# Certificates (CRT)
Navatom Certificates tracks every vessel certificate and the surveys behind it, warns before anything expires, and keeps each renewal's history for audits.

URL: https://navatom.com/products/certificates
Category: [Documentation](https://navatom.com/products/category/documentation)
Runs on: Office, Ship

## Overview
Navatom Certificates is the maritime certificate lifecycle platform — tracking every vessel certificate, class survey, statutory endorsement, and equipment inspection across your entire fleet with hierarchical organization, expiry monitoring, renewal workflows, and fleet-wide compliance visibility. It replaces scattered spreadsheets, email reminders, and disconnected filing systems with a single, structured certificate registry that gives your DPA, fleet superintendent, and vessel masters a complete view of every document's status.
Built around an unlimited-depth hierarchical tree structure, the module organizes certificates into nested categories that mirror your company's classification system. Each certificate carries a versioned definition with issue date, expiry date, issuer, and one of four term types (no term, interim, short term and full term), while sub-items track the audits, surveys, reports, and equipment inspections that each certificate depends on.
Renewal workflows preserve complete history, so every previous version remains accessible for regulatory review.
Eight dashboard widgets, a daily certificate email and a weekly digest per ship transform certificate management from reactive firefighting into proactive compliance planning. Confirmation workflows ensure critical certificates receive explicit sign-off, calendar integration keeps renewal dates visible across planning views, and fleet-wide copy capabilities let you replicate certificate structures across vessels in seconds.

## Key figures
- 4 Certificate Term Types
- 4 Sub-Item Types
- 8 Dashboard Widgets
- 4 Issuer Types

## Features
- **Expiry Date Monitoring & Badges**: Badges on every certificate and every survey under it show expiry status at a glance: green two to three months out, yellow inside two months, orange inside three weeks, red in the final week, and purple once overdue. Each badge shows the days left. The badges appear in the certificate tree, on dashboard widgets and in the daily certificate email, so your fleet manager sees a color-coded overview of every vessel's certificate health without opening a single document.
  - Color-coded expiry badges
  - Green, yellow, orange, red, then purple when overdue
  - On certificates and the surveys under them
  - Tree, dashboard and email visibility
- **Four Sub-Item Types**: Track the audits, surveys, reports, and equipment inspections that each certificate depends on using four dedicated sub-item types. Each sub-item carries its own dates, status, and documentation — creating a structured breakdown of the work that supports certificate validity. Sub-items transform a certificate from a simple document record into a complete compliance package. When a class survey is due for a certificate, it appears as a tracked sub-item with its own window, badge and completion date. When a survey is done, record its completion date and confirm it, and keep the survey report with the certificate's files.
  - Audit sub-items per certificate
  - Survey tracking with dates
  - Report and equipment items
  - Completion date and confirmation per item
  - Badges and due dates of their own
- **Certificate Renewal & Version History**: Renew certificates with a single action while preserving complete version history. When a certificate is renewed, the previous version is archived as a historical record and the new version becomes the active definition. Every field — title, dates, sub-items, attachments — is captured in the historical snapshot. Review the full renewal chain at any time to see how a certificate has evolved. Regulatory auditors can inspect the complete history of any certificate, including each version's dates, who renewed it and when.
  - One-action certificate renewal
  - Full previous version archival
  - Complete renewal chain access
  - Every earlier version a click away
  - Regulatory-grade history trail
- **Daily Certificate Email & Weekly Digest**: Every morning, Navatom emails the people who choose it a report of the certificates and open surveys due within 30 days or already overdue, ship by ship, for the vessels they can see, with each one's badge and days left. Once a week, each ship's newsfeed gets a digest of its certificates expiring, its certificates expired and its surveys overdue. Each person can turn each digest off.
  - Daily email of everything due within 30 days
  - Overdue certificates and surveys included
  - Only the vessels each person can see
  - Weekly digest per ship in the newsfeed
  - Opt out per digest
- **Eight Certificate Dashboard Widgets**: Monitor your fleet's certificate health with eight purpose-built dashboard widgets. Five look ahead: due within a day, within a week, and within 15, 30 or 90 days. One shows what is overdue, one counts every certificate and survey, and one lists the surveys, audits and other sub-items waiting for confirmation. Each widget lists the certificates and surveys behind its count. Dashboard views aggregate across vessels, giving fleet managers a single screen that answers the question: "Are any certificates at risk across my entire fleet?"
  - Due within a day or a week
  - Ending within 15, 30 or 90 days
  - Overdue certificate tracking
  - Total certificates and surveys
  - Sub-items waiting for confirmation
- **Ask Navatom AI What Is Due**: Ask Navatom AI which certificates, surveys, audits and endorsements are coming due or overdue across your fleet, or on one vessel, and it lists them soonest first. It reads any certificate for you: its dates, term, issuer, confirmation and everything due under it. Ask it to alert you when a certificate comes due, or to send a scheduled report, such as the certificates due in the next 30 days every Monday. What expires today also appears in your daily brief.
  - Due and overdue, across the fleet or one vessel
  - Any certificate read out, with what is due under it
  - Alerts when a certificate comes due
  - Scheduled reports, such as every Monday
  - Only the vessels you can see
- **Fleet-Wide Certificate Copy**: Replicate certificate structures from one vessel to another with the fleet-wide copy capability. When you add a new vessel to your fleet, copy the certificate tree from an existing similar vessel to bootstrap its certificate portfolio — categories, certificate definitions, and sub-item structures transfer in a single operation. The copy function saves hours of manual setup and ensures consistency across vessels of the same type. After copying, each vessel's tree is independent, so vessel-specific adjustments don't affect the source.
  - Full tree replication across ships
  - Categories, certificates & sub-items
  - Single-operation transfer
  - Independent post-copy management
- **Hierarchical Certificate Tree**: Organize your vessel's certificates in a hierarchical folder tree with unlimited nesting depth. Categories can contain sub-categories, which can contain further sub-categories — mirroring any classification structure from simple two-level groupings to complex multi-tier regulatory frameworks. Reorder the tree without losing any certificate data. Each category carries its own status and confirmation, and the tree structure is independent per vessel, allowing different certificate organizations for different vessel types.
  - Unlimited category nesting depth
  - Move items up and down
  - Per-vessel independent trees
  - Active & deleted category statuses
- **Per-Ship Certificate Management**: Every vessel in your fleet maintains its own independent certificate tree with its own category structure, certificates, and sub-items. The per-ship architecture ensures that vessel-specific certificates — unique to a ship's flag state, classification society, and trade area — are organized exactly as needed for that vessel. Switch between vessels to view, manage, and compare their certificate portfolios. The per-ship model also enables vessel-level compliance reporting: how many certificates does this vessel have? How many are approaching expiry? Are any overdue?
  - Independent tree per vessel
  - Vessel-specific certificate portfolios
  - Ship-level compliance reporting
  - Switch between vessels in one step
- **Four Certificate Term Types**: Classify every certificate with one of four term types: no term for certificates without expiry, interim for temporary or provisional certificates, short term for certificates with abbreviated validity periods, and full term for standard full-duration certificates. The term shows at a glance which certificates are provisional and will need a full-term replacement. Expiry warnings come from each certificate's own expiry date, so a short-term certificate warns as its shorter validity runs out. A certificate with no expiry date raises no date-based alerts, and is tracked for existence and validity. The classification ensures your team applies the right attention to each document.
  - No term for non-expiring certificates
  - Interim for provisional documents
  - Short term for abbreviated validity
  - Full term for standard duration
  - Warnings from each certificate's own expiry date
- **Confirmation Workflow**: Confirm a category, a certificate or a survey under it once its details are checked: dates, attachments and completion. Each confirmation records who gave it and when. Surveys, audits and other sub-items still waiting for confirmation appear in their own dashboard widget, creating a clear action queue for your compliance team. Because categories are confirmed too, structural changes to the certificate tree also receive proper sign-off.
  - Sign-off for categories, certificates and surveys
  - Widget of sub-items awaiting confirmation
  - User attribution on confirmations
- **Calendar Integration**: Certificate expiry dates automatically appear on each ship's calendar under the certificate's name, creating a unified view of upcoming renewals alongside other vessel events, so planners have the context they need without leaving the calendar view. Calendar visibility ensures that certificate renewals are planned alongside drydocking schedules, crew changes, and port calls. When an expiry date changes due to renewal or amendment, the calendar event updates automatically.
  - Automatic expiry calendar events
  - Certificate name & vessel context
  - One marker per certificate on its expiry date
  - Auto-update on date changes
  - Unified planning view
- **Comments & File Attachments**: Attach supporting documents, photographs, and scanned copies directly to each certificate. File attachments create a complete digital archive that mirrors (and replaces) the physical certificate binder. Comments provide a threaded discussion history for each certificate, capturing the context behind decisions and changes. When a port state inspector requests evidence, your team pulls the original scan, the renewal correspondence, and the survey report from a single certificate record — no searching through email, shared drives, or physical files.
  - Per-certificate file attachments
  - Scanned copy & photo uploads
  - Threaded comment discussions
  - Complete digital certificate archive
- **Complete Audit Trail**: Every action on every certificate is recorded as it happens, with who did it and when: creation, updates, renewals, sub-item changes, file uploads, comments, confirmations, and deletions. The audit trail serves both internal governance and external compliance. When an auditor asks "Who renewed this certificate and when?", the answer is a single click away.
  - Every action recorded as it happens
  - Full user attribution per event
  - Renewal, confirmation and file events
  - Regulatory-grade accountability

