Jetrac: A Digital Transformation for Naval Surveys

For a naval survey organisation, accurate information needs to move from the field to decision-makers without unnecessary delay. PG Technologies has supported that shift through the long-term development of Jetrac: a digital service that has replaced paper-based surveying with connected data, reporting and analysis.

The challenge

When the organisation first came to PG Technologies more than 10 years ago, surveys of Royal Navy ships were being recorded with pen, paper and clipboards. That approach created a practical barrier between the work carried out in the field and the information needed by managers and clients.

Paper records can be difficult to consolidate, search and compare. They can also delay the production of reports and make it harder to identify patterns across a large body of survey information. The organisation needed more than a simple electronic form. It needed a dependable way to capture information in the field, connect that information to its wider management processes and make the results easier to understand.

The central business challenge was therefore to create a digital foundation that could support day-to-day surveying while improving how information was reported, reviewed and used.

The approach

PG Technologies developed the Jetrac system as a connected service, then continued to extend and refine it as the organisation’s needs developed. The work brought together a custom backend, client-facing applications and an Android application running on purpose-built tablets for field use.

This gave surveyors a more consistent way to record information away from the office, while connecting the resulting data with the organisation’s management system. The approach also brought reporting and analysis into the same overall service, reducing the need to treat field records, management information and client communication as separate activities.

The system has been evolved through ongoing improvements rather than treated as a one-off project. Recent work has included changes to authentication and two-factor access, refinements to survey submission and image capture, and improvements to administrative workflows. These changes reflect a practical focus on keeping the service usable, controlled and aligned with operational requirements.

The outcome

Jetrac has supported a complete move away from paper-led surveying towards a more connected digital operation. Information captured during surveys can feed into real-time reporting and reports can be generated as required, giving the organisation a quicker view of current activity and findings.

The service also supports analysis across large datasets. Users can drill down into particular areas of ships where issues have been identified, helping them move from a broad overview to a more focused understanding of what requires attention. This makes the organisation’s accumulated survey information more useful over time, rather than leaving it dispersed across individual paper records.

For clients and internal teams, the practical benefit is a clearer route from survey activity to usable information. The organisation can work with current data, produce reports more readily and examine recurring or specific areas of concern in greater depth. Access and workflow improvements have also helped the service remain suitable for an operational environment where information needs to be handled consistently.

Jetrac demonstrates the value of a sustained digital transformation: replacing a paper process with a connected service, then continuing to improve it as the organisation grows its use of data and reporting.