Digital Log Books

User Manual
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 3
Before you start ............................................................................................................ 3
Getting Started ............................................................................................................. 4
Logging In ................................................................................................................. 4
Setting the Ship’s Time Zone .................................................................................... 4
Log Books..................................................................................................................... 6
Creating an Entry ...................................................................................................... 6
Automatic Positions ................................................................................................... 7
Quick-Filling Date and Times .................................................................................... 7
‘Save as Draft’ and ‘Save for Approval’ ..................................................................... 8
Submitting a Draft for Approval ................................................................................. 9
Viewing Entries ......................................................................................................... 9
Editing Entries ........................................................................................................... 9
Copying an Entry..................................................................................................... 10
Copying Entries in the Deck Record Book ............................................................... 11
Filtering Entries ....................................................................................................... 12
Exporting Log Entries .............................................................................................. 13
Approving Log Entries ............................................................................................. 14
Deleting an Entry..................................................................................................... 15
Attaching Files......................................................................................................... 15
Other Buttons on the Log Book Screen ................................................................... 16
Archiving Entries ......................................................................................................... 17
Creating an Archive ................................................................................................. 17
Vessel Particulars ....................................................................................................... 19
Account Management ................................................................................................. 20
My Account ............................................................................................................. 20
User Management ................................................................................................... 20
Adding a User ......................................................................................................... 21
Roles ....................................................................................................................... 21
Active and Inactive Users ........................................................................................ 22
Options and Settings .................................................................................................. 23

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Digital Signing of PDF Exports .................................................................................... 23

Support Requests ................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

Locating Error Logs Files from the Client Application ....... Error! Bookmark not
defined.
Locating Error Log Files from the Server Application ....... Error! Bookmark not
defined.

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Introduction
Digital Log Books is an electronic record book application for use on board shipping
vessels. It is intended to supplement or replace traditional paper log books.

Before you start

This guide assumes that the application has already been installed, licenced and a user
account has been created for you.
There are two modes of operation – Standalone where the log books are stored on one
PC and Client-Server where several PCs can be used to make log entries and the logs
are kept on a Server computer. A mode of operation should have been chosen during
Installation and initial set up. (see Installation and IT Admin Guide for more information)
If you are prompted to add a licence file or create the initial admin user when you launch
the application, refer to the Installation and IT Admin Guide as this contains important
information about:
• Licensing
• User administration and recovery
• Data backup

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Getting Started
Logging In
The log books application contains its own list of users, as it is important to record who
enters log data and also control who can perform certain actions, for example, approving
log entries.
You should have been provided with a user account to log in to the system. When you run
the application you should see the ‘Login’ screen below, allowing you to log in with your
account.

Figure 1: Login screen

In the top-right corner of the screen you will see the name of the current logged in user
and a Log Out button:

Figure 2: User name and Log Out button

Setting the Ship’s Time Zone

The “ship’s time” for the purposes of log book entry is made up of the current date and
time on the PC, plus a time zone offset. The current ship’s time is shown in the top-left
corner of the screen. Click the clock icon to choose the ship’s time zone offset:

Figure 3: Ship's Time Display

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The time zone offset can be entered in the pop-up shown below:

Figure 4: Set Time Zone

The chosen time zone offset is saved and becomes the default choice when entering a
date and time elsewhere in the application.

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Log Books
On the home screen, you will see buttons representing the available log books. Clicking
on a button will open the associated log book to allow you to make entries. The buttons
may also display icons:
• A black padlock icon indicates that the log book is not licenced.
• An orange padlock icon indicates that the log book licence will expire soon.
• A red padlock icon indicates that the log book licence has expired.

Figure 5: Log book Icons

A number on orange background indicates the number of outstanding unapproved entries

in that log book:

Figure 6: Unapproved entry count icons

You can open a log book by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + [number] for MARPOL
books and Ctrl + Shift + [number] for other books, where [number] is the position of the
corresponding button, from left to right.

