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Users Discuss New Product Developments
Dry-Dock Module Enhancements to the current Dry-dock Module, which was first made available in NS 5.3.0, will benefit both field personnel and management in terms of better decision-making based on project cost and progress tracking, vendor/yard coordination, change orders and progress payments. Serialized Parts Functionality ABS NS presented a high-level proposal to clients on Serialized Parts based on previous meetings and discussions with clients. Serialized Parts is a new feature that will augment the current Maintenance Module of NS 5 by providing comprehensive tracking and accounting of any serialized parts that could be removed from a ship. Based on discussions during this meeting, more concrete specs will be drawn up which will be based on actual needs as recommended by the committee participants. Document Management Module Participants gave their input on a complete revamp of the Nautical Systems’ Document Management Module. “With the constant stream of new regulatory requirements these days, efficient document management is becoming more and more crucial”, states Sandipan Bhattacharya, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at ABS Nautical Systems. “The advantage of having it embedded as part of an integrated fleet management process is that any changes that are made to a document are immediately global. Compare this to a situation where the document is held or referenced in numerous separate systems, and you have a significant risk of transposing error.” ABS Nautical Systems User Conference 2008 The ABS Nautical Systems 2008 User Conference will be held at the Renaissance Long Beach Hotel in Long Beach, California from September 29 – October 2.
The Renaissance Long Beach Hotel, located on beautiful Ocean Boulevard, is just steps away from over 100 restaurants, great nightlife, boutique shopping, and area attractions such as The Queen Mary and the Aquarium of the Pacific. New Format Allows for Greater Discussion This year’s conference will introduce a format with more breakout sessions rather than the traditional round table discussions held in the past. Our purpose remains bringing everyone together to share ideas, take a look at the future of the Nautical Systems products, gain a consensus on priorities for future development, interact with colleagues, and listen to client presentations. In addition to the breakout sessions, there will be an opportunity to schedule one on one time with the NS Sales, Operations or Development Staff Breakout sessions will be geared towards three primary aims; educating our clients on how to use our products, present NS 5 success stories from their colleagues and provide a platform for users to share their recommendations for future product enhancements. Because seating is limited, attendees must choose which sessions they want to attend during the registration process. If you would like to register for the conference, click here. If you would like more information about the conference or sponsorship opportunities, contact Sue Powless, Sales & Marketing Coordinator, at 281-877-5710 or spowless@abs-ns.com. 2008 User Conference Webinar The ABS NS Sales and Marketing Team recently offered a webinar on what to expect at the 2008 User Conference in Long Beach. The presentation included Optional Training Course subjects, hotel information, a day by day look at the preliminary agenda, breakout session topics and cost for the conference. The presentation can be viewed by logging into the Client Support area of the ABS NS website. Members of the Nautical Systems Sales and Marketing team in Houston will be holding more Webinars this year to educate our clients on available products and services, as well as periodic updates on the 2008 User Conference. We realize not everyone can attend the webinars at our scheduled times, so we will make the presentations available for viewing by logging into the Client Support area of the ABS NS website. Invitations to the webinars are sent via email, so please make sure your email program does not block mail from this address: ns-support@abs-ns.com. 2008 Initiatives and Beyond Already released products this year include a new Vetting Module and an expanded Root Cause Analysis tool. New Dry-dock enhancements will be included in NS v5.4, which is scheduled for release towards the end this year. Also scheduled for v5.4 will be On-Demand Reporting, Management Dashboard, Hull Inspection and Maintenance (HIM) and Vessel Drawings, all web-based modules. New features such as Fuel Consumption Based Maintenance, Fleet-Wide Maintenance Plan, Payroll Audit Trail, and “My Tasks” will also enhance this release. View a 5 minute presentation highlighting the new releases for 2008, as well as products in development for 2009 by logging into the Client Support area of the ABS NS website. A more detailed look at NS v5.4 will be covered in the next issue of our e-Newsletter, which is scheduled for August/September release. Web Based Version of NS 5 ABS Nautical Systems will be offering a web based version of NS 5 in 2009. This version will enable shore-based users to connect directly to their central database via the WAN. Web Based NS 5 will be one of the breakout sessions during the NS 2008 User Conference.
The next generation of our current Vessel Drawing Module will be made generally available with the release of NS v5.4. It has been developed as a web based solution that serves as a central repository for all vessel drawings for a specific company. Users can archive and retrieve indexed drawings via the internet or through integration to NS 5. They are stored in PDF format which allows easy retrieval using a common off-the-shelf tool. For more information contact your local ABS Nautical Systems sales representative. ABS Nautical Systems Welcomes New Clients during 1st Quarter of 2008 North America
Europe
Asia Pacific
Customer service is a number one priority for our clients. In an ongoing effort to continually improve our support and responsiveness to our clients, the following people have joined the Nautical Systems team.