## Technical abilities
- **Unlimited-Depth Hierarchical Tree**: The certificate tree supports unlimited category nesting, with each certificate keeping the path of categories above it. The tree renders efficiently regardless of depth, and structural changes are persisted immediately.
- **Versioned Certificate Definitions with Renewal Chain**: Each certificate maintains a linked chain of versioned definitions. Renewal creates a new active version and archives the previous one, preserving complete history. The version chain supports unlimited renewals with instant access to any historical version.
- **Complete Event History**: Every action on a certificate is recorded as it happens, with who did it and when. The same record feeds the audit trail, notifications and dashboards.
- **Fleet Copy with Structure Preservation**: One operation replicates an entire certificate tree, with its categories, certificates, sub-items and metadata, from one vessel to another. Category hierarchy and ordering are preserved exactly.
- **Real-Time Expiry Calculation Engine**: Eight dashboard widgets compute expiry status across the entire fleet, and every certificate and survey carries a badge for how far off its date is, from three months out to overdue, delivering instant answers to "What expires this week?" without manual checking.
- **Confirmation at Every Level**: Categories, certificates and the sub-items under them each carry their own confirmation, with timestamps and user attribution, and the sub-items still waiting are counted on the dashboard.
- **Office-Ship Synchronization**: The office and the vessel work on the same certificate records, each on its own app, and deficiencies raised against a certificate keep working offline.

## Benefits
- **Never Miss a Certificate Expiry**: Eight dashboard widgets, color-coded badges, a daily certificate email and calendar markers ensure that approaching and overdue certificates are impossible to overlook. Your compliance team sees the fleet's certificate health at a glance.
- **Complete Renewal History for Any Audit**: Every certificate renewal preserves the full previous version, creating an unbroken chain of documentation. When a port state inspector or classification society auditor asks for historical records, the complete history is one click away.
- **Structured Organization That Scales**: Unlimited-depth category trees let you mirror any classification structure. Whether you manage 50 certificates or 500 per vessel, the hierarchical tree keeps everything findable and logically grouped.
- **Fleet Consistency Through Certificate Copy**: Replicate certificate structures across vessels of the same type in a single operation. New vessels start with a proven certificate portfolio, ensuring consistency and saving hours of manual setup.
- **Complete Compliance Evidence**: The audit trail records every certificate action with full user attribution, creating a regulatory-grade record. File attachments, confirmations, and version history provide the documentary evidence that external auditors demand.
- **Proactive Compliance, Not Reactive Firefighting**: Dashboard widgets, calendar markers, a daily email and badges that change color from three months out transform certificate management from chasing overdue documents to planning renewals weeks in advance. Your team acts on approaching expiries before they become compliance gaps.

## Frequently asked questions
### How does the certificate tree structure work?
Certificates are organized in a hierarchical tree with unlimited nesting depth. Categories can contain sub-categories and certificates. You can create any structure that matches your classification system — by regulatory body, by certificate type, by vessel area, or any other grouping. Reorder items without losing data.

### What happens when a certificate is renewed?
When you renew a certificate, the current version is archived as a historical record and a new active version is created. All previous versions remain accessible in the renewal history chain. The renewal event is recorded in the audit trail with full user attribution and timestamp.

### What are the four certificate term types?
No term is for certificates without an expiry date (tracked for existence only). Interim is for temporary or provisional certificates. Short term is for certificates with abbreviated validity periods. Full term is for standard full-duration certificates. Expiry warnings come from each certificate's own expiry date.

### How does the confirmation workflow function?
Categories, certificates and the surveys, audits, reports and equipment items under them can each be confirmed once checked, with who confirmed and when recorded. Sub-items still waiting for confirmation appear in their own dashboard widget, and because categories are confirmed too, structural changes also receive proper sign-off.

### Can I copy certificate structures between vessels?
Yes. The fleet-wide copy capability replicates an entire certificate tree — categories, certificates, sub-items, and metadata — from one vessel to another in a single operation. After copying, each vessel's tree is independent, so changes to one do not affect the other.

### What sub-items can be tracked within a certificate?
Each certificate supports four sub-item types: Audit, Survey, Report, and Equipment. Sub-items carry their own dates, badge, completion date and confirmation. They create a structured breakdown of the inspections, surveys, and checks that support a certificate's validity.

### How are expiry notifications handled?
Eight dashboard widgets monitor certificate expiry across your fleet: due within a day, a week, 15, 30 or 90 days, overdue, the total count, and sub-items waiting for confirmation. Each morning, a certificate email lists what is due within 30 days or overdue, and each ship gets a weekly digest in its newsfeed. Calendar integration ensures renewal dates appear in planning views alongside other vessel events.

### Will someone be reminded before a certificate expires?
Yes. Everyone who chooses it gets a morning email listing the certificates and surveys due within 30 days or overdue on the vessels they can see. Each ship also gets a weekly digest in its newsfeed, and Navatom AI can alert you when a certificate comes due.

### Can a port State inspection finding point to a certificate?
Yes. When a port State inspection records a finding that could detain the vessel, it names the statutory certificate the finding relates to, picked from that vessel's active certificates.

## Related modules
- [Manuals](https://navatom.com/products/manuals): Create, distribute, and manage controlled manuals and procedures across the fleet.
- [Circulars](https://navatom.com/products/circulars): Distribute company circulars and notices with read-receipt tracking and acknowledgements.
- [Forms](https://navatom.com/products/forms): Design and deploy custom digital forms for inspections, checklists, and reporting.

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