The problems inspection companies bring to us, and how the platform removes them

Pick the problem you recognise

These guides are written for owners, operations managers and quality managers of inspection companies. Each one starts with the symptoms you see on a normal week, shows what the problem costs when it is left alone, and then walks through how the work runs once certifications, equipment, jobs, reports and invoices live in one system.

None of them claims software makes a technician competent or replaces a Level III. What it does is make the evidence complete, current and easy to find, so that people spend their time on inspection instead of chasing paperwork.

• Certification controlWhen a technician's certification expires before anyone noticesCertifications lapse unnoticed because expiry dates sit in spreadsheets, PDFs and wallets that nobody reviews daily. The fix is one record per technician, method and scheme, with status worked out from the dates, warning tasks raised well before expiry, and a timesheet warning if anyone logs hours on a lapsed cert. A Level III still decides recertification.
• Calibration controlWhen an instrument goes to site past its calibration dateOut-of-calibration instruments reach site because the calibration list and the issue counter live apart. Track each flaw detector, probe, yoke, meter and reference block by serial number with its certificate and due date, warn the planner when a lapsed unit is assigned, and filter timesheets by serial to trace the jobs it touched.
• Report turnaroundWhy your inspection reports reach the client lateNDT reports run late because the delay sits in hand-offs, not in the field: re-typing readings, chasing a reviewer, hunting for the latest template and the right probe serial. Capture method-specific data once against the job, route it through inspector, reviewer and approver stages everyone can see, and issue it in the client's own format.
• Crew dispatchWhen the same technician and the same kit are booked on two jobsDouble-booking happens when people, leave, training and equipment live in separate places and only the dispatcher joins them up. Put every technician's assignments, leave, training and sickness on one availability calendar, book instruments by serial number on the same assignment, and let the system refuse a clash at the moment of booking instead of on Monday morning.
• Billing and cashWhen completed inspection work sits unbilledInspection work goes unbilled when the facts an invoice needs, from standby hours and equipment serials to consumables, per diem and the client PO, are recorded in the field but rebuilt by hand later. Capture them against the job as they happen, approve them, and track confirmed work that has not yet been invoiced.
• Document controlWhen the crew is working to a superseded procedureSuperseded procedures reach the field when revisions live in shared drives, email and printed binders with no single register that says which revision is current. Hold each procedure as a controlled record, route every revision through review and Level III approval, lock what is approved, publish only the current revision, and keep earlier ones as snapshots for audit.
• Audit readinessWhen every audit turns into a scramble for evidenceAudit scrambles happen because the evidence exists but is stored apart from the job it proves. An auditor samples a finished report and works backwards to the examiner's certification and vision test on that date, the instrument's calibration, the procedure revision and the approvals. Keep those linked to the job and the binder hunt disappears.
• Job marginWhen you cannot tell which jobs actually make moneyJob margins stay hidden because revenue arrives on one invoice while cost arrives in fragments: hours, travel, standby, per diem, consumables, equipment and report preparation, many without a job number. Record each cost against the job when it happens, split revenue by service line and sector, and compare clients and methods on margin rather than turnover.
• Spreadsheet sprawlWhen the whole inspection business runs on spreadsheetsSpreadsheets fail an NDT company not because they are bad tools but because each holds one slice of the business and a person joins them up. When certifications, calibration, crews, reports and billing are separate files, errors hide in the joins. Moving to one system lets each fact be entered once and read by everyone who needs it.
• Training recordsWhen training and OJT records still live on paperPaper training records fail when a Level III must prove a technician met the training and experience your written practice requires, and the evidence is spread across sign-in sheets, logbooks and emails. Keep course completions and quiz results in a learning portal, and OJT hours, training hours and exam scores on each certification record.