# Masters Reviews (MRW)
Navatom Masters Reviews runs the master's review of the vessel safety management system on board, from a released checklist, and the office signs it off.

URL: https://navatom.com/products/masters-reviews
Category: [Safety](https://navatom.com/products/category/safety)
Runs on: Office, Ship

## Overview
Navatom Masters Reviews is the Captain's structured vessel review platform — enabling fleet management to ensure consistent, standards-based safety reviews through versioned templates, structured checklists, and shore-side oversight. It replaces ad-hoc inspection notes, emailed checklists, and disconnected spreadsheets with a controlled, cloud-based review system that gives your DPA, fleet superintendent, and vessel masters a single source of truth for every review conducted onboard.
Built around a Captain-led review model with five checklist question types (Checkbox, Staged, Inquiry, Single Choice, Multiple Choice), the module adapts to any review scenario — from routine safety walkthroughs and pre-departure checks to comprehensive ISM self-assessments. Versioned review definitions with a six-stage draft-to-release lifecycle ensure your fleet always works from approved, controlled templates.
Per-ship schedules, on-demand reviews on board and the master's name on every review keep every review targeted and accountable.
A review lifecycle from in progress to completed, followed by office sign-off with notes, closes the loop between vessel and shore. Every action is recorded as it happens, with who did it and when, for a full audit trail.
Yearly planning views, calendar integration, rich text reporting and report drafts from Navatom AI transform master's reviews from a paper exercise into a proactive safety intelligence tool that scales across your entire fleet.

