NDT Surveys for Competency Checks and Client Feedback

Exams, competency checks and client feedback forms. Request a demo. Affordable. Accessible. Fully customizable. Quote on request.

Competence is more than a certificate card

A current Level II card tells a client that a technician passed a qualification exam at some point and has the required experience. It does not tell you whether that technician has read the revised UT procedure you issued last month, understands the acceptance criteria in this client's specification, or remembers the permit-to-work rules for the site they are driving to tomorrow.

Most NDT companies handle those gaps informally. The Level III has a chat in the workshop, somebody signs a paper sheet saying they read the procedure, and the sheet goes into a folder that nobody opens until an auditor asks. Client feedback is even looser: a thank-you email if the job went well, a phone call if it did not, and nothing written down either way.

The Surveys app in Atlantis NDT ERP gives those checks a proper home. It is the standard Atlantis ERP Surveys app, set up for an NDT company: competency questionnaires for technicians, knowledge checks on procedures and client requirements, induction quizzes before mobilisation, and feedback forms for clients after a job. The answers are stored in the same ERP as your technicians, jobs and customers, so they are there when you need to show them.

This page covers what the app does, realistic ways NDT companies use it, how it sits next to the Certificates, Procedures and eLearning apps, and what setting it up involves. Atlantis NDT ERP is affordable, accessible and fully customizable, with pricing on a quote-on-request basis.

What the Surveys app does

Surveys is a questionnaire builder with scoring and results analysis. The standard features that matter most to an NDT company are:

• Several question types – single choice, multiple choice, free text, numeric answers, dates and matrix questions, grouped into sections.
• Scoring – mark correct answers, give each a score and set a pass percentage, so a questionnaire can act as a quiz with a clear pass or fail.
• Time limits and attempt limits – useful when a knowledge check should be done in one sitting and not retaken endlessly.
• Randomised questions – draw a set number of questions per section from a larger pool, so two technicians sitting side by side do not get identical papers.
• Conditional questions – show a follow-up only when a certain answer is given, for example asking for details when a client rates a job as poor.
• Invitations and links – invite named people by email, or share a link for a client to answer without logging in.
• Results – see answers per participant and summarised results per question, and filter to find who passed, who failed and what they got wrong.

A survey can also issue a certificate of completion when a participant passes. Be clear about what that is: a record that someone passed an internal quiz. It is not an NDT certification, and it does not replace qualification under your written practice. Formal qualification records, including examination sheets with general, specific and practical scores, live in the Certificates app.

How far each feature is used, and how surveys are laid out for your company, is agreed during implementation.

Competency questionnaires for NDT technicians

Under an employer-based scheme such as ASNT SNT-TC-1A, the employer is responsible for the technician's qualification and has to be able to show it. Many companies also want ongoing evidence that people stay competent between recertifications. Short, targeted questionnaires are a practical way to collect that evidence.

Typical uses in an NDT company:

• Method refreshers. A PT quiz on dwell times, surface preparation and developer application; an MT quiz on field indicators and particle types; a UT quiz on reference blocks, DAC curves and scanning sensitivity. Your Level III writes the questions; the app handles the scoring.
• Technique checks before advanced work. Before a technician is put on TOFD or PAUT weld inspection for the first time with you, a questionnaire on your technique sheets and setup checks gives the Level III a documented starting point.
• Code and acceptance-criteria checks. Questions on the acceptance criteria in the code or client specification the technician will work to, so nobody finds out on the job that they have been using the wrong table.
• New-hire assessment. A technician joining with a certificate from another employer can answer a baseline questionnaire, which helps the Level III decide what extra OJT or training is needed before your company certifies them.

Randomised question pools and time limits make these quizzes harder to game. Results per participant show exactly which questions each technician got wrong, so follow-up training is aimed at the real gaps rather than repeating a whole course.

Keep the boundary clear: these are supporting evidence and internal checks. The qualification exam records for certification, with their general, specific and practical scores and pass mark, belong in the Certificates app.

Procedure read-and-understood checks

Every NDT company revises procedures. A new client specification arrives, a code edition changes, an audit finding needs closing, or the Level III simply tightens a technique. The hard part is not writing the revision; it is proving that the technicians who use it have actually read it.