Creating an Entry
Click the New Entry button in the top-left of the screen (or press Ctrl + N):

Figure 7: New Entry button

The new entry box will appear, similar to the one shown below:

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 Figure 8: New Garbage Log Entry screen

This is where you enter the required information for the log entry. The Save buttons will be
enabled once you have completed all required fields (marked with an asterisk). You can
click Cancel to close the new entry box without making an entry.
If any invalid information is entered an appropriate error message will be displayed:

Figure 9: Example error message

Errors which prevent saving are shown in red. Warnings which may require attention, but
do not prevent saving, are shown in orange.

Automatic Positions
In order to automatically fill position fields with readings from GPS instruments, a
connection to the NMEA Service must be configured. See the “Options and Settings”
section.

Quick-Filling Date and Times

Repeatedly entering dates and times can be slow. Click on the calendar icon of the
Date/Time Picker to see a menu of options, which includes ‘Now’ and a list of date/times
entered elsewhere in the entry. Click one of these options to quickly set the value of the
Date/Time Picker.

Figure 10: Quick-Fill Date/Time Menu

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‘Save as Draft’ and ‘Save for Approval’
There are two buttons available for saving an entry: “Save as Draft” and “Save for
Approval”.
• Using “Save as Draft” indicates that this entry is unfinished. No validation warnings
or edit history will be shown for a draft entry. Draft entries are not included in PDF
exports.

• Using “Save for Approval” indicates that this entry is finished, pending approval by
the master. Validation warnings are shown against entries pending approval, and
each new edit is shown in an edit history. Once a draft has been saved for
approval, it cannot be returned to a draft.
Entries which are saved for approval show validation warnings on the entry. These
warnings are intended to identify any fields which may require attention before the entry
can be approved:

Figure 11: Validation Warnings on an Entry

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Submitting a Draft for Approval
Draft entries feature a “Submit for Approval” button:

Figure 12: Submit for Approval button

Use this button to quickly save a draft entry for approval without the need to edit any of
the entry’s information.

Viewing Entries
Existing entries are displayed as shown below. Clicking a collapsed row will expand it to
show the entry.

Figure 13: Example log entries

Editing Entries
Click on the pencil icon to edit an entry and make changes. Any changes made to a non-
draft entry will be saved in a history. Where values have been changed between entries,
the old value is highlighted red and is shown struck-out, and the new value is shown in
green.

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 Figure 14: Log entry showing history of changes

Entries are shown with 15 entries per page. Use the “Next Page” and “Previous Page”
button to switch pages.

Figure 15: Previous Page and Next Page buttons

Copying an Entry
Click on the copy icon to create a new entry with its fields pre-filled from the chosen entry.
All values will be copied over to the new entry, except the date/time of log creation and
any attachments. This speeds up log entry by allowing an old entry to be used as a
template.

Figure 16: Copy Entry button

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Copying Entries in the Deck Record Book
Sometimes the Deck Record Book requires the same information to be entered at regular
intervals, which can be repetitive. The “Copy Previous” button can be used to quickly copy
the values from the previous record of the same type. This can speed up the entry of
repetitive information.

Figure 17: Copy

Previous button in the Deck Book

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Filtering Entries
At the top of the log book screen there is a filter/search bar:

Log entries can be filtered by:

• Approval state
• Tank (for log books that refer to tanks)
• Date range
• Free text

The approval state filter options are:

• All States: Show log entries in all approval states, excluding entries marked as
deleted
• Unapproved: Only show log entries that have not yet been approved
• All States & Deleted: Show all log entries, including those marked as deleted

The ‘Tank’ filter will be shown for log books that refer to tanks. Log entries can be filtered
to only those referencing a particular tank. The tank names are taken from the vessel
particulars.
You can limit the view to entries within a certain date range by clicking the ‘In date
range…’ button and choosing the desired dates.
In addition the text box allows free text search:

Figure 18: Search bar

Type your search text in to the field to search for records which include the text entered.
Click the ‘X’ icon to clear the search text.

You can combine filters – for example to find all unapproved entries containing a specific
word in the last month.
There is a button to clear the whole filter and go back to the default view.

