Built around one fair, visible order.

Every feature in Crewboard supports the Training Board: a calculated rotation that everyone at the station can see and trust.

Training Board

Two numbered lists, Command and Crew. Priority order: those waiting longest for qualifying training appear first.

Each row shows position, full name, operational role and last qualifying training, such as “12 September 2026” or “Awaiting first training”.
Position 1 in each list is marked “Next in rotation”: the head of the queue, not a confirmed place.
Members see “Your position: 4 of 18 in Crew”, who is ahead, and can find their own row without it moving.
The order is calculated on the server by replaying completed training in date order, so the same records always give the same board.
Only completed training exercises change the order. Attendance, absences, suggestions, drafts and plans never do.
Stations can keep one shared rotation across all boats, or separate rotations by boat type or individual boat. Switching shows a preview first and is audited.

Sunday 27 September, Atlantic-85

Alex operates. Sam, a helm, goes aboard as crew.

Fictional example data

Know who is coming to each session before it starts.

Recurring training patterns, for example Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, create sessions automatically in the station’s time zone.
Members mark each session Confirmed or Not attending. Anyone who has not answered shows as Not responded.
Absences cover a date range, for example “Away until 4 October”, and override individual responses.
Present is recorded by check-in on the day.
Cancelled or rescheduled sessions notify members, and existing responses are kept and flagged when the time changes.

Advice for the helm and crew of each boat, worked out from the board.

“Suggested for this session” walks the board in priority order for each boat that can launch.
It includes people who have not responded, and skips declines, active absences and anyone not suited to the boat or seat.
Skipped positions are explained, for example “Position 1 (Morgan Ellis) is away until 4 October.”
Suggestions are marked Provisional. They are advice, never a selection, and they never change the board.

A dependable record of what training actually happened.

Record date, times, boat, operating helm, participants and the role each person performed, plus objectives and notes.
Before saving, the recorder sees exactly who will move and why, calculated by the same function that saves.
Qualifications, seat limits and overlapping outings are checked, and a repeated submission never creates a duplicate.
Corrections and voids need a reason, keep every previous version and rebuild the board from the affected date.
The audit log is append-only. It records who acted, when, why, what changed and which board positions moved.

Plans that everyone can read, with a clear version history.

Upload PDF plans, describe them, link them to sessions and publish when ready. Drafts stay private to people who manage plans.
Each new version carries a change note, and earlier versions are kept.
Files are checked when uploaded, stored privately and opened through short-lived links.
Members can preview plans in the app and choose “Make available offline” to keep a copy on their device.

The board on a screen in the crew room.

A read-only, high-contrast board with Command and Crew side by side, designed for reading across a room.
It opens from a private link that shows only the board for that station.
Owners can revoke or replace the link at any time.

Crewboard colours by default, with an optional RNLI Lifeboat colour theme for stations that want it.

Station owners choose the station theme. Each member chooses light or dark for themselves.
The RNLI Lifeboat theme changes colours only. Crewboard keeps its own name and logo and never uses RNLI logos, flags or crests.
Every text colour meets WCAG contrast requirements in every theme.

Crewboard is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the RNLI.

One app in the browser, on the desktop and on the phone.

Crewboard runs in any modern browser and can be installed to a phone’s home screen as an app.
Offline, it shows the last board it saw with the time it is from. Changes made offline are queued as Pending sync and never alter the board until the server accepts them. Offline support is in beta.
Notifications by email, and by web push where the browser supports it, with preferences for each type.
Native iOS and Android apps are planned.

Each station is its own workspace, kept separate from every other.

A station owns its members, boats, calendar, sessions, training records, plans and audit history.
Roles are Owner, Admin, Helm, LTC and Member, each with a set of permissions the owner can adjust.
Operational roles such as Helm, Navigator or Tier 2 describe what people do on the boat. They never grant permissions in the app.
People who belong to more than one station can move between them with one account.
Invitations are sent by email, are single use and expire after seven days.

Where each part of Crewboard stands today.