Search for commercial diving software and you will get a mix of two unrelated things: systems for occupational diving contractors, and booking systems for recreational dive shops. They have almost nothing in common.
This page is about the first kind — software for companies whose divers are at work, and for the operational paperwork that work produces.
Choosing
Five questions worth asking any vendor
Does it fit how you already work?
Software that requires you to abandon established forms and procedures tends not to get used, regardless of its feature list.
What happens with no signal?
Dive sites are quaysides, barges and vessels. If records can only be created online, they will be created on paper instead.
Can you find a record in two years?
The value of an operational record is mostly realised later — when a client, an auditor or an investigation asks for it.
Who has to change their behaviour?
If the supervisor's job gets harder, adoption fails at the point where the records are created.
What happens when you outgrow it?
Some contractors need the records connected to customers, quotations and invoicing. Most do not. Check whether that route exists before you need it.
Straight answer
Where D.O.P.A. fits — and where it doesn't
What D.O.P.A. is for
- Digitising the operational paperwork you already use
- Completing records offline on site and synchronising them later
- Keeping each operation's paperwork together and retrievable
- A route into wider business systems through Custom Solutions
What it does not do
- Personnel certificate, medical and competency tracking
- Equipment registers and planned maintenance
- RAMS, risk assessments and permits to work
If those are what you are shopping for, other products in this category are built around them. We would rather say so now.