Circulars

Circulars move through a structured approval pipeline: authors create and edit drafts, then send them for approval with a remark for the approver. Designated reviewers evaluate the content and either approve it for release or reject it with feedback.

Approved circulars are released to the fleet; rejected circulars return to the author for revision.

Each category names the group whose members approve its drafts, and any one of them approves. Publishing, and publishing a revision, control when approved content reaches vessels.

Every approval and rejection is recorded with the reviewer's identity, timestamp, and decision, providing a complete audit trail for regulatory compliance.

Sort circulars into categories, such as flag State, class or company notices, each with its own color, the user group that may post to it and the group whose members approve its drafts. A category also sets whether its circulars must be read, and in how many days.

Give each circular a priority and a valid-until date. A circular is deprecated automatically after its last day in force, and the circulars expiring soon are listed, so nothing out of date stays in front of the crew.

Ask Navatom AI what your circulars say, and it answers from your own circulars and manuals, naming the document each answer comes from. It answers only from the documents you are allowed to read.

It also drafts a new circular, shows who on a vessel has not read one, lists the circulars expiring soon and the drafts waiting for approval, and sends a draft for approval or releases it once you confirm. On board, it tells each crew member which circulars they still have to read.

Turn an accident, a near miss or any other issue into a lessons-learned circular. Navatom AI reads the issue and drafts what happened, why, what was done about it and what crews should do from now on, without naming anyone involved.

Circulars and issues stay linked both ways: an issue can be shared in a circular, refer to one, or be raised from one, and the circular lists the issues linked to it.

When a circular changes how the fleet works, record which manuals or sections it requires to change. The manual's owners see the pending update, and the section's next release completes it, recording the version that made the change.

Every circular is identified by a structured numbering scheme combining year, sequential counter, and version — producing identifiers like "5 / 2024 v2" that are instantly recognizable and traceable. The counter increments automatically within each year, and the version number tracks revisions independently.

This numbering system ensures that every circular in your fleet has a unique, human-readable identifier that conveys when it was issued, its sequence within the year, and which revision is current. The scheme mirrors the conventions that maritime professionals already use in paper-based circular registers, making the transition to digital seamless.

Every circular follows a controlled lifecycle through seven stages — Draft, Waiting for Approval, Completed, Rejected, Released, Revised, and Deprecated. Only Released circulars are distributed to vessels.

The lifecycle enforces that every circular passes through formal review before reaching ship personnel.

Draft circulars can be edited freely by authors. When ready, the draft is submitted for approval.

Reviewers can approve (Completed → Released) or reject (back to Draft with feedback). Released circulars can be revised, creating a new version while the current one remains active.

Deprecated circulars are archived but never deleted — maintaining a complete historical record.

Navatom supports two distinct circular types — Document (Word/DOCX) for rich-text circulars that need in-platform editing with formatting, tables, and images, and PDF for pre-formatted circulars that are uploaded and distributed as-is. Each type follows the same lifecycle and distribution workflow but with format-appropriate editing and viewing experiences.

Document circulars unlock the full built-in editor for creating, revising, and formatting content directly in the browser. PDF circulars are uploaded as final-form files and distributed without modification — ideal for third-party regulatory notices, classification society bulletins, and external vendor communications.

Create and edit Word-based circulars directly in the browser with a full-featured document editor — no desktop software required. The editor supports rich formatting, tables, images, headers, lists, and page layout controls with the same fidelity as desktop word processors.

Documents are saved automatically and continuously. The editor runs entirely within the platform — no external services, no file downloads, no version confusion.

When you're ready to distribute, the circular is submitted for approval and released to the fleet without ever leaving the system.

Organize circulars with a flexible labeling system that adapts to your company's classification needs. Create, edit, and apply custom labels to categorize circulars by topic, department, urgency, regulation, vessel type, or any other dimension that matters to your operation.

Labels enable fast filtering and retrieval across large circular libraries. Apply multiple labels to a single circular for cross-referenced categorization.

The label system is fully user-defined — no predefined categories to work around, no limits on the number of labels you can create.

Navigate your circular library through three dedicated list views: Published (the circulars in force, grouped by label), Unpublished (drafts, drafts waiting for approval and approved drafts), and Deprecated (circulars taken out of use, which can be reopened).

Each view provides its own set of filters and sorting options appropriate to the circular status. The Published view focuses on distribution status and read completion.

A deprecated circular can be reopened with its assignments, and the reopening is recorded.

24 KPIs follow a circular from draft to the crew who must read it: circulars issued and revised, days from draft to release, approval wait and rejection rate. Others show circulars left in force for over 24 months without revision, how soon a released circular is assigned to a vessel and the share of vessels it reaches.

Reading KPIs show the share of crew who have read each circular, who read it within 7 days or by their deadline, the Master's time to read, the crew aboard who have not yet read one and what new joiners have caught up on. Follow-up KPIs count the manual changes a circular calls for that are still open and the days it takes to make them.

Each circular is written in Word in the browser, and Navatom builds the PDF the crew read and print from that single source file. A PDF circular, such as a flag State notice, is uploaded as it is.

Conversion happens server-side with full fidelity: formatting, tables, images, and layout are preserved. Your circulars are always ready to read in the browser, print on board, or archive for compliance.

Add threaded comments to any circular for collaborative review and feedback. Comments support adding, editing, and deletion — creating a structured discussion thread attached to the specific circular being reviewed. Comment threads persist across versions for continuity.

Use comments during the approval process to provide specific feedback on content, request clarifications, or document review decisions. Comment history is preserved as part of the circular's audit trail, providing evidence of the review process for compliance auditors.

Monitor your circular program with four dashboard widgets: Total Circulars shows the size of your circular library, Released This Year tracks publication cadence, Awaiting Approval highlights review bottlenecks, and Completed counts the approved circulars ready to publish.

Dashboard metrics aggregate across your entire fleet, providing shore management with a single-pane view of circular communication health. Each circular's assignments show its read share per ship, and Navatom AI tells you who on a vessel has not read it.

Every action on a circular is recorded as it happens, with who did it and when, from creation through editing, approval, rejection, release, distribution, every read, revision, and deprecation.

The same record feeds the audit trail, notifications and dashboards. Auditors can trace every circular's journey from draft to fleet-wide distribution with complete accountability for every decision and action along the way.