XML Data Extractor
Fleet Automation · VBA · MRV/DCS
Role SSHEQ Developer
Overview
When I got invited to Hamburg, I built a tool that takes voyage XML exports from ships and turns them into DNV-ready MRV/DCS files. Before this, people were stitching reports together by hand in spreadsheets. This replaced that with one reliable flow.
The challenge
Every vessel exported XML a bit differently. Field names changed, units changed, timestamp formats changed, and sometimes files were incomplete. Manual reporting took a lot of time and it was easy to make mistakes right before compliance deadlines.
The approach
- 01 Mapped XML variants by vessel class and defined how each source field should land in the MRV/DCS output.
- 02 Built a VBA parser that detects schema differences, normalizes units, and handles missing fields without breaking the run.
- 03 Exported straight to DNV-ready MRV/DCS templates with built-in checks for required fields, date ranges, and structure.
- 04 Kept it simple for users. Load file, click once, get a submission-ready result plus a clear log of any issues.
Outcome
Report prep dropped from hours to minutes per voyage, and first submission quality improved a lot. This project also led directly into my next role at DNV, where I spent two years verifying the same MRV/DCS structures from the regulator side.
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