In this series, you will have access to use cases that demonstrate how workflows can be used to solve maritime operations problems more efficiently. We will look at how automated workflows can solve various business pains for our customers in the maritime industry and how Voyager has been fundamental in solving these pains in a quick and cost-effectively way.
What are the Best Practices for Setting Up Workflows with Voyager Portal?
Workflows can be an excellent way for companies in the maritime industry to streamline their operations and ensure that tasks are completed on time. Workflows help automate and eliminate manual processes, besides providing reports that can help managers make informed decisions.
One of the best benefits of automating some processes is enabling teams to collaborate more effectively by providing an organized communication and task management platform. This helps to reduce errors, improve accuracy, and increase efficiency. Companies can also benefit from workflows by reducing costs associated with manual labor and increasing customer satisfaction.
Voyager’s low-code workflow modeler gives our customers unprecedented flexibility to solve business problems requiring collaboration, data sharing, and reporting across networks of departments and companies. Each month our team and our customers come together to create new workflows that are then deployed for daily use.
This post highlights our favorite workflows from 2022 that are now available for all current and future customers to subscribe to. And if you are looking for more information on how to adopt workflows in your company, talk to one of our specialists.
Workflow Example #1: Credit risk approval
Business pain: There was a communication gap between trading, shipping operations, and risk. As a result, actions would sometimes be made by shipping or trading without confirmation that credit had been approved. This created risk for the trading business and the CFO.
Solution with Voyager: A 3-step approval workflow was designed by the client, which ensured all credit risk approval requests went straight to the credit team and included a notification. Credit could then confirm critical details, and notifications would be sent to the appropriate teams. A dashboard was created that shows all shipments without credit in place, and the credit team could see if any approvals were still pending. This workflow reduced the amount of internal email communication, reduced the risk of missing a credit approval, and creased visibility over this operation internally.
Workflow Example #2: Surveyor management and appointment
Business pain: Survey data was being shared in unstructured formats and inconsistency across the globe for many of our customers. This data was critical in understanding cargo specifications and monitoring changes to cargo quality or integrity. The manual communication, tracking, and collection of this data resulted in cargo being delivered off the spot, cargo issues not being picked up at load, and claims being presented by customers.
Solution with Voyager: Our customers can select and appoint surveyors directly through the system. This would allow the surveyors to track the inbound vessel and then upload all critical data into structured and customizable forms. Documents will be attached if needed. Our customers could query the results, request invoices, and communicate directly within the application.
Workflow Example #3: Vessel and cargo nominations
Customer type: Chemical Manufacturers and Traders
Commodities: Specialty chemicals, petrochemicals
Business pain: The company must collect cargo requirements from multiple buys around the world and then consolidate those requirements. These requirements must then be cross-checked with the supply chain for cargo availability and the ship for space availability. This process also involves a vessel nomination. The company managed this multi-departmental process on Teams, email, and multiple XLS.
Workflow Example #4: Voyage Documents Manager
Business pain: Collection and tracking of all documentation necessary for vessel clearances and operations required our customers to spend large amounts of time tracking down the documentation from various stakeholders. Important documents were retained in email strings that were difficult to find when required.
Voyager solution: When a voyage is started, stakeholders are automatically prompted via email to drag and drop all documents directly into Voyager. Our customers can quickly understand which documents are still missing and use Voyager to send reminders. The documents are automatically associated with the Voyage and presented in an aggregated manner to allow users to find the needed documents quickly.
Workflow Example #5: Stowage plan and intakes workflow
Business pain: Stowage plans and intakes can change multiple times prior to loading a vessel. These changes often require action to be taken by operations teams or cargo ops teams. The customer was receiving multiple stowage and intake changes per day from different sources, and these changes could not be monitored quickly, resulting in miscommunication during the loading meetings and with end buyers of the product
Voyager solution: The client created a form that would be completed by the ship every time a stowage plan change impacted the customer’s cargo. Changes to this form would be tracked on a dashboard, and alerts would show when a change occurred and what was changed. The workflow allowed users to dispute changes or request additional changes. The solution cut down on email, increased visibility for all parties, and kept an audit trail of historical changes.
As we have seen, from streamlining document processing to automating safety protocols, automated workflows offer a range of solutions that can help businesses run more smoothly and efficiently. Automation is no longer a luxury; it is now an essential tool for solving various business pains in the Maritime industry.
Stay tuned for more use cases in the next posts of this series.
