# Non-Conformities (NC)
Navatom Non-Conformities tracks majors, NCs and observations from audit to verified, effective actions, linked to ISM Code clauses, on board or ashore.

URL: https://navatom.com/products/non-conformities
Category: [Issues](https://navatom.com/products/category/issues)
Runs on: Office, Ship

## Overview
Navatom Non-Conformities is the compliance engine for managing ISM and ISPS non-conformities across your fleet. Purpose-built for the regulatory demands of maritime safety management, it gives your DPA, compliance officers, and vessel masters a structured system for documenting, investigating, and resolving every non-conformity — from major findings that require immediate management review to observations that feed your continuous improvement program.
The module classifies every non-conformity into one of three severity classes — Major Non-Conformity (MNC), Non-Conformity (NC), and Observation (OBS) — each with its own response requirements, and closure verification. Each finding can cite the ISM Code clause or rule book entry it concerns, so it carries the right regulatory context for inspection readiness.
Audit and vetting findings convert directly into tracked non-conformities, carrying forward all evidence and observations. Rules-based root cause analysis, three corrective action types, and a six-stage compliance lifecycle ensure that every non-conformity is investigated thoroughly and resolved permanently.
Fleet-wide dashboards and a complete audit trail transform reactive compliance into proactive safety management.

## Key figures
- 3 Non-Conformity Classes
- 7 Dashboard Widgets
- 3 Corrective Action Types
- 28 Non-Conformity KPIs

## Features
- **Three Non-Conformity Classes**: Classify every non-conformity into one of three severity classes: Major Non-Conformity (MNC), Non-Conformity (NC), and Observation (OBS). Each class has its own rules: only a major non-conformity can be recorded as grounds for detention, with RO responsibility or a class finding, and only a non-conformity can be postponed to a dry dock. The three-class system aligns directly with ISM Code audit frameworks and classification society expectations. Your compliance team always knows the urgency level, and external auditors immediately understand the severity of each finding in your system.
  - Major Non-Conformity (MNC) tracking
  - Non-Conformity (NC) management
  - Observation (OBS) monitoring
  - Only a major can be grounds for detention
  - Navatom AI proposes a change of class
- **Audit & Vetting Finding Conversion**: Convert audit findings and vetting observations directly into tracked non-conformities with a single action. The conversion carries forward all evidence, observations, severity classification, and regulatory references from the original finding. Whether the source is an internal ISM audit, a port state control inspection, a SIRE vetting, or a classification society survey, the finding enters your non-conformity workflow with full context. No duplicate data entry, no lost information, and a permanent link back to the source assessment.
  - One-action finding conversion
  - ISM audit finding import
  - SIRE vetting observation import
  - Permanent source-finding linkage
- **Works Offline, On Board and Ashore**: Non-conformities can be reported, updated and worked on with no connection, on the ship app and the office app, photos included. Changes wait on the device and are sent when the connection returns, and any conflict with a change made elsewhere is shown to you.
  - Report and update with no connection
  - Photos and files wait on the device
  - Sent when the connection returns
  - Conflicts shown to the user
  - On the ship app and the office app
  - Some actions wait for the connection
- **Interim, Corrective & Preventive Actions**: Address non-conformities at three levels: interim actions contain the immediate compliance risk, corrective actions resolve the specific non-conformity, and preventive actions update your management system to prevent recurrence. Each action type is tracked independently with its own deadlines and verification. The office verifies each completed action or sends it back. Later it reviews verified actions for effect, and an action found not effective opens again, to be done and verified once more.
  - Interim risk containment
  - Corrective resolution tracking
  - Preventive system updates
  - Office review for effectiveness
- **Rules-Based Root Cause Analysis**: Investigate the underlying cause of every non-conformity using a structured root cause system, the standard one Navatom provides or your company's own. The rules-based approach ensures consistent, comparable analysis across all vessels and all non-conformity types. Root cause data aggregates across your fleet, revealing systemic compliance gaps that individual vessel investigations would miss. When the same root cause appears across multiple vessels, your management system needs attention — and the data makes that visible.
  - Standard and custom root cause systems
  - Consistent cross-vessel analysis
  - Fleet-wide pattern detection
  - Systemic compliance gap identification
- **Repeats Across the Fleet**: The office marks a non-conformity as a repeat of an earlier one on the same vessel, and both records show the link on a Repeats tab, on both apps. Gaps in the management system that keep coming back stay visible instead of closing quietly one at a time.
  - Repeats linked by the office
  - Shown on both apps
  - Earlier and later decided by date and time
  - Company non-conformities compared with their own
  - Likely repeats suggested by Navatom AI
- **ISM Code & Rule Book References**: Link each non-conformity to the rules it breaks, chosen clause by clause from the rule books available for whoever found it, such as the ISM Code. Navatom keeps the rule books, and the Rules tab lists each rule under its book with its clause number and text. A non-conformity found by port State control also keeps the regime and the deficiency and action codes in force on the day, and records whether it was ISM-related.
  - Rules from the ISM Code and other rule books
  - Rule books matched to who found it
  - Clause number and text on the record
  - Port State codes in force on the day