In Atlantis NDT ERP, procedures are controlled in the Procedures app: document number, revision, method, scope, applicable standard and acceptance criteria, with a draft, review, approval and publish workflow and a full revision history. When a revision is published, the Surveys app gives you the second half of the story.

A simple pattern works well:

1. The Level III approves and publishes the new revision of, say, the MT procedure.
2. A short read-and-understood questionnaire is created for that revision: a confirmation that the technician has read it, plus a handful of questions on what changed.
3. Invitations go by email to every technician who works in that method.
4. Results show who has completed it, who passed and who still needs chasing.

That gives you a record per technician, per revision, stored in the same system as the procedure itself. When an auditor asks how you communicated the change, you show the survey results instead of hunting for a signed sheet.

Out of the box this is a manual step: someone creates and sends the questionnaire. If you want invitations triggered automatically when a procedure is published, or the survey linked to the procedure record, that is configured during implementation as part of the agreed customization scope.

Site induction and pre-mobilisation checks

Refineries, petrochemical plants, power stations and fabrication yards all have their own site rules. Before a crew arrives they usually need to complete an induction, understand permit-to-work arrangements, and know the site's specific hazards. For radiography crews there is the added layer of radiation safety and barrier arrangements.

The Project app in Atlantis NDT ERP already records safety induction and work permit fields against each NDT job. The Surveys app can sit next to that as a knowledge check:

• A short quiz on the client's site rules, muster points, gas testing and permit requirements, sent to each technician assigned to the job.
• A radiation safety refresher for radiographers before a campaign, with questions set by your radiation protection lead.
• A pre-mobilisation checklist for the crew lead: PPE, documents, instruments, calibration certificates and procedures in the van.

Surveys in this role are about catching gaps before the crew is standing at the gate. A technician who fails the site-rules quiz can be briefed properly the day before, rather than being turned away by the client's safety officer on the day.

Results are visible to the operations manager and the planner. Linking survey completion directly to a specific job or technician assignment, so the planner sees it inside the job record, is something we can configure during implementation if you want it.

These checks do not replace the client's own induction or your safety management system. They give you a documented, repeatable way to make sure your people arrive ready.

Client feedback after every job

Most NDT companies only hear from clients when something goes wrong. Good work goes unrecorded, and small irritations never get mentioned until the client quietly gives the next shutdown to a competitor.

A short feedback survey sent after each job fixes that. A realistic NDT client survey asks:

• Did the crew arrive on time and with the right equipment?
• Were the technicians competent in the methods required?
• Did they follow site safety rules and permits?
• Were the reports clear, accurate and delivered when promised?
• How easy were we to deal with on quoting, changes and invoicing?
• Would you use us again, and is there anything we should change?

Conditional questions let you ask for detail only when a low rating comes in, which keeps the survey short for the happy client and useful for the unhappy one. A shared link means the client's QA/QC inspector or site engineer can answer without an account.

Report quality is often what clients notice most. Inspection reports in Atlantis NDT ERP come from the NDT Reports app, with method-specific data, review and approval signatures and branded templates. If your clients want to see results placed on a 3D model of their asset, our companion product Digital Twin Reporting Software works alongside the ERP to do that. Feedback surveys will tell you whether your clients value that kind of reporting before you commit to it.

Collected over time, feedback also gives your sales team honest material for conversations with the same client, and gives your quality system the customer-satisfaction evidence that ISO 9001 audits ask about.

Other internal uses: suppliers, onboarding and staff feedback

Once the app is in place, NDT companies tend to find more uses for it. A few that fit the business well:

Supplier and calibration lab evaluation

Your quality system probably requires you to evaluate suppliers. A questionnaire for the stores lead or equipment controller, filled in after each calibration round, records turnaround, communication and certificate quality for each lab. The Purchase app already flags vendor types such as OEM, dealer and calibration lab, with accredited-lab details, so the evaluation sits alongside the supplier data.

Technician onboarding

A new technician's first week involves a lot of paperwork: personal details, certificates held, methods, emergency contacts, PPE sizes. A structured onboarding survey collects it in one go, so HR and the QA manager are not chasing the same person for different pieces.

Staff and crew feedback

Field technicians spend long stretches away on shutdowns and remote sites. A short, periodic survey on workload, travel, equipment condition and site conditions tells management where the pressure points are before people leave.