## Key figures
- 5 Checklist Question Types
- 6 Definition Lifecycle Stages
- 4 Repeat Frequencies
- 4 Dashboard Widgets

## Features
- **Captain-Led Vessel Review**: The Captain is the sole reporter for every masters review — reflecting the reality that the master has ultimate authority and responsibility for vessel safety. Unlike multi-attendee audit modules, Masters Reviews is designed for a single, authoritative assessment by the person who knows the vessel best. This Captain-centric model ensures accountability is clear and undivided. Every review carries the master's name, every checklist response is the master's assessment, and every report is the master's record. Shore-side management reviews the completed work without diluting ownership.
  - Captain as sole reporter
  - Clear, undivided accountability
  - Master's authority reflected in workflow
  - Single-owner review records
- **Office Review & Oversight**: Shore-side reviewers evaluate every completed master's review, closing the loop between vessel self-assessment and fleet management oversight. Once a Captain marks a review as completed, office personnel can go through the checklist answers, read the report, examine attachments, and sign it off with their own notes. The office review workflow ensures that master's reviews are not filed and forgotten. Several reviewers can each sign off the same review, a reviewer can withdraw a sign-off, the master sees every sign-off on board, and comments carry any follow-up with the ship. A dashboard widget and the daily brief show the completed reviews no one has signed off yet, so management knows every review has been seen by shore staff.
  - Shore-side reviewer evaluation
  - Post-completion office assessment
  - Sign-off with notes, by one reviewer or several
  - Widget of reviews awaiting sign-off
  - Vessel-office loop closure
- **Yearly Review Planning**: Plan your entire annual review program in a dedicated yearly planning view. A visual grid gives each vessel and review its own row, with every planned date of the year, its window and whether the review was done, giving management and DPAs a complete overview of the master's review calendar for the year ahead. Identify gaps in coverage, ensure that every vessel receives the required reviews within the required timeframes, and track completion against the plan. The yearly plan and the fleet calendar come from the same schedules, so every scheduled review also appears on the calendar.
  - Visual annual scheduling grid
  - Per-vessel review coverage mapping
  - Gap identification across fleet
  - Calendar integration for planned reviews
- **Structured Checklist Engine**: Build comprehensive review checklists with five question types — Checkbox, Staged, Inquiry, Single Choice, and Multiple Choice. Each checklist item captures the specific evidence your masters need to evaluate, with structured response formats that drive consistent, comparable results across reviews and vessels. Staged items break a question into steps you name, each marked done or not done. Inquiry items capture free-text observations, and any question can carry guidance the master reads on board. Every answer can take a remark, photos and files, and records who answered and when. Choice items enforce selection from predefined options. Hierarchical categories organize checklist items into logical groups — safety equipment, navigation systems, cargo operations — mirroring the structure of your ISM manual.
  - Checkbox, Staged, Inquiry types
  - Single & Multiple Choice questions
  - Hierarchical category organization
  - Remark, photos and files on every answer
  - Reusable checklist templates
- **Draft the Report with Navatom AI**: On board, ask Navatom AI to draft the review report, or to rewrite, tighten or summarize the one already written. It works from the review in front of you: its definition, schedule, master, reviewers and current report. Nothing is saved until you see the proposed report and apply it, and only while the review is in progress. Navatom AI also lists the master's reviews due or overdue, alerts you when one runs overdue, and sends scheduled reports, and the office's daily brief lists completed reviews still waiting for sign-off.
  - Report drafted from the review in view
  - Rewrite, tighten or summarize an existing report
  - Nothing saved until you apply it
  - Reviews due and overdue, on request or by alert
  - Reviews awaiting sign-off in the daily brief
- **Rich Text Reports & File Attachments**: Document review findings with a full rich text editor that supports formatted text, lists, and structured observations. The report is the Captain's narrative — a free-form space to describe conditions, note concerns, and record observations that go beyond the structured checklist responses. Attach supporting files — photographs, scanned documents, manufacturer certificates, test records — directly to the review. File management tracks uploads, edits, and removals with full event logging. The combination of structured checklist data and narrative reporting gives shore management both the numbers and the story.
  - Full rich text editor for reports
  - Photo & document attachments
  - File upload, edit & removal tracking
  - Narrative + structured data combined
- **Ship-Based Scheduling & On-Demand Reviews**: Schedule each released review for the ships that need it, so every vessel gets the reviews right for its type, trade and requirements. A schedule names the review and the ship, and either one date or a repeat every so many days, weeks, months or years, with an optional window around each date. On board, the master starts a scheduled review from the ship's schedule, or starts one on demand from any released review when the situation calls for it. Either way, the review is recorded under the master's name for that vessel.
  - Per-ship scheduling
  - One date or a repeating schedule
  - Optional window around each date
  - On-demand reviews on board
  - Fleet-wide schedule list
- **Versioned Definition & Template System**: Build reusable review definitions with a full draft-release lifecycle. Definitions move through six stages — Draft, Waiting for Approval, Completed, Rejected, Released, and Revised — ensuring that only approved, controlled versions are used for live reviews onboard. Revise a released definition as a new draft version: the released one stays in use until the new version is approved and released. A three-tier meta status (Draft, Released, Deprecated) tracks the overall template maturity. The versioning system maintains a complete history of every template change, so you always know which version was used for any given review.
  - Six-stage definition lifecycle
  - Draft to Released approval workflow
  - Revisions without disrupting live reviews
  - Three-tier meta status tracking
  - Controlled revision management
- **Review Lifecycle with Office Sign-Off**: Every master's review follows a controlled lifecycle. The Captain works through the checklist and report while the review is in progress, and the report can be changed only then. When satisfied, the Captain marks it completed, signaling to shore management that the review is ready for evaluation. The completion date is recorded. Office reviewers then sign it off, each with their own notes. Until the first sign-off, the office can reopen the review for the master. The Captain owns execution, the office owns verification, and the record shows exactly when each step happened.
  - In progress, completed, then signed off
  - Clear vessel-to-office handoff
  - Report locked once completed
  - Office can reopen until signed off
  - Full transition audit trail
- **Calendar Integration**: Schedule reviews directly into the Navatom calendar system. Each review creates a calendar event with date, vessel, and assigned definition. Support for recurring schedules — Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly — handles everything from weekly safety walkthroughs to annual ISM self-assessments. Recurring review schedules automatically generate future review events based on your configured frequency. Calendar visibility ensures the Captain, fleet superintendent, and shore management all see upcoming reviews in their planning views. Changes to review dates or status propagate to the calendar in real time.
  - Automatic calendar event creation
  - Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly recurrence
  - Fleet-wide calendar visibility
  - Real-time status propagation
  - Crew & management planning views
- **Dashboard Widgets**: Monitor your master's review program's health with four dashboard widgets: reviews overdue, reviews planned in the next 30 days, reviews within their window now, and completed reviews the office has not signed off yet. Widgets provide at-a-glance KPIs for fleet superintendents and DPAs: Which vessels have overdue reviews? What is coming up this month? Which completed reviews still wait for the office? Each widget also comes as a table of the reviews behind its count, for immediate action. The main Navatom dashboard can show scheduled and unreviewed master's reviews too.
  - Four dedicated dashboard widgets
  - Overdue and next-30-day reviews
  - Reviews within their window now
  - Completed reviews awaiting sign-off
  - Fleet-wide KPI overview
- **Threaded Comments & Collaboration**: Add, edit, and delete comments on any review to create a threaded conversation between the Captain and shore-side management. Comments provide a communication channel that lives alongside the review data — no need to switch to email or messaging apps to discuss findings. Every comment action (add, edit, delete) is recorded in the event log with full user attribution and timestamp. Comments become part of the permanent review record, providing context that enhances the formal checklist and report data.
  - Per-review comment threads
  - Add, edit & delete with attribution
  - Captain-office communication channel
  - Comments as permanent record
  - Full event logging per action
- **Print & PDF Export**: Generate professional PDF reports for any completed masters review with a single click. The exported report includes the full review record — checklist responses, rich text report, file attachment references, office review notes, and comment history — formatted for archival or external submission. Use printed reports for ISM audit evidence, classification society reviews, fleet management presentations, and internal safety reviews. The print carries the review's event history too, with each office sign-off and its notes.
  - One-click PDF report generation
  - Full review record export
  - Checklist + report + attachments
  - Event history with office sign-offs
- **Complete Audit Trail**: Every action on a master's review is recorded as it happens, with who did it and when: the report, files, comments, completion, each office sign-off and any reopening. Changes to review definitions are recorded the same way, from each checklist edit to approval and release, giving a step-by-step narrative of the entire review process for internal audits and external inspection.
  - Every review action recorded as it happens
  - Every definition change recorded too
  - Full user attribution per event
  - Timestamp & context recording
  - Audit evidence for ISM reviews

