Fleet Management for NDT Companies: Vehicles, Drivers and Source-Carrying Vans

Vehicles, drivers and service records for field crews. Request a demo. Affordable. Accessible. Fully customizable. Quote on request.

Why an NDT company needs proper fleet records

For most inspection companies, the vehicle is part of the job. A UT crew's van carries the flaw detectors, probes, couplant and calibration blocks. A radiography truck may carry exposure devices, film, a darkroom and signage. A pipeline crew might live out of pickups for weeks. When a vehicle is off the road, unlicensed for the load it carries, or simply not where the coordinator thought it was, the inspection doesn't happen.

Yet vehicle records in many NDT companies are scattered: registration papers in a folder, insurance renewal in the accountant's email, mileage on a clipboard in the cab, and knowledge of which van is cleared for radiography work held by one or two senior people.

The Fleet app in Atlantis NDT ERP brings those records together. It is the standard Atlantis ERP Fleet app with fields added for NDT work: the vehicle's purpose, whether it can carry radioactive sources, its transport licence number and expiry, and assignments of the vehicle to a project and driver with dates and mileage.

That combination matters. A general-purpose fleet tool can tell you when a van's insurance is due. It can't tell your coordinator, at the moment of planning a radiography job, which vehicles are set up and licensed to carry the source. The Fleet app in Atlantis NDT ERP holds both kinds of information in one place, on the same system where you plan jobs, dispatch crews and invoice clients.

This page explains what the app records, how an NDT company uses it day to day, who works in it and how it is set up during implementation.

The problems it is meant to stop

Fleet problems in NDT rarely look like fleet problems. They show up as operations problems:

• A radiography crew is dispatched in a vehicle that isn't the one set up for source transport, because the usual truck was in the garage and nobody checked.
• A transport licence or permit on a vehicle lapses, and it is noticed only when someone asks for the paperwork at a site gate.
• Two coordinators promise the same pickup to two different crews for the same week.
• A client queries mileage on an invoice, and the only evidence is a technician's recollection.
• Insurance, registration or leasing contracts roll over quietly, or worse, don't roll over at all.
• A vehicle has been used on four projects in a month, and nobody can say how many kilometres each project actually used.

Each of these is an avoidable cost: a delayed start, a refused site entry, a disputed invoice line, a scramble for a hire vehicle. They happen because vehicle information lives in too many places and none of them are connected to the job plan.

The Fleet app doesn't solve this with anything clever. It solves it by giving every vehicle one record that everyone can see, with the NDT-specific facts on it, and by recording who had the vehicle, for which project, over which dates and for how many kilometres or miles.

What each vehicle record holds

Every vehicle in the Fleet app has a single record. The standard Atlantis ERP fields cover the basics:

• Make, model, registration plate and chassis number.
• Current driver and future driver.
• Odometer readings over time.
• Contracts such as leasing, insurance or rental, with start and end dates.
• Service history.
• Tags and status so you can see which vehicles are active, in the garage or being returned.

On top of that, Atlantis NDT ERP adds the fields an inspection company actually needs:

Because all of this sits on one record, list views can be filtered and grouped. A coordinator can pull up every vehicle that can carry sources, sorted by licence expiry, in a couple of clicks. A manager can see all vehicles assigned to a given project. An accountant can see contracts due to end in the next quarter.

Vehicles that carry radioactive sources

Radiography is the part of NDT where the vehicle carries real regulatory weight. Depending on the country, carrying an industrial radiography source involves radiation protection regulations, dangerous goods transport rules, licence conditions from the national regulator and your own radiation safety programme. The details differ from one jurisdiction to the next, and they are the responsibility of your Radiation Safety Officer and management.

What the Fleet app does is make the relevant facts about each vehicle impossible to miss:

• Every vehicle carries a flag saying whether it can carry radioactive sources.
• The transport licence number and its expiry date are on the vehicle record, not in a separate folder.
• Assignments show which driver had the vehicle, on which project, and over which dates.