Internal audit checklists

A survey can be laid out as a checklist for an internal audit of a job file or the workshop: are calibration certificates present, are procedures the current revision, are reports signed by reviewer and approver? It is not a full audit management system, but it gives you a consistent record of what was checked.

All of these use standard Surveys features. The questions, scoring and who receives them are set up with you during implementation.

How Surveys connects to training and the rest of the ERP

Surveys is one piece of how an NDT company builds and proves competence. It works best next to the other apps:

• Certificates holds the formal record: scheme, level, method, certifying body, OJT and training hours, exam sheets and vision tests, with automatic expiry status. Surveys adds ongoing evidence between recertifications.
• Procedures controls the documents; Surveys confirms people have read and understood them.
• Project holds job, induction and permit details; Surveys checks that the crew knows the site rules.
• eLearning runs courses with video lessons and quizzes for structured learning. Surveys is lighter and quicker for one-off checks and feedback.
• CRM and Contacts hold the client records that feedback surveys go to.

For hands-on skills, a questionnaire only goes so far. Knowing the right answer about probe angle is not the same as finding the indication. That is why Atlantis offers Practical NDT, an immersive 3D, game-like practice platform with UT, PAUT, RT, MT, PT, VT, ET and TOFD scenarios on virtual welds, pipes, vessels and castings. Learners enrolled in the ERP's eLearning portal get a Practical NDT section that opens the platform, with access granted automatically on enrolment or manually by an admin.

If your survey results show gaps that need formal teaching, Atlantis also provides NDT training based on ASNT SNT-TC-1A, along with consulting on written practices and procedures.

Setting up Surveys for your NDT company

Because Surveys is a standard app, the setup work is mostly about content and process, not software. Atlantis NDT handles it as part of the ERP deployment.

1. Agree the uses. We start with the surveys that give you the most value first, usually procedure read-and-understood checks and client feedback, then add competency questionnaires as your Level III writes them.
2. Build templates. We set up template surveys for each use, with sensible sections, scoring and pass marks. Your Level III supplies or approves the technical questions; we do not put technical content in front of your technicians without your review.
3. Branding and access. Client-facing surveys carry your company branding. Internal quizzes can require login so results tie to the right employee.
4. Routine. We agree who sends what and when: feedback at job close, read-and-understood at each procedure publish, refreshers on a schedule your QA manager sets.
5. Optional customization. Automatic triggers or links to job and procedure records are scoped and configured with you if you want them.

You can run Surveys on its own from day one, or introduce it once Certificates and Procedures are in use. Either way it adds very little overhead for the people answering. Book a Surveys demo and we will show you sample NDT questionnaires and feedback forms.

Frequently asked questions

Can the Surveys app replace our NDT qualification exams?

No. Surveys is for internal knowledge checks, feedback and supporting evidence. Qualification exam records with general, specific and practical scores and a pass mark are kept in the Certificates app, under your written practice.

Can we score quizzes and set a pass mark?

Yes. You mark correct answers, give each a score and set a pass percentage. Results show each participant's score and which questions they got wrong.

Can clients answer a feedback survey without an account?

Yes. You can share a link that clients open and complete without logging in, or invite named contacts by email.

Can we stop technicians sharing answers?

You can randomise questions from a larger pool per section, set a time limit and limit attempts, which makes copying much harder.

Are surveys linked automatically to procedures or jobs?

Not out of the box. Surveys are created and sent from the Surveys app. Automatic triggers or links to procedure and job records can be configured during implementation as part of the agreed scope.

Does Atlantis write our competency questions?

We set up the templates and structure. Technical questions should come from, or be approved by, your Level III so they match your procedures and written practice. Our consulting team can help if you need support.

How much does the Surveys app cost?

Pricing for Atlantis NDT ERP is quote on request, based on the apps and customization you need. It is designed to be affordable for NDT companies of any size.

Put competence and client feedback on record

If your read-and-understood sheets live in a folder and client feedback lives in people's inboxes, the Surveys app gives both a place in the same system as your technicians, procedures and jobs. It is simple to run, light on your team's time and useful the next time an auditor or client asks how you know.

Request a quote for Atlantis NDT ERP or tell us which surveys you would start with, and we will show you how they would look for your company.

Works with

• eLearning: Courses, quizzes and certificates for technician training and refreshers.

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