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In plain terms: Here is the whole life of one decision, start to finish. Suppose a superintendent is planning an availability six months out. The last survey recorded thickness readings in a ballast tank that look thinner than the reconstructed shell plating suggests they should be. Does that section need steel renewal?

Why this example

This is the shape of most repair-planning decisions. It is not one clean lookup. It requires reconciling a measurement against a model, working out which rule governs, knowing how confident to be in each input, and getting a human to own the answer. Getting it right six months early is worth a great deal. Getting it wrong means either unnecessary steel work or a finding at survey.

The walkthrough

1

Trigger

The superintendent opens the affected tank in the model and asks Forge for a renewal assessment against the applicable Class requirement.
2

The system gathers what it needs

Forge pulls together the reconstructed shell plating in that region and the drawing sheets that established it, the thickness measurement records from the most recent survey, the repair history for that area, the governing Class rule at its current version, and any prior decisions recorded for the same structure.
3

It reconciles the records against each other

The measured readings are compared against the modeled plating. Where they disagree, the disagreement is recorded as a located conflict tied to specific components. Neither record silently overwrites the other. A reading taken last year and a drawing from decades ago are both real, and the difference between them is the finding.
4

It drafts a proposal

The AI drafts an assessment: which rule applies and at which version, which measurements support the diminution claim, which components are affected, and what prior decisions on this structure it is relying on.
5

Confidence check

If it cannot support the assessment, it stops and asks rather than producing a number. Perhaps the readings do not cover the frames in question, perhaps the plating in that region is one of the reconstruction’s open questions rather than established geometry, perhaps two drawing sheets disagree about the original scantling. Each of those is reported as the specific thing that needs resolving. This is working as intended.
6

The verification ladder runs, automatic checks first

The proposal then passes through an ordered set of checks. Fast, automatic checks establish the evidence first; human and external review enter where required. in action:
7

Decision signed

Once the responsible engineer approves, with Class review included where required, T7 records the decision with an , preserving the full reasoning and evidence behind it. The renewal scope goes into the work package with its justification attached, so the yard receives the reasoning and not only the instruction.
8

Outcome observed

Months later the vessel is in dock and the steel is exposed. The actual condition is recorded against the decision. Did the assessment hold? Was the renewal scope right, too large, or too small? Did the surveyor agree? That outcome is captured as evidence, and it also updates the model for the next cycle.

If any gate fails

If the proposal fails any gate, it simply does not become a decision. The failure is logged with its reason, and the engineer sees exactly what was missing. Nothing half-checked ever slips through into a work package.

Why the order matters

Running the automatic checks first means most incomplete proposals are caught early, before they consume engineering or surveyor time. High-risk output requires responsible-engineer review, and Class review is included whenever the decision requires external authority. The final gate records the approved result; it does not replace those reviewers.

What the record is worth later

Two years on, a different superintendent at a different yard can open that same structure and see that the section was renewed, under which rule version, on the strength of which readings, approved by whom, and whether the outcome matched the assessment. That is the difference between a repair history and a folder of work orders.