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Exporting Log Entries
At the top-right of the entries screen is an “Export to PDF” button. Click it to open up the
Export Options dialog:

Figure 19: Export options dialog

Only entries with a start date/time between the values entered will be printed.

NOTES
- The Export to PDF button will disappear if you have selected one or more entries for
approval. Please note that the selected entries may be off screen.
- Once exported, the application will attempt to open the generated PDF document
using your PC’s usual PDF handling application.

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Approving Log Entries
An Admin user has the ability to approve entries in the log book. When you are logged in
as an Admin user, each entry shows a checkbox on the left side of the entry which allows
it to be selected:

Figure 20: Select for approval checkbox

Once you have made a selection, an Approve Selected button will appear at the top of
the page. Clicking this button will show a dialog allowing you to enter a comment and
confirm your decision. You will need to re-enter your password or PIN.

Figure 21: Approving entries

Once confirmed, the approval information is displayed on the entry, as well as a tick icon
to show its approved status.

Figure 22: Approved log entry

Once an entry has been approved, only an Admin user can edit it.

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Deleting an Entry
Use the trash can button to delete an entry:

Figure 23: Delete button

This ability is restricted to certain user roles. You may be required to re-enter your
password or PIN to confirm this action. Optionally, a comment explaining the deletion may
also be entered.
Deleted entries are shown with red, struck-out text on the log book screen:

Figure 24: Deleted entry

Attaching Files
Files can be attached to log entries by clicking the Attach button (paperclip icon) on an
entry. You will be prompted to select the file you wish to attach.

Figure 25: The Attach file button

After a file has been attached, a link will be shown on the entry indicating that there are
attachments. Click this to open a list of files attached to this entry, from where they can be
opened, downloaded or deleted.

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 Figure 26: Show Attachments link

Figure 27: List of Attached Files

Other Buttons on the Log Book Screen

Refresh Reloads the log entries on screen,
retaining the current filters.

Open Vessel Particulars Opens the “Vessel Particulars” screen.

Open Log Book Opens a PDF file containing help and

Guidance guidance related to completing log
entries.

Clear Filters Removes all status, date and text filters

and reloads the log entries on screen.

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Archiving Entries
Archiving of log entries is a process used to export an official copy of all the log books in
use, up to a certain date.
• Only approved entries can be archived.
• Each entry can only be archived once.
• Archived entries can no longer be changed in any way.
• Archived entries cannot be un-archived.
• Important: New entries cannot be made before the most recent archive date!

An archive takes the form of a zipped folder of PDFs, one for each log book. The figure
below shows an example:

Figure 28: Example archive

The file ArchivingSummary.txt contains useful information about the contents of the
archive.

Creating an Archive
Admin users can access the Archiving screen via the Archiving button on the Home
screen. Click the plus icon to create a new archive.

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 Figure 29: Archive options

Any unarchived, approved entries before the supplied “Archive To” date will be included.
Please note that as archiving is intended to close off continuous groups of completed
entries, the archiving cannot proceed if any unapproved or draft entries are found prior to
the “Archive To” date.
It is also possible to create a “Draft” archive by ticking the box. This will produce the
zipped archive of log book PDFs, but will not mark any of the entries as archived. Use
this to test what an archive would contain. The Archiving screen displays a list of
previously created archives:

Figure 30: Archive list

Click the Regenerate button to recreate the archive. This new archive should match the
original one exactly in terms of which log entries it contains.

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Vessel Particulars
The Vessel Particulars screen allows you to enter information about the vessel and its
equipment. It is split in to these sections:
• General Vessel Particulars
• Oil Record Book Part 1 Tanks
• Cargo Tanks
• Radar Equipment
• Radio Equipment
• Radio Operators
• Water Ballast Particulars

Figure 31: Vessel Particulars screen

Once entered, some of the particulars e.g. Radio Equipment can be accessed in the
relevant log books.
Each set of particulars applies from a specified date.
If the vessel information changes, click the View Details and Edit button to update the
particulars, then click the ‘+’ icon; doing this will create a new set, which applies from the
specified date. This allows a historic record of particulars to be maintained. Alternatively,
small errors in the particulars can be corrected without a new set being created by clicking
the edit button (pencil icon).

