QuickBooks Integration for NDT Inspection Companies

Many small and mid-sized NDT companies keep QuickBooks for their books and want everything upstream of the invoice (jobs, technicians, certifications, timesheets and reports) in a system built for inspection work. This is how the two fit together.

Who this is for

NDT service companies whose accountant or bookkeeper works in QuickBooks and has no wish to move. The operations side (quotes, jobs, crew dispatch, reports, certifications and calibration) runs in Atlantis ERP, and the finance side stays where it is. Atlantis ERP also includes its own invoicing and financial dashboard, so the integration is only needed if QuickBooks remains the ledger.

What data flows, and in which direction

Typical QuickBooks data flows (agreed per implementation)
Record	Direction	Notes
Customer	Either direction (one master)	Agree which system owns the customer list; the other receives new and changed customers.
Service items	QuickBooks → Atlantis (reference)	So invoice lines from Atlantis map to the income accounts your accountant expects.
Invoice	Atlantis → QuickBooks	Built in Atlantis from approved timesheets and completed jobs, with job/PO number and site, then posted to QuickBooks.
Payment status	QuickBooks → Atlantis	So operations can see which jobs are paid without asking accounts.

Typical architecture

QuickBooks Online exposes customers, items, invoices, payments and other accounting entities through the QuickBooks Online Accounting API, a REST API that uses OAuth 2.0 and works per company file. Your QuickBooks administrator authorises the connection once; tokens are refreshed automatically. QuickBooks Desktop uses a different, older integration route and is scoped separately if that is what you run.

Invoices are built in Atlantis because that is where the billable facts live: timesheet hours with work type, method, billable flag and rate multiplier, the equipment used, the job and PO number, and the site. Atlantis's invoice lines carry cost centre, method, equipment serial and technician. What arrives in QuickBooks is agreed in the mapping, usually a summarised invoice against the right customer and income accounts.

What the Atlantis side offers

Atlantis ERP