## Technical abilities
- **Review Grids with Advanced Filtering**: Every review and definition list opens in a grid with column filters, a columns panel and paging. Narrow results by vessel, review, scheduled date, window, who started it, start and completion dates, timing and office sign-offs, and a marker shows the reviews with changes you have not seen.
- **Six-Stage Definition Lifecycle State Machine**: Review definitions follow a Draft, Waiting for Approval, Completed, Rejected, Released, Revised lifecycle with built-in approval gates. Each transition enforces validation, records who sent the definition for approval and who approved or rejected it, and keeps every earlier version in the definition's history. A three-tier meta status (Draft, Released, Deprecated) tracks template maturity.
- **Hierarchical Checklist Engine with Five Question Types**: Checklists support Checkbox, Staged, Inquiry, Single Choice, and Multiple Choice question types organized in hierarchical categories. Each question shows whether it is answered, any question can carry guidance for the master, and every answer records who gave it and when, with an optional remark and files.
- **Office-Ship Synchronization**: The office and the vessel work on one shared review record: the master fills it in on the ship app, and the office follows and signs it off on the company app.
- **Calendar Event Lifecycle Engine**: Reviews automatically create and maintain calendar events with support for single and recurring schedules (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly). Starting, completing or reopening a review updates its slot on the calendar straight away.
- **Complete Event History**: Every action on a master's review is recorded as it happens, with who did it and when. The same record feeds the audit trail, notifications and dashboards.