When a coordinator is planning a radiography job, they filter for vehicles that can carry sources and see at once which are available and whose licence is current. When an auditor or client asks which vehicle was used on a particular job and who drove it, the assignment history answers the question directly.

It is worth being clear about the limits. The app records these facts; it does not make a vehicle compliant, and it does not replace the checks your radiation safety programme requires before a source is moved. What it removes is the guesswork: the moment where someone assumes a vehicle is the right one because it usually is.

If you want alerts ahead of licence expiry, the way those are raised, for example as scheduled activities for the fleet coordinator or entries on a manager's To-do list, is configured during implementation to fit how your company works.

Assigning vehicles to projects and drivers

The assignment record is the part of the Fleet app that NDT companies tend to value most. Each assignment links a vehicle to a project and a driver, with start and end dates and mileage.

That sounds simple, and it is. But it changes a few things:

• Planning. Before promising a vehicle to a crew, the coordinator can see what it is already assigned to and when that assignment ends.
• Accountability. If a vehicle comes back damaged, dirty or with a warning light, the record shows who had it and on which job.
• Project costing. Mileage per assignment shows how much vehicle use a project really consumed, which helps when you price the next similar job.
• Client queries. If a client asks about travel on an invoice, you have dated, project-specific mileage to point to.

Vehicle assignments sit alongside crew and equipment planning in Team Assignments, where jobs move from planned to dispatched, in field, submitted and closed, and where double-booking of technicians and equipment serial numbers is blocked. The Fleet app keeps the vehicle side of the same picture: the crew, the kit and the van that took them there.

For companies running long projects, such as pipeline spreads or extended shutdowns, assignments can run for weeks, with the driver changed as crews rotate. Each rotation is its own record, so the history stays clear even when several people have driven the same vehicle on the same project.

Odometers, services and contracts

The standard parts of the Fleet app do the routine work that keeps vehicles legal and on the road.

Odometer readings are logged against the vehicle over time. Together with mileage on assignments, they give you a reliable picture of how hard each vehicle is working and when it is due its next service.

Service records keep a history of servicing and repairs: what was done, when, and by which vendor. For planned servicing and requests raised from site, many NDT companies also use the Maintenance app, where vehicles can be set up with their own maintenance team and preventive schedule. The two work together: Maintenance runs the request workflow, and the Fleet record keeps the vehicle's history and NDT-specific details.

Contracts cover leasing, insurance, rental and similar agreements with their start and end dates. Standard Atlantis ERP Fleet raises reminders to the responsible person as contracts approach their end, so renewals are a decision rather than a surprise.

Costs can be recorded against vehicles as well, so owners can see what each vehicle is costing to run and compare it with how much it is used. For a small fleet that is a sanity check. For a larger one, it is the information you need to decide whether to buy, lease or hire.

None of this is specific to NDT, and it doesn't need to be. What makes it useful to an inspection company is that it lives on the same system as the jobs, crews and invoices, so vehicle facts are there when operational decisions are made.

Travel, mileage and billing

Travel is a real part of NDT work, and clients are increasingly particular about how it is charged. Atlantis NDT ERP gives you several pieces that fit together here.

• Fleet assignments record mileage per vehicle, per project and per driver over given dates.
• Timesheets let technicians log travel as a separate work type from inspection, standby and setup, with a billable flag and rate multiplier, against a site and client.
• Expenses capture field costs such as fuel, tolls and per diems, which can be re-billed to jobs.
• Invoicing carries NDT project, job or PO number and site on the invoice header, with lines by cost centre, method, technician, rate type and days or hours, and separate subtotals for labour, equipment and consumables.

How vehicle mileage turns into invoice lines depends on your contracts. Some clients pay a mileage rate, some pay a fixed mobilisation charge, some absorb travel into day rates. The Fleet app provides the recorded mileage per project; how that figure reaches the invoice is configured during implementation to match the way you bill.

What you get either way is evidence. When a client asks why travel on an invoice looks higher than expected, your billing team can open the project, see which vehicles were assigned, over which dates and for what mileage, and answer with facts instead of estimates.

If you want to walk through this with your own contracts and billing rules, book a Fleet app demo and bring a recent invoice with travel on it.

