Design office management
from quotation to documentation
One system. One source of truth.
Flowgres mirrors the real way a maritime design office works on ship design projects. It manages the entire project lifecycle: from the request for quotation, through planning and technical documentation, all the way to final settlement.
An example of the scale handled by Flowgres in one maritime design office working on ship designs:
How are projects run in Flowgres?
From the first contact with the client to project closure, all activities in the design office follow one consistent process. Each stage builds on data created earlier, which eliminates entering the same information multiple times and the risk of inconsistent documentation.
What happens to the data?
What does a project look like with Flowgres in a design office?
The scenario below shows an example of how a ship design project is delivered in Flowgres. Each stage builds on data created earlier, ensuring a smooth flow of information from the shipyard’s inquiry to the handover protocol.
Process participants and their roles in the system
From the sales representative preparing the quotation, through the project manager and designers, to the client receiving the documentation — Flowgres gives every role access to the information and functions it needs at each stage. Select a role to see the details.
All features in one system
Flowgres removes the need for many separate applications. All key areas of a design office’s work run in one environment and use the same data.
CRM & Sales Pipeline
Opportunity and contract management
- Sales pipeline stages: Opportunity → Quoted → Approved → Contract Won
- Linking the quotation (deal) with the order and the project
- Quotation revision history with documents
- Quotation and negotiation minutes
- Multi-currency and exchange rate support
Project Management
WBS, schedule, hour budget
- Project hierarchy with WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)
- Multi-discipline breakdown into departments (100–950)
- Hour budget split into periods, plus recurring budgets
- Weekly allocation of engineers to projects
- Burndown charts and progress statistics
Technical Documentation
Register of drawings and document types
- Register of 20+ document types: ARR, ELEC, STAB, SPEC, ISO, NC, FEM, CAL...
- Document numbering with automatic numbering patterns
- Linked to the WBS, department and responsible engineer
- Contractual and internal deadline for every document
- Document grouping and dependencies
Revisions & QA Workflow
Versioning and approval processes
- Consecutive document revisions (A, B, C, ...) with numbering
- Responsible, issuer, approver — separate roles
- Estimated vs. actual working time (hours)
- Statuses: New → At work → Checking → Issued → Finished
- Dependencies between revisions (revision_dependency)
Communication & Comments
Central information exchange
- Comment threads assigned to specific revisions/documents
- Comments with ownership (items to fix)
- Notifications about status changes and new comments
- Internal messenger with a message queue
- Notice board with access for departments and companies
Reports & Dashboards
Progress and resource monitoring
- Burndown chart per project and department
- Weekly revision statistics (revision_week_stat)
- Project statistics report — hours, progress, SLA
- Widgets configurable per user
- Export of reports and schedules
Time Tracking
Tracking hours on projects
- Manual and automatic time tracking
- Individual MH (man-hour) rates per project
- Breaks and substitutions (replacement_work)
- Working time definitions and calendars
- Integration with the project hour budget
Companies & Contacts Directory
Central database of business partners
- Companies: client, shipyard, classification society, flag administration
- Contacts assigned to companies, with positions and attributes
- Linking companies with projects and orders
- Activity history and user tags
- Company types and segmentation
How Flowgres keeps documentation flowing
Every document and project has a clearly defined lifecycle. Statuses let you check at any moment which stage the documentation is at, who is responsible for the next steps and whether the project is on track.
Processes and projects run from start to finish in one system
Why does the integrated approach in Flowgres deliver such strong operational results? Discover 6 key benefits for a design office.
One source of truth
Client, project, documentation, revision and report data stay connected throughout the project lifecycle. The team always works with up-to-date information.
Full control over documentation
Every document has an owner, change history, status and a link to the project. It is easy to see who is responsible for each stage and which version of the documentation is current.
Less administrative work
Information entered once is reused at later project stages, eliminating the need to re-type data manually again and again.
Greater project predictability
Project managers have an up-to-date view of progress, hour budget usage, documentation status and any schedule delays.
Better team collaboration
Everyone involved in the project works on the same data, with quick access to the information relevant to their role.
Ready for acceptance and audits
The history of changes, decisions and documentation revisions remains available throughout the project, making acceptance easier and allowing the course of work to be reconstructed later.
Want to see these benefits for your own office?
Book a demo →Learn more on our blog
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