Digital document control automation in shipping

Apply

Digital document control automation in shipping

Journal Title: Автоматизация судовых технических средств - Year 2018, Vol 1, Issue 24

Abstract

Management of shipping companies has the distinction of operating remote objects (vessels) from shore-based offices. In order to achieve efficiency in the process prompt information exchange between vessels and a company ought to be established. This is the only way to ensure adequate and quick responses to situations that require two-way communication and immediate solutions. Information systems are used for collection, structuration, storage and communication of information. Their usage became an integral part of shipping companies’ activities. While the cost of such systems is quite high and potentially prohibitive for smaller companies not all of them allow to quickly send large numbers of identical messages. This can be achieved by using e-mail clients and mass mailing. This article shows an example of mass mailing using “The Bat” email client. The program provides, among others, the following features: quick templates that allow to save the main body of a text, macros that allow to personalize template-based messages, address book export and import. In order to do mass mailing to vessels, i.e. for an SMS (Safety Management System) update, the following information should be prepared for inclusion in a letter: vessels’ names, e-mail addresses, full names of addressees and their positions etc. The program can import data from an .csv file into its address book. In order to get an .csv file relevant data should be prepared beforehand. The preparation can be done using electronic tables (such as .xls, .xlsm), which allow to use macros for gathering, cleaning, organizing and consolidating data. After the preparation data be saved in the necessary format for importing. Using macros with address book data and templates allows to combine unchangeable text with variables creating letters varying from one addressee to another. The possibility provides a useful tool for mailing a large number of similar letters to any number of recipients and what is most important – doing it quickly. The article includes recommendations for personalized mass mailing implementation which can be used for automating business processes.

Authors and Affiliations

Alla Kamienieva, Kyrylo Kamieniev

Keywords

document control automation. mass mailing. e-mail template. macros

EP ID EP408864
DOI -
Views 72
Downloads 0