- **Six-Stage Compliance Lifecycle**: Every non-conformity moves through six statuses, from new to closed: the office accepts it and sets a due date, the vessel does the work, and the office resolves and closes it. It can be resolved as fixed only when at least one corrective action is done and none is still open. Clear status visibility at every stage keeps your compliance team aligned.
  - Controlled compliance progression
  - Fixed only with a corrective action done
  - Data completeness enforcement
  - Office accepts, resolves and closes
- **Postponement Management**: When the work on a non-conformity can only be done in a dry dock, the office postpones it to a scheduled or started dry dock of its vessel, with a reason. The dry dock gets a task for it, and closing the non-conformity completes the task. Only a non-conformity of a vessel can be postponed, not a major non-conformity or an observation. Each postponement is recorded in its event history.
  - A reason for every postponement
  - Only users with the postpone right
  - A dry dock task for each postponement
  - Recorded in the event history
- **Priority & Severity Classification**: Beyond the three non-conformity classes, each finding also carries a priority rating that determines how urgently it must be addressed. The combination of severity class and priority creates a precise urgency matrix for your compliance team. High-priority Major Non-Conformities rise to the top of every dashboard and notification list. Lower-priority Observations are tracked for trend analysis without creating false urgency. Your team focuses where the compliance risk is greatest.
  - Dual priority and severity ratings
  - Three-class severity hierarchy
  - Dashboard-driven urgency ranking
  - Focused compliance attention
- **Ship & Office Compliance Tracking**: Track non-conformities from both vessel and office environments in a single unified system. Ship-side findings are immediately visible to your DPA and compliance team ashore, ensuring that regulatory issues discovered at sea receive prompt shore-side attention. The office-ship workflow ensures proper handoff between vessel crews who identify the non-conformity and shore-based compliance officers who oversee the regulatory response. Both sides see the same data, the same status, and the same deadlines.
  - Unified vessel and shore visibility
  - DPA real-time oversight
  - Regulatory handoff workflow
  - Consistent status across locations
- **Crew Assignment & Responsibility**: Assign clear responsibility for each non-conformity to specific personnel — whether ship crew, shore-based compliance officers, or management. Each assignment includes the expected actions, deadlines, and evidence requirements. Several officers and office staff can be assigned to one non-conformity, and each sees it on their own dashboard.
  - Named compliance responsibility
  - Ship ranks and office staff
  - Yours on your own dashboard
  - Deadline and scope management
- **Analytics & Dashboard**: Seven dashboard widgets show your non-conformities and the fleet's that are overdue or in progress, new ones waiting to be accepted, unassigned ones, and those postponed to a dry dock. Each shows as a count or as a table you can open, for the vessels you choose.
  - 7 dashboard widgets
  - Overdue, new and unassigned at a glance
  - Postponed work tracked to its dry dock
  - Yours or the whole fleet's
- **Non-Conformity Analytics**: Two pages of non-conformity analytics. Flow shows how non-conformities move through their statuses and where they wait; Root Causes shows which causes come back across the fleet.
  - Time spent in each status
  - Root causes across the fleet
- **Fleet-Wide Non-Conformity Archive**: Access the complete history of every non-conformity across your entire fleet. Closed non-conformities remain searchable and filterable, building a compliance knowledge base that supports regulatory gap analysis and continuous improvement. When preparing for an ISM audit or responding to a port state inspection, your compliance team can instantly access the full history of non-conformities for any vessel, any class, and any time period.
  - Complete compliance history
  - Searchable by vessel, class and status
  - Vessel and time period filtering
  - ISM audit preparation support
- **Rich Descriptions & File Attachments**: Document every non-conformity with detailed descriptions and supporting evidence. Attach audit reports, photographs, certificates, regulatory correspondence, and any other files that support the investigation and resolution. Complete documentation is essential for regulatory compliance. When a classification society or flag state auditor reviews your non-conformity records, they expect to see the evidence that supports your investigation findings and corrective actions.
  - Detailed compliance documentation
  - Audit report attachments
  - Certificate and correspondence files
  - Complete evidence package
- **Threaded Comments & Collaboration**: Collaborate on non-conformity resolution with threaded comments attached directly to each record. Your DPA, vessel master, compliance officers, and management can discuss the investigation, corrective actions, and regulatory implications in context. The comment thread becomes part of the permanent compliance record, capturing the decision-making process behind each resolution. This documentary evidence strengthens your position during external audits and regulatory reviews.
  - DPA and master collaboration
  - Compliance discussion threads
  - Decision-making documentation
  - Permanent compliance narrative
- **Complete Audit Trail**: Every action on a non-conformity is recorded in its event history, with who did it and when. From initial documentation through severity classification, root cause analysis, corrective action assignments, and closure verification — every step is captured. The audit trail is your compliance backbone. It provides the evidence that your management system works as intended: non-conformities are investigated, root causes are identified, corrective actions are implemented, and closures are verified by authorized personnel.
  - Every change, with who and when
  - Full user attribution
  - Kept with their full history
  - Records for ISM Code audits