## Benefits
- **Consistent, Standards-Based Reviews Across Your Fleet**: Versioned templates, structured checklists, and controlled definition lifecycles ensure every vessel conducts reviews to the same standard. No more variation between ships or masters — your review program is as consistent as your ISM manual demands.
- **Captain Empowered, Office in Control**: The Captain owns the review onboard with full authority as sole reporter. Shore management reviews the completed work through a dedicated office review workflow. Clear ownership at sea, clear oversight ashore — both sides know exactly where they stand.
- **Controlled, Versioned Review Templates from Day One**: Draft-to-release definition lifecycle ensures your fleet always uses approved, controlled templates. New versions are drafted and approved while the released one stays in use, so you can evolve your review program without losing institutional knowledge or disrupting ongoing reviews.
- **Inspection-Ready Review Records with Full Audit Trail**: A complete event history with full user attribution means your review records are always inspection-ready. ISM auditors, flag state inspectors, and classification societies will find a clean, chronological record of every review activity.
- **From Review to Improvement in a Closed Loop**: Captain observations feed into office review, office reviewers sign off with their notes and take up any follow-up in comments, and the audit trail records the entire cycle. The closed-loop workflow ensures no observation is lost and every review contributes to continuous improvement.
- **Scales from Single Vessel to Global Fleet**: Each company's records kept in a database of its own and one review record shared by office and vessel mean the system works the same whether you manage one vessel or five hundred. Grow your fleet without outgrowing your review platform.

## Frequently asked questions
### Who conducts the masters review onboard?
The Captain is the sole reporter for every masters review. Unlike multi-attendee audit modules, Masters Reviews is designed for a single authoritative assessment by the vessel master — reflecting the Captain's ultimate authority and responsibility for vessel safety under SOLAS and ISM Code requirements.

### How does the review template system work?
Review definitions follow a six-stage lifecycle: Draft, Waiting for Approval, Completed, Rejected, Released, and Revised. Only released definitions can be scheduled or started on board. Revising a released definition opens a new draft version, and the released one stays in use until the new version is approved and released. A three-tier meta status (Draft, Released, Deprecated) tracks overall template maturity.

### What question types are available in checklists?
Five question types are supported: Checkbox (yes, no or not applicable), Staged (steps you name, each marked done or not done), Inquiry (free-text observations), Single Choice (select one from predefined options), and Multiple Choice (select several). Types can be mixed within a single checklist and organized into hierarchical categories, and every answer can carry a remark, photos and files.

### How does the office review process work?
When a Captain marks a review as Completed, it becomes available for shore-side evaluation. Designated office reviewers can examine checklist responses, read the report, review file attachments, and add their own assessment. Each reviewer signs it off with their own notes, which the master sees on board, confirming that shore management has evaluated the Captain's work and closing the loop between vessel and office. Until the first sign-off, the office can reopen the review for the master.

### Can I schedule recurring reviews across the fleet?
Yes. Schedule a released review for a ship and repeat it every so many days, weeks, months or years, with an optional window around each date, and the system automatically generates future review events on the calendar. A dedicated yearly planning view provides a visual grid of all scheduled reviews across your fleet.

### Does the module support offline use on vessels?
The master fills in the review on the ship app and the office follows and signs it off on the company app, both working on the same review record while connected.

### What audit trail capabilities does the module provide?
Every action on a review is recorded as it happens, with who did it and when: the report, files, comments, completion, each office sign-off and any reopening. Changes to review definitions, from checklist edits to approval and release, are recorded the same way, and the event history prints with the review.

### Can Navatom AI write the master's review report?
Yes. On board, ask Navatom AI to draft the report, or to rewrite or summarize the one already written, and it works from the review in front of you. You see the proposed report before anything is saved and apply it or decline it, while the review is still in progress.

### Can the master start a review that was not scheduled?
Yes. Besides the reviews scheduled for the ship, the master can start one on demand from any released review. Both are recorded the same way and reach the office for sign-off once completed.

### Can a completed review be reopened?
Yes, from the office, until the first office reviewer has signed it off. The master then continues in the same review, and the reopening is recorded in its history.

## Related modules
- [Risk Assessments](https://navatom.com/products/risk-assessments): Identify hazards, rate them on your own risk matrix before and after controls, and approve each risk assessment by rank before work starts.
- [Safety Meetings](https://navatom.com/products/safety-meetings): Schedule and document safety committee meetings, attendees and minutes, signed off by the office.
- [Training](https://navatom.com/products/training): Run onboard crew training from released curricula, record who attended, and sign it off in the office.
- [Drills](https://navatom.com/products/drills): Plan, execute, and evaluate emergency drills with crew participation tracking.

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