically maintained. Documents in the database are also synchronized between ships and shore so everyone has access to the latest information. Document Manager does not use any central database, but has a system to ensure that files updated in a certain folder on a shore computer can automatically be updated on the ship. "It looks like Windows, but its not Windows," says ARI. OceanManager can be the building block for virtually ship-shore reporting tool that the company would want, such as ISPS non-conformity reporting - the technology is flexible enough to allow new forms and reports to get added on to the system at any point of time. OceanManager is not restricted to forms; it can also be used to replicate word documents, images, pdf documents and spreadsheets between ship and shore. The company also believes that whilst most maritime software companies charge separately for the different modules, ARI will offer the Document Manager and the Smart Forms infrastructure at a one-time cost, and then adding functionality in the form of new forms and reports is a much more inexpensive proposition. "Our system is flexible and totally customisable," says Pushpinder Singh, engineering director with ARI. "It adapts itself to a company's existing processes, rather than the other way round." ARI also has the advantage of building the product entirely out of India and therefore at lower costs, allowing them the flexibility to aggressively price the software. SUBHEAD ARI's other activities In simulation, the company offers a range of simulators for Navigation, Engine/Propulsion, Cargo Handling and Crane operations. ARI is is currently also building virtual or digital versions of various Indian ports for use in pilot training in simulated environments. ARI simulators are used by ship managers, owners, ports, government bodies, colleges and naval establishments. The company has 120 staff, including 30 ex master mariners and 30 ex first officers. It was founded 12 years ago and has since trained 20,000 seafarers who are currently at sea.