## Technical abilities
- **High-Performance Compliance Grids with Advanced Filtering**: All non-conformity views use high-performance data grids with advanced filtering by class, status, priority, severity, vessel, and date range. Browse thousands of compliance records without performance degradation.
- **Rules-Based Root Cause Engine**: Standard and company-defined root cause systems drive consistent investigation across the fleet. The engine enforces structured analysis, enabling fleet-wide root cause pattern detection and systemic compliance gap identification.
- **Multi-Source Finding Conversion**: Findings from audits, vetting inspections, and other assessments convert to non-conformities through an automated workflow that preserves all evidence, regulatory references, and severity data with permanent bidirectional linkage.
- **Automated Compliance Lifecycle**: The six-stage lifecycle is managed by an automated workflow that enforces the rules of each class, validates data completeness at each gate, and triggers notifications to responsible parties.
- **Complete Event History**: Every action on a non-conformity is recorded as it happens, with who did it and when. The same record feeds the audit trail, notifications and dashboards.
- **Office-Ship Synchronization**: Non-conformities are kept on the device, so you can keep working on them in the ship app and the office app with no connection. Changes and photos wait in an outbox and are sent when the connection returns, and any conflict is shown to the user rather than resolved silently.
- **Regulatory Reference Integration**: Rules are stored as structured references to a rule book and a clause, not as free text, and port State codes come from lists kept per regime and date. The same clause reads the same on every vessel's record.

