Certification control
When a technician's certification expires before anyone notices
Certifications 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.
Every technician, every method and the vision record on one grid, coloured by expiry. Select a cell to see what happens next.
- Needs action: J. Patel (Level II), RT: expiring soon; K. Osei (Level I), Vision: expiring soon; D. Chen (Level II), UT: expired; M. Rossi (Trainee), Vision: expired.
- Expired methods are flagged wherever that technician is booked; expiring ones send a reminder to the technician and the Level III.
Panels in the preview: Certifications, Calibration, Reports, Jobs, Sales & cash. Names and statuses are sample data.
Why certification lapses slip through in NDT companies
The pattern is familiar. A Level II UT technician is on a unit during a turnaround when the client's QA reviewer asks for his qualification pack. The certificate is fine; the near-vision exam ran out a few weeks ago. He is stood down, the crew is short, and the operations manager spends the evening on the phone. Nobody was careless. The date was simply in a place nobody happened to be looking that week.
Certification data in most inspection companies is spread across a QA spreadsheet, scanned certificates in a shared drive, eye-test cards in technicians' wallets and the Level III's memory of who sat which exam. Each source is right on its own. The trouble is that no single source raises its hand when a date approaches, and the people who build crews are rarely the people who keep the records.
It gets worse as the roster grows. Technicians hold several methods at different levels, some under your SNT-TC-1A written practice and some under CP-189 or a client-specific scheme, each with its own cycle. Vision tests usually run on a shorter rhythm than certificates. Add a busy season and a manual tracker stops being a control and becomes a hope.
Eye tests on paper
Vision results live on cards or clinic emails, so a valid certificate can sit beside a lapsed near-vision exam without anyone seeing the mismatch.
One spreadsheet guardian
Expiry tracking depends on the QA manager remembering to sort a sheet, and it stops entirely while she is on leave or on an audit.
Gate-side surprises
Clients find the lapsed document during pre-mobilisation checks or at the site gate, the most expensive moment to discover it.
Mixed schemes, one column
In-house, CP-189 and client qualifications carry different validity rules that a single expiry column cannot represent honestly.
Reports signed regardless
Hours get logged and reports get signed by someone whose method certification had already run out, and it only surfaces at audit.
What a missed expiry actually costs
Stood-down technicians
A technician removed from site leaves the crew short, pushes the schedule and often means bringing in a replacement at your own expense.
Reports under question
Work signed by someone whose certification had lapsed may have to be re-examined or re-issued, and the client is entitled to ask for that.
Audit findings
Auditors sample a report and ask for the examiner's qualification on that date. A gap there is a finding against your written practice, not a paperwork slip.
Vendor-list risk
Repeated lapses tell a client your quality system is not controlling people, and approved-vendor status is harder to win back than to keep.
Make expiry dates raise the alarm on their own
In Atlantis NDT ERP, each certification is its own record on the technician's employee file: scheme, level, method, certifying body, issue and expiry dates, OJT and training hours, exam result and the scanned certificate. Status is computed from the dates, so a record moves from active to expiring soon to expired without anyone ticking a box. Vision tests are separate records holding near, far, colour and contrast results, the examiner, the clinic and the file.
A daily check raises a warning task for each certificate and vision test approaching expiry and assigns it to the person responsible, so renewal becomes planned work rather than a rescue. Email alerts go to the recipients you choose, with your own look-ahead and a resend interval so an ignored reminder comes back. If hours are still logged against a technician whose certificate is not valid, the timesheet shows a warning before those hours are approved and billed.
What the software does not do is decide competence. Recertification, the examination and any decision to revoke stay with your Level III under your written practice. A certificate check inside the dispatch step itself is not standard; it can be added as part of an agreed customization, and until then planners read status from the technician profile and the expiring list.
Load every certificate
Existing registers are imported technician by technician, with each method recorded separately and the scanned certificate attached to the right record.
Set scheme templates
For each scheme you use, a template fixes validity, whether a vision test and exam are required, and the minimum OJT and training hours.
Work the morning lists
The QA manager opens the Expiring Soon and Expired menus each day and closes warning tasks by booking exams and eye tests.
Route the alerts
Daily emails go to QA and operations for technician certificates, and separately to whoever owns the company's own accreditations.
Catch the last miss
The timesheet warning flags hours logged on an invalid certificate while the job is live, so the technician can be swapped before the report goes out.
Before and after
| Without a system | With Atlantis NDT |
|---|---|
| Expiry dates in a spreadsheet, sorted when someone remembers. | Status computed every day from the dates on each certification record. |
| Eye-test cards carried in wallets and photographed on request. | Vision tests stored as their own records with clinic, results and file. |
| The client finds the lapsed document at pre-mobilisation. | A warning task reaches the responsible person well before the date. |
| Hours on a lapsed cert discovered after invoicing. | A timesheet warning raised while the job is still running. |
The modules doing the work
Each module is part of the same platform, so a certification, an instrument, a job and a report are linked records rather than files in different places.
- Certificates
Holds each certification and vision test with computed status, warning tasks and configurable email alerts.
- Employees
Carries the NDT profile, including highest level, methods held, radiation badge and medical fitness expiry, on the same record.
- Timesheets
Warns when hours are logged for a technician whose certificate is not valid, before approval and billing.
- Dashboards
Counts certificates expiring and expired so managers see the position without opening a list.
Questions owners ask
How do we stop NDT certifications expiring without anyone noticing?
Move every certification and vision test onto structured records whose status is worked out from the dates, then let daily warning tasks and email alerts reach named people well before expiry. The resend interval matters: one ignored email should not be the end of the reminder.
Does the system prevent a technician with an expired cert from being dispatched?
Not by default. Team Assignments blocks double-booking and warns on out-of-calibration equipment, and Timesheets warns when hours are logged on an invalid certificate. A certification check built into the dispatch step can be added as agreed customization.
Can one technician hold certifications under different schemes?
Yes. Each certification is a separate record with its own scheme, level, method, certifying body and dates, so an in-house SNT-TC-1A certificate and a CP-189 or client-specific qualification sit side by side, each with its own status.
Who decides recertification?
Your Level III, under your written practice. The software records exam sheets, OJT and training hours and flags what is due, but it does not judge whether a technician is competent or sign anyone off.
Can we try it with our own technicians?
Yes. Send the schemes and methods your people hold and we will show them in the Certificates app with expiry lists and alerts configured. Pricing is quote on request, and a free trial is available.
See it on your own records
Bring a sample of your certifications, equipment list or reports and we will show the workflow configured to how your company runs. Demo on request.
Speak to an ASNT NDT Level III
Discuss your inspection requirements with Atlantis NDT. Include the asset, method, location and documents you need reviewed.