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Account Management
My Account
Any logged-in user can use the My Account button on the Home screen to reset their PIN,
Password and update their personal details.

User Management
Admin users can also access the User Management screen where they can create or edit
other user accounts.

Figure 32: Creating and editing users

The current users are displayed in a list on the left. To update a User’s information, click
on their name in the list. This will display their details:

Figure 33: Editing a user account

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Adding a User
Use the “+” icon to add a new User.

A user should be specific to one person. Do not reuse the same user account for
different people, as it is important to record a specific person against each log entry.
Upon a crew change, new user accounts should be created for the new crew. This can
be done with user accounts with the ‘Administrator’ role – either by the IT department
through remote access software, or the master or other Admin on board the vessel.

Upon creating a new user, you will be presented with a temporary password for them:

Figure 34: Temporary Password

Use the “Copy to Clipboard” button to copy it and send it to the user. They will then be
required to create their own password when they log in.
This process can be repeated in case of forgotten passwords by clicking the “Reset
Password” button on the Edit User screen.

Roles
Users can be allocated roles by checking the box next to the role and clicking Save. The
roles that a user is associated with are used to determine whether they have permission
to perform various actions in the application.
The following roles are currently built in to the application:
• Log Creator o Can view, create, edit and export log entries
• Log Approver o Same log book access as Log Creator o
Can also approve, delete and edit approved entries
• Administrator o Same log book access as Log Approver
o Can also create and edit new users and the Vessel Particulars

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Active and Inactive Users
When a user is created, the user is marked as ‘Active’. This means the user can log in to
the system as usual. The User Management page allows an Admin user to set another
user to ‘inactive’, by unticking the ‘Active’ checkbox on the Edit User panel:

A user marked as inactive is prevented from logging into the system. Their name is not
shown in the user dropdown on the Log In screen.
Inactive users can be shown in the User Management page by clicking the “Show Inactive
Users” checkbox:

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Options and Settings
Clicking the cog icon in the top-right of the window opens the Options and Settings
window.
On the Backup tab, a folder can be specified where the application will make regular
automated backups of the log book data file.
On the Track Service tab, you can configure the URL of the NMEA Track Service which is
used to obtain GPS positions. An indication will be shown of whether the setting is correct:

On the Display tab, you can choose to apply either dark or light colour schemes.
On the Support tab, you can see information about the application version and find links
contact Weilbach support.

Digital Signing of PDF Exports

PDF files exported from the application are digitally signing to provide assurance that they
have been exported directly from the digital log books application. If a file is tampered with
(edited using another piece of software) the digital signature will become invalid.
In day-to-day use of the log book application there is no need to check these signatures.
Instructions for signature checking are found in a PDF document linked to from in the
application, Settings > Support tab > Digital Signing of PDF Exports.

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Support Requests
If you are reporting a software error, please also include the most recent application error
log files from the client and server applications.
Include as many other details as you can, such as:
• Build number (listed on the Settings – Support tab in the client application)
• Is the application running in standalone or client-server mode
• Windows operating system version
• Whether the error occurred just once or every time you perform an action
• What action you were performing at the time the error occurred, and just before
this
• Whether the error occurs on just one computer or several

Locating Error Logs Files from the Client Application

Error log files created by the client application can be located from the Settings window in
the application (click the cog icon in the top right), on the ‘Support’ tab. Click the “Open Log
File Location” link highlighted below:

The log file folder will be similar to:

C:\ProgramData\CherSoft\LogBooks\AppLogs

Locating Error Log Files from the Server Application

If you are running in client-server mode, log files from the AppServer should also be
included. These are located on the server PC in a location similar to:
C:\ProgramData\CherSoft\LogBooksAppServer\AppServerLogs

Radio Holland, 06 December 2022.

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