## Benefits
- **Non-Conformity Management for the ISM Code**: Three classes, structured root cause analysis, verified actions and a later review of their effect follow the way ISM Code audits work. Your management system shows its process on the record, not just its results.
- **Three Severity Levels for Precise Classification**: Major non-conformity, non-conformity and observation, each with its own rules. Your team responds proportionately to each finding, dedicating management attention where it matters most.
- **From Audit Finding to Corrective Action in One Step**: Audit and vetting findings convert directly into tracked non-conformities, carrying forward all evidence and context. No data re-entry, no lost information, and a permanent link for full traceability.
- **Fleet-Wide Compliance Visibility**: Dashboards show open, overdue and unassigned non-conformities across your fleet, and root causes and repeats show which gaps keep coming back. Spot systemic compliance gaps before they become audit findings.
- **Regulatory-Ready Records for Every Inspection**: Every action on every non-conformity is kept in its event history, with who did it and when. Port state, flag state, classification society, and ISM auditors find clean, chronological compliance evidence.
- **Proactive Compliance Culture**: Root cause analysis, preventive actions, and fleet-wide trend data transform reactive non-conformity management into proactive compliance improvement. Address system weaknesses before they generate repeat findings.

## Frequently asked questions
### What are the three non-conformity classes?
Major Non-Conformity (MNC) is the most severe — it indicates a significant failure in the management system that requires immediate corrective action and management review. Non-Conformity (NC) indicates a gap that must be corrected within a defined timeline. Observation (OBS) captures a potential issue or area for improvement that should be monitored and addressed proactively.

### Which regulatory frameworks does the module support?
Each non-conformity can be linked to the rules it breaks, chosen clause by clause from the rule books Navatom keeps for the authority that found it, such as the ISM Code. A non-conformity found by port State control also records the regime and the deficiency and action codes of that regime in force on the day, and Navatom keeps those code lists too.

### Can audit and vetting findings be converted into non-conformities?
Yes. Findings from internal ISM audits, port state control inspections, SIRE vettings, classification society surveys, and any other assessment source can be converted into tracked non-conformities with a single action. All evidence and context carry forward, with a permanent link to the source finding.

### How does the corrective action process work for Major Non-Conformities?
A major non-conformity is worked like every non-conformity: interim actions contain the immediate risk, corrective actions fix the specific problem, and preventive actions update the management system. It can be resolved as fixed only once at least one corrective action is done and none is still open. The office verifies each action or sends it back, and later reviews it for effectiveness.

### Does the module work offline on vessels?
Yes. Non-conformities are kept on the device, so you can keep working on them in the ship app and the office app with no connection: report a non-conformity, add photos, record actions and comments. Changes wait on the device and are sent when the connection returns, and any conflict with a change made elsewhere is shown to you. Some steps, such as root causes from the systems Navatom provides, wait for the connection.

### How does the module help prepare for ISM audits?
Every non-conformity keeps its full event history, the documented evidence of your management system in action. Auditors can see that non-conformities are classified correctly, investigated with root cause analysis, resolved with verified corrective actions, and closed by authorized personnel — all with timestamps and user attribution.

### What analytics are available for compliance monitoring?
Seven dashboard widgets show the non-conformities that are overdue, in progress, new, unassigned or postponed to a dry dock, for you or for the whole fleet. Root causes and repeats show which gaps keep coming back, and the current list and the archive export to Excel or CSV.

### Can the class of a non-conformity be changed?
Yes. A non-conformity can move between major non-conformity, non-conformity and observation on both apps while it can still be changed, except while it is postponed to a dry dock. Navatom AI can propose the change from the record, and you confirm it.

### Does Navatom track repeat non-conformities?
Yes. The office marks a non-conformity as a repeat of an earlier one on the same vessel, and both records show the link on their Repeats tab, on both apps. Together with root causes chosen from one system, repeats show which gaps in the management system keep coming back across the fleet.

## Related modules
- [Accidents](https://navatom.com/products/accidents): Report and investigate accidents with structured investigation workflows.
- [Near Misses](https://navatom.com/products/near-misses): Capture near-miss reports to promote proactive safety culture across the fleet.
- [Technical Findings](https://navatom.com/products/technical-findings): Document technical findings from surveys, inspections, and maintenance activities.
- [Deficiencies](https://navatom.com/products/deficiencies): Record and track deficiencies from inspections with corrective action workflows.

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