Urgency Classification

Overview

After synthesising root causes and assigning confidence levels, the IOT Manager classifies the overall investigation urgency into one of three tiers. This classification determines the visual presentation of the final report (banner colour) and sets expectations for the engineering team on response timing.

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The Three Tiers

IMMEDIATE — Hours

Action required before next BWTS operation.

A compliance breach is active, a safety risk exists, or the system cannot operate within regulatory limits. The report header displays a red banner.

Response window: Hours

SHORT-TERM — Days to weeks

Address at next port call.

A degradation trend is confirmed and will breach compliance if uncorrected, or preventive maintenance is overdue on a critical component. The report header displays an amber banner.

Response window: Days to weeks

MONITOR — Next scheduled review

Watch and log.

A minor deviation has been detected or an early warning signal is present, but no compliance breach or safety risk exists today. The report header displays a blue banner.

Response window: Next scheduled review

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Report Banner Styling

Tier	Banner Colour	Hex Code	Text
IMMEDIATE	Red	#dc2626	”IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED”
SHORT-TERM	Amber	#f59e0b	”ACTION RECOMMENDED — NEXT PORT CALL”
MONITOR	Blue	#3b82f6	”MONITORING — NO IMMEDIATE ACTION”

Note

The Report Agent applies these styles based on the urgency field in the report_request_v1 payload. It never changes or overrides the classification — styling is a direct mapping from the Manager’s decision.

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Decision Matrix

The IOT Manager determines urgency by evaluating three factors together: the severity of the root cause, the magnitude of the parameter deviation, and the compliance status.

Severity	Deviation	Compliance Status	Urgency
Component failure or safety risk	Parameter beyond operational limit	Non-compliant (breaches IMO/flag state requirement)	IMMEDIATE
Component failure or safety risk	Parameter beyond operational limit	Compliant (within regulatory buffer)	IMMEDIATE
Confirmed degradation	Parameter trending toward limit	Compliant but projected to breach within 2 operating sessions	SHORT-TERM
Confirmed degradation	Parameter trending toward limit	Compliant with margin remaining	SHORT-TERM
Overdue maintenance (no degradation yet)	Parameter within normal range	Compliant	SHORT-TERM
Minor deviation detected	Parameter within normal range	Compliant with wide margin	MONITOR
Early warning signal	No deviation yet	Compliant	MONITOR
Inconclusive analysis	Unknown	Unknown	MONITOR (with human review flag)

Tip

When in doubt, the Manager errs toward the more urgent classification. An IMMEDIATE report that turns out to be SHORT-TERM is far less costly than the reverse.

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Example Scenarios

IMMEDIATE

UV Intensity Below Compliance Threshold

Situation: UV intensity on BWTS-UV-003 has dropped to 18.2 W/m², below the 25 W/m² IMO compliance threshold. 13 of 16 UV lamps are past their rated operational life. The system cannot guarantee ballast water treatment efficacy.

Why IMMEDIATE:

• Active compliance breach (below IMO threshold)
• Safety risk (untreated ballast water discharge)
• Root cause confirmed with HIGH confidence (lamp degradation)

Report banner: Red — “IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED”

Expected response: Replace UV lamps before the next ballast water operation. Do not operate BWTS until repairs are verified.

SHORT-TERM

UV Intensity Declining But Above Threshold

Situation: UV intensity on BWTS-UV-003 is at 28.1 W/m², still above the 25 W/m² threshold, but declining at -0.53 W/m² per hour. At this rate, the system will breach compliance within 2 operating sessions. PMS records show 8 of 16 lamps approaching rated life.

Why SHORT-TERM:

• Currently compliant but projected to breach soon
• Confirmed degradation trend (MEDIUM confidence)
• Maintenance is due but not yet critical

Report banner: Amber — “ACTION RECOMMENDED — NEXT PORT CALL”

Expected response: Schedule lamp replacement at the next port call. Monitor intensity during interim operations and halt BWTS if readings drop below 25 W/m².

MONITOR

Minor Flow Rate Variation

Situation: Ballast water flow rate on BWTS-UV-003 shows a 3% deviation from baseline over the last session. All other parameters are within normal range. No maintenance items are overdue. The Manual Agent finds no alarm code for this level of deviation.

Why MONITOR:

• No compliance breach or risk
• Deviation is minor and within normal operational variance
• No corroborating evidence from other agents (LOW confidence on any cause)

Report banner: Blue — “MONITORING — NO IMMEDIATE ACTION”

Expected response: Log the observation. If the deviation increases in subsequent sessions, it will naturally escalate to SHORT-TERM in a future investigation.

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Urgency and Confidence Interaction

Urgency and confidence are independent assessments that combine in the final report to give the engineering team a complete picture.

Confidence	Urgency	Report Presentation
HIGH	IMMEDIATE	Red banner. Root cause prominently displayed with full evidence. Remediation procedures listed as mandatory.
HIGH	SHORT-TERM	Amber banner. Root cause confirmed. Remediation procedures listed as recommended.
HIGH	MONITOR	Blue banner. Root cause known but impact is minimal. Procedures listed as optional/preventive.
MEDIUM	IMMEDIATE	Red banner. Root cause listed with caveats. “Requires validation” note. Procedures listed as precautionary.
MEDIUM	SHORT-TERM	Amber banner. Root cause plausible. Procedures listed with “verify before acting” guidance.
LOW	Any	Regardless of urgency, LOW confidence causes include a prominent “Requires Manual Review” flag.

Caution

A LOW confidence cause can still produce an IMMEDIATE urgency classification. If the parameter is in active compliance breach, urgency remains IMMEDIATE regardless of how certain the root cause diagnosis is — the breach itself demands action, even if the cause is unclear.