Frequently Asked Questions
What is the history of Sea Star One?
The initial development was started at the end of 2019, under the internal code name of NAVIS, aiming to address certain issues that were not easily addressed by the existing software solutions at the time.
Some of those issues are still present even today in other competing products, such as difficult certificate templates, pluggable vessel details components (like multiple engines or GMDSS devices), survey planning and follow-up, bare-minimums incident management - and many others.
While NAVIS development eventually stalled, it has been picked up again and merged into the current Sea Star One suite that has evolved towards a more complete Maritime Administration management software.
Some of those issues are still present even today in other competing products, such as difficult certificate templates, pluggable vessel details components (like multiple engines or GMDSS devices), survey planning and follow-up, bare-minimums incident management - and many others.
While NAVIS development eventually stalled, it has been picked up again and merged into the current Sea Star One suite that has evolved towards a more complete Maritime Administration management software.
What is the intended audience of Sea Star One?
Flag State Maritime Administrations are the only entities that have the legal right to perform vessel registry operations. They are also the only bodies that can certify seafarer competencies from a maritime perspective.
Sea Star One has been designed exclusively for Maritime Administrations that wish to perform, increase their revenue and be on top of the competition.
Various Maritime Administrations use partner agencies for the seafarer certification and endorsement process. Sea Star One contains a built-in capability that streamlines the cooperation with these agencies so that everyone benefits from this direct cooperation. Agencies can have as many agents as needed.
Sea Star One has been designed exclusively for Maritime Administrations that wish to perform, increase their revenue and be on top of the competition.
Various Maritime Administrations use partner agencies for the seafarer certification and endorsement process. Sea Star One contains a built-in capability that streamlines the cooperation with these agencies so that everyone benefits from this direct cooperation. Agencies can have as many agents as needed.
Is there multi-language support?
Through the built-in translation mechanism, Sea Star One supports multiple languages.
By default, the main product language is English. As soon as we add a new translation, it becomes available to all users of the platform.
If a specific translation is required, we can work together in achieving the correct translated form in your desired language.
By default, the main product language is English. As soon as we add a new translation, it becomes available to all users of the platform.
If a specific translation is required, we can work together in achieving the correct translated form in your desired language.
Is this a cloud-only / SaaS product?
Not at all. Our product can be deployed in two ways: as a SaaS product running on our FLAGSTATE.cloud secure maritime cloud environment - or on-premises, on customer's infrastructure that meets the minimum requirements to operate the product.
Our team has previously done implementations in both on-premises and SaaS scenarios and, having already encountered and solved many scenarios, can be of great help in proposing the ideal on-premises layout for your Maritime Administration if data governance requires all information to be held within the Flag State's country.
Our team has previously done implementations in both on-premises and SaaS scenarios and, having already encountered and solved many scenarios, can be of great help in proposing the ideal on-premises layout for your Maritime Administration if data governance requires all information to be held within the Flag State's country.
Are there any limitations when it comes to procurement?
We do not impose any limitations when it comes to terms since flexibility can be a key item.
Specific arrangements can be agreed in a quick discovery call as soon as we can understand your needs.
Invoicing schedule is flexible (quarterly, annually, per-growth, etc.) and can be adapted to meet your Maritime Administration's needs. Contracting by partnering with a trusted local partner is also possible.
Specific arrangements can be agreed in a quick discovery call as soon as we can understand your needs.
Invoicing schedule is flexible (quarterly, annually, per-growth, etc.) and can be adapted to meet your Maritime Administration's needs. Contracting by partnering with a trusted local partner is also possible.
Is there support for custom / on-demand feature development?
YES. From experience, we are totally aware that various Maritime Administrations would like certain workflows, data restrictions or other platform components to be modified or further developed to match their established way of working. Certain integrations with either local payment providers, government body APIs or other third parties could also be required - this is all achieved through our customer-oriented custom development process.
The public portal component is also a frequently customized target, as various features are wanted depending on each Flag State's requirements.
For established customers, purchasing custom development days in bulk (blocks of 10 or 15 developer days) will come with a nice upfront discount as well. Get in touch with us to find out more!
The public portal component is also a frequently customized target, as various features are wanted depending on each Flag State's requirements.