Who uses the Fleet app

• Operations managers and coordinators check vehicle availability and suitability before promising a crew, and record assignments to projects and drivers.
• Radiation Safety Officers keep an eye on which vehicles are flagged to carry sources and whose transport licences are current.
• Fleet coordinators or office administrators keep registrations, contracts, insurance and service history up to date.
• Technicians and drivers can be asked to record odometer readings at the start and end of an assignment, depending on how your company wants to run it.
• Accounts and billing use assignment mileage and costs when preparing invoices and reviewing project profitability.
• Owners and general managers see which vehicles are earning their keep and which are candidates for replacement.

Access rights are set per role during implementation, so drivers see what they need and managers see the whole fleet.

What implementation looks like

Atlantis NDT sets up and deploys the ERP for your company. For the Fleet app, implementation usually covers:

1. Vehicle review. We collect registrations, contracts, insurance details and licences for each vehicle, and agree how purposes are named.
2. NDT fields. Each vehicle is marked for whether it can carry radioactive sources, and transport licence numbers and expiry dates are entered.
3. Contracts and reminders. Leasing, insurance and rental contracts are loaded with their dates, and reminders are routed to the right person. Licence expiry follow-ups are configured to suit your process.
4. Assignments. Current vehicle assignments to projects and drivers are recorded so history starts from day one.
5. Links to other apps. Vehicles are set up in Maintenance where you want preventive servicing, and billing rules for travel are agreed with your accounts team.
6. Training and go-live. Short sessions per role, then support through the first weeks.

The product is fully customizable, so extra fields or views you need, for example additional documents your clients ask for at site gates, are scoped and agreed with you. Pricing depends on that scope and is quote on request. Request a quote for the Fleet app with a rough count of vehicles and locations.

Frequently asked questions

Can the Fleet app show which vehicles can carry radioactive sources?

Yes. Every vehicle has a field recording whether it can carry radioactive sources, together with its transport licence number and expiry date. Coordinators can filter the fleet to see only those vehicles when planning radiography work.

Does the app make our vehicles compliant with transport regulations?

No software can do that. The app records the facts about each vehicle and who had it on which job. Compliance with radiation protection and dangerous goods transport rules remains the responsibility of your Radiation Safety Officer and management.

Can we record which project a vehicle was used on?

Yes. Vehicle assignments link a vehicle to a project and driver with dates and mileage, so you can see exactly how each vehicle was used across your jobs.

Does it track vehicle location live?

No. The Fleet app records assignments, drivers, dates, odometer readings and mileage. It is not a live vehicle tracking system.

How does it work with the Maintenance app?

Vehicles can be set up as equipment in Maintenance with their own team and preventive schedule. Maintenance handles requests and scheduling, while the Fleet record holds the vehicle's contracts, licences, assignments and service history.

Can travel mileage go onto client invoices?

Assignment mileage is recorded per project. How it appears on invoices depends on your contracts and is configured during implementation, alongside Timesheets travel entries and re-billed Expenses.

What does it cost?

Atlantis NDT ERP is affordable and fully customizable. Pricing depends on your scope, so it is quote on request.

See your own fleet in it

Bring a list of your vehicles, note which ones carry radiography equipment, and pick a recent job where travel was queried. We will show you how that job would look in Atlantis NDT ERP: the vehicle, the licence, the driver, the dates, the mileage and the invoice.

Affordable. Accessible. Fully customizable. Read more about the full NDT ERP, or book a demo of the Fleet app today.

Works with

• Team Assignments: Assign qualified technicians and crews to jobs by method, level and availability.
• Project: Inspection projects, tasks and milestones from award to final report.
• Timesheets: Technician hours per job, feeding payroll and client invoicing.
• Asset Management: NDT equipment by serial number: issue and return, reservations, calibration and maintenance history.
• Maintenance: Preventive and corrective maintenance requests for instruments, vehicles and site equipment.
• Calendar: Shared schedules for jobs, audits and client meetings.
• To-do: Personal and team task lists linked to jobs and records.

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