Ben Cooper has been with ABS Nautical Systems since February, 2008. He holds the position of Senior Support Analyst and is located in the Houston, TX office. Prior to joining ABS NS, Ben spent over 10 years in the I.T. department of Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group where he was responsible for shipboard applications on over 80 parcel tankers. Ben has also worked as an Accounting Manager for Maryland Marine, Inc., an inland tank barge company partially owned by Stolt-Nielsen. Cooper has been active in the Maritime industry for many years as a volunteer for the Houston International Seafarer’s Center and as a member of the Lou Lawler Seafarer’s Center Board of Directors. Ben graduated from the University of Houston at Clear Lake with a degree in accounting. He currently lives in Clear Lake with his wife Jody, daughter Robin and Yorkie Roxy.
Mark Swift joins ABS Nautical Systems as a Product Consultant and will be based in the ABS office in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK). Prior to joining ABS NS, Mark held positions with SBS Marine and Tricor Marine LTD., as a Second Officer. Mark started working within the I.T. industry in 1999, assisting companies in developing software for medical equipment. During that time he became highly involved in the BETA testing and Quality Assurance of multiple software products. After graduating from South Tyneside Nautical College in January of 2004, Mark spent a year sailing onboard nuclear fuel cargo vessels before making the transition to the offshore oil industry where he spent 4 years in the Indian Ocean / North Sea sectors. During his time in the offshore oil industry he combined his I.T. experience with valuable shipping knowledge and became involved in the development and maintenance of vessel automation systems, mainly vessel cargo and planned maintenance systems. In 2006, Mark became solely responsible for all onboard company training and system maintenance procedures.
Benny Sianipar, based in our Jakarta office, joins ABS Nautical Systems as a Product Consultant. Prior to joining ABS NS, Benny worked for 3 years in Indonesia as an ERP Technical Consultant working on the installation of NS 5 Software for Samudera Indonesia Ship Management. Sianipar was responsible for training the ship crew on the complete system and how it efficiently manages operational needs. He was also responsible for troubleshooting, configuration and administration of LAN on the ship. Benny’s degree is from Del Polytechnic Informatics in Indonesia.
Travis Taylor joins ABS Nautical Systems as the newest member of our Product Consultant team in our Houston, TX office. Travis has spent the last 10 years in the US Air Force and comes to us with a strong knowledge of the maintenance system used by the Air Force. He also has experience as a technical instructor. Taylor graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Embry-Riddle University, in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Kristofer Maanum graduated from Kings Point Naval Academy with a BS in Marine Engineering Systems and a Third Engineer License. He spent the next 4 years sailing as an engineer for the MEBA union. Prior to joining ABS Nautical Systems in September, 2006, Maanum was a contract worker for ABS Naval Engineering. Hired on as a Product Consultant for ABS NS in the Houston office, Kristofer has spent the past 6 months working on a consulting project for one of Nautical Systems’ top clients. Maanum will take over as Acting Manager of the Asia Pacific Region where he will oversee sales, operations and general management of that region. Visit Nautical Systems at the upcoming events!
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ABS Nautical Systems’ latest User Committee Meeting provided ten organizations the opportunity to present industry requirements to NS on their development initiatives for the Dry-dock, Serialized Parts and Document Management modules. 
Vessel Drawings
Ben Cooper
Mark Swift 
Benny Sianipar
Travis Taylor 
Kristofer Maanum Contact
your regional ABS Nautical Systems Representative
for additional details.
| North America | North America | North America | |
Representative |
Joe Woods | Chris McCourt | Sue Powless |
Telephone |
281-877-5714 | 281-877-5726 | 281-877-5710 |
Email |
jwoods@abs-ns.com | cmccourt@abs-ns.com | spowless@abs-ns.com |
| South America | EMEA | Asia/Pacific | |
Representative |
Alvaro Pozo | Tom Kreissl | Frank Liang |
Telephone |
(56) 32 2 21 79 68 | (49) 40 37 85 8731 | + 603 22722732 |
Email |
apozo@abs-ns.com | tkreissl@abs-ns.com | flang@abs-ns.com |
Nautical Systems E-News is produced by the Nautical Systems team on a quarterly basis for clients interested in learning more about NS and its products. You may reproduce any article in a printed format or redistribute on a mass basis subject to the following conditions: (1) text must be copied without modification and (2) all copies of text must contain this story credit: "Courtesy of ABS Nautical Systems." To subscribe or unsubscribe to NS E-News, or for more information about ABS Nautical Systems, please contact Sue Powless at 281-877-5710 or spowless@abs-ns.com. Copyright © 2008 by ABS Nautical Systems LLC
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