For established customers, purchasing custom development days in bulk (blocks of 10 or 15 developer days) will come with a nice upfront discount as well. Get in touch with us to find out more!
Is there support for digitally signed documents?
YES. All digital documents are issued in the PDF format. The Maritime Registry can either choose to implement basic PDF security features to protect documents from being edited - or opt in to use an AATL compliant PDF digital signature integration with LTV (Long Term Validation).
Digital Signatures can be integrated using our SEALSTAR appliance, with USB Hardware Security Modules (HSM) as long as the local agreed provider can supply compatible tokens.
Digial Signatures can also be integrated using a cloud-based HSM to provide the digital signatures - we have successfully worked with Global Sign Atlas DSS as a provider, but Swisscom Signing Service or GlobalTrust's Trust2GO should be good alternatives as well.
For 24/7 operations, we recommend using one of the cloud-based DSS services as the main signature provider, but also having the SEALSTAR as a backup in one of your locations to avoid interruptions in the event the external DSS encounters temporary issues.
Digital Signatures can be integrated using our SEALSTAR appliance, with USB Hardware Security Modules (HSM) as long as the local agreed provider can supply compatible tokens.
Digial Signatures can also be integrated using a cloud-based HSM to provide the digital signatures - we have successfully worked with Global Sign Atlas DSS as a provider, but Swisscom Signing Service or GlobalTrust's Trust2GO should be good alternatives as well.
For 24/7 operations, we recommend using one of the cloud-based DSS services as the main signature provider, but also having the SEALSTAR as a backup in one of your locations to avoid interruptions in the event the external DSS encounters temporary issues.
Are all registry operations audited?
YES. By default, any operation performed on any type of data object (such as a vessel, seafarer, owner, manager, survey data, certificates, correspondences, endorsements, etc.) are by default audited and can be tracked / followed up for audit purposes.
An additional CHANGE MANAGEMENT module is available as an option to registries that wish to enforce additional compliance. For example, a registrar with regular privileges trying to change a scoped parameter (like a vessel's name) will not result in the direct modification - instead, a CHANGE REQUEST gets created in the platform and requires an additional level of approval from a registrar with additional privileges - whom can further verify and decide to either ACCEPT or REJECT the proposed change.
An additional CHANGE MANAGEMENT module is available as an option to registries that wish to enforce additional compliance. For example, a registrar with regular privileges trying to change a scoped parameter (like a vessel's name) will not result in the direct modification - instead, a CHANGE REQUEST gets created in the platform and requires an additional level of approval from a registrar with additional privileges - whom can further verify and decide to either ACCEPT or REJECT the proposed change.
Where is the data stored and who is the data owner?
The owner of all the data operated by our Sea Star One software is the contracting Maritime Administration and/or the government body it is a part of. Our software is to be regarded as a licensed component that manipulates the data on behalf of the customer. The data can be exported at any time and processed should you desired to.
The information is stored in a high availability database, with additional components (documents that include, but not limited to: vessel historical certificates, actively issued/generated certificates, seafarer certifications, seafarer data, etc.) being stored in a redundant storage mechanism.
Additional storage types can be chained up to ensure the files end up in more than one location to ensure availability in the unwanted event of temporary infrastructure outages.
Our FLAGSTATE.cloud environment stores the data in a minimum of two different locations, additional ones can be added if customers choose to do so.
A high-availability on-premises secure deployment would use a 2N+1 multi-master cluster for the database component and a 3-way distributed document storage mechanism (an on-premises document storage server stack running MinIO, a remotely-located GridFS cluster and a close-proximity private cloud object storage).
The information is stored in a high availability database, with additional components (documents that include, but not limited to: vessel historical certificates, actively issued/generated certificates, seafarer certifications, seafarer data, etc.) being stored in a redundant storage mechanism.
Additional storage types can be chained up to ensure the files end up in more than one location to ensure availability in the unwanted event of temporary infrastructure outages.
Our FLAGSTATE.cloud environment stores the data in a minimum of two different locations, additional ones can be added if customers choose to do so.
A high-availability on-premises secure deployment would use a 2N+1 multi-master cluster for the database component and a 3-way distributed document storage mechanism (an on-premises document storage server stack running MinIO, a remotely-located GridFS cluster and a close-proximity private cloud object storage).