System Overview
This is the software your team uses to run the ship-chandling business — supplying vessels that call at port. This page explains, in plain terms, what the system does, how every screen is laid out the same way, and how the paperwork flows from a ship's visit all the way through to getting paid.
What the system does
Ship chandling means a customer (a ship's owner or manager) asks you to supply goods to their vessel at a port. You quote a price, buy the goods from suppliers, deliver them to the ship, and invoice the customer. So there are always two sides to a job:
- the sales side — dealing with your customer (quote → order → deliver → invoice → get paid), and
- the purchase side — dealing with your suppliers (request prices → order → receive → pay).
The system keeps both sides tied together for each ship's visit, and does the maths (prices, margins, taxes, currencies) for you.
Every screen is laid out the same way
Whether it's a simple record like a Customer or a document like a Sales Order, every screen has the same two parts — so once you learn one, you know them all:
The list
A table of your existing records, with a search box, filters and a + New button. This is how you find and open things. See Navigation & Lists.
The form
One record open on screen, in sections you scroll through. This is how you read and change one thing — add, edit, or remove it. See Standard Forms.
Documents add a third view — the Port Call Workbench — which gathers all the paperwork for one ship's visit into a single command centre. More on that below and on the Workbench page.
Two kinds of screen
Reference records
Things you set up once and reuse. Simple to fill in; no steps to move through, nothing to print.
- Vessel, Customer, Supplier, Product catalogue
- Ports, units, currencies, taxes, payment terms…
Documents
The actual business paperwork. Each moves through steps (draft → confirmed → …), creates the next document in the chain, and can be printed.
- Quotes, orders, deliveries, invoices, payments
- They carry line items, a saved copy of the address, and a status
How the paperwork flows
Everything starts with a Port Call — one vessel's visit to a port. From there the customer side and the supplier side run side by side, and all the documents stay linked to that visit: