Your marine parts store knows the quantity but not the certification, so a refit waits on a paper trail
Custom inventory management software for a Portsmouth marine or defence firm runs £35,000 to £90,000 over 3 to 5 months. Fishbowl, Cin7, and spreadsheets count stock fine, but they don't track what governs whether you can actually fit a part: its certification, its lot and source, and whether it's export-controlled. That gap is what makes a refit wait on a paper trail.
Your inventory tells you that you have twelve shackles. It doesn't tell you which of them carry the marine certification a classed refit requires, which lot they came from, or whether a component is export-controlled. So when a job needs a certified part, someone hunts through certs and delivery notes, and a refit milestone waits on a paper trail the inventory system can't see.
Fishbowl and Cin7 are built for commercial quantity-and-location tracking. They have no real concept of certification chains, lot traceability to source, or export-control status. For marine and defence work where a part without the right cert simply can't be fitted, quantity-on-hand is the easy half of the problem and certification is the half that stops the job.
Why the usual tools struggle in Portsmouth
- Inventory tracks quantity but not which units carry the certification a classed refit requires
- Lot and source traceability for marine parts lives in delivery notes, not the stock system
- Export-controlled components aren't flagged, risking a compliance breach on dispatch
- Finding a certified part for a job means a manual hunt that stalls refit milestones
What a custom inventory management build changes
Custom inventory software tracks parts the way marine and defence work demands: every unit carries its certification, lot, and source, export-controlled items are flagged and gated, and finding a certified part for a job is an instant query. A refit no longer waits on a paper trail because the trail lives in the stock system, ready to export as evidence for a class surveyor or a prime contractor.
- Parts must carry certification and lot traceability your stock system can't hold
- Refit milestones wait on manual cert hunts
- You handle export-controlled components that need flagging and gating
- Your stock is commercial with no certification or traceability requirements
- Quantity-and-location tracking is genuinely all you need
- A small operation fits Cin7 or even spreadsheets without pain
- Certification, lot, and source travel with every part, so a certified item is found instantly
- Refit milestones stop waiting on paper trails because the trail is in the system
- Export-controlled components are flagged and gated, reducing compliance risk on dispatch
- Traceability evidence exports on demand for class surveyors and naval primes
- Stock connects to your ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and warehouse processes so counts and certs stay aligned
- Certification and lot tracking only pay off if you maintain the data discipline at goods-in
- Building this is more than configuring Fishbowl and costs accordingly
- Export-control logic adds complexity and needs to be kept current with regulation
- For purely commercial stock with no certification needs, off-the-shelf tools are cheaper and fine
The features that matter for Portsmouth
What we build under inventory management in Portsmouth
Digital Heroes builds the full inventory management stack for Portsmouth teams. Typical engagements cover barcode scanning, multi-location inventory, inventory tracking, Fishbowl alternative, Cin7 alternative and real-time inventory.
Inventory Management pricing in Portsmouth: the real numbers
| Project scope | Typical cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory core with cert and lot tracking | £35k to £55k | 3 to 4 months |
| Plus export-control gating and traceability export | £55k to £75k | 4 to 5 months |
| Plus ERP and warehouse integration | £75k to £90k | 5 months |
From kickoff to launch: the schedule
Exactly what you get
Inventory software where every part carries its certification, lot, and source, export-controlled items are flagged and gated at dispatch, and finding a certified part for a refit is an instant query. Goods-in capture starts the cert chain, traceability evidence exports for class surveyors and primes, and it integrates with your ERP, warehouse, and procurement systems so quantities and certifications never drift apart.
How to choose a developer in Portsmouth
Pick a developer who treats certification and traceability as core inventory data, not metadata. Ask how they'd capture certs at goods-in, search for a part by required standard, and export traceability evidence for a surveyor. Experience with regulated manufacturing or marine supply is the signal to look for. A team that thinks inventory means counting boxes will leave you with the same paper-trail bottleneck in a new wrapper.
- !They equate inventory with quantity-on-hand. Ask how they track certification and lot
- !No export-control handling. Ask how a controlled part is flagged and gated
- !No goods-in cert capture. Ask where the cert chain starts
- !No traceability export. Ask how a class surveyor gets evidence
- !No ERP integration plan. Ask how stock and certs stay aligned with the back office
Most Portsmouth teams pricing inventory management end up comparing notes on accounting, project management, lms too; the systems share one data spine.
Rohan advises mid-market and enterprise teams on ERP, CRM and custom software, and has led delivery on dozens of business-software builds.
Writes for Digital Heroes, shipping business software for 2,000+ brands across 55+ countries since 2017.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't Fishbowl handle certified parts?
Fishbowl tracks quantity and location well but has no real concept of certification chains, lot-to-source traceability, or export-control gating. For marine and defence parts where a missing cert stops the job, those are the features that matter most.
Where does the cert data come from?
It's captured at goods-in and tied to the received lot, so the cert travels with the part from the moment it arrives. That discipline at the loading bay is what makes instant certified-part lookup possible later.
Can it stop us dispatching an export-controlled part wrongly?
Yes. Export-controlled items are flagged, and dispatch can be gated so a controlled component can't be shipped without the right checks, reducing the risk of a compliance breach.
Does it replace our ERP?
No, it integrates with it. Inventory with certification feeds and reads from your ERP and warehouse systems so counts and certs stay aligned rather than living in a parallel world.
How fast can we find a certified part?
Instantly. Instead of hunting through delivery notes and cert folders, you query for parts meeting a required standard and the system returns the matching certified units on hand.