The Container Tracking System

Devonport Royal Dockyard
Devon, UK

The Container Tracking System was commissioned by the Logistics department at the Devonport facility. Devonport Royal Dockyard was put under commercial management in response to the challenges facing this strategic facility during the late 1980's. The yard was sold and fully privatised ten years later in 1997. Today it offers a complete range of design, build and support solutions across both defense and commercial sectors as part of Babcock Marine, itself part of Babcock International Group Plc.

The Survey table shows the most recent Surveys carried out on Containers.

The Container Tracking System tracks the movements and the condition of containers. It details surveys and work carried out on surveys. A survey checks whether a container is in full working order and assigns it a grade, for example: A1 - In Service; BER - Beyond Economical Repair; R3 - Repairable. It displays detailed reports about containers for top-level management to review. Some reports include details of containers whose surveys are within a set time frame. Others report for how many containers are in service or out of service, and where containers are currently located.

It is used internally and with two outside dockyards, Devonport Royal Dockyard and its associated facility at Appledore Shipyard. There are currently 11 user groups for this application ranging from top-level management to data entry clerks. Users log in to create a new transaction (movement) of a container before saving the transaction. Users may also enter a new Survey for a container. The application allows users to print reports to ensure we have enough stock to repair out-of-service containers.

Application size and scope

Two Microsoft SQL Server 2005 databases comprise 12 tables, three database views, and approximately 38 web pages. The largest table contains approximately 13,500 records. There are over 17 users processing over 100 transactions each month.

The project

I developed and implemented the application in about four weeks.

Code extensions and customizations

Code customizations have been used extensively to enable views on tables and filters to be specific to each user group. The application architecture made it very easy to incorporate Crystal Reports into the Iron Speed Designer application.

The Start page of application displays data details of the latest movements on containers. Display is specific to User role accessing it.

I spent three weeks implementing these code customizations.

Layout customizations

I used the standard Sierra design theme in Iron Speed Designer.

Iron Speed Designer impact

Iron Speed Designer saved me months of development time! I am new to .NET development therefore this tool is ideal for me.

Next steps

There are no plans to extend the Container Tracking System going forward.

About the developer

Cassy holds a degree in Math and Computing from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. She has been developing .NET web applications for Devonport Royal Dockyard for the past three months and is only just getting started.

www.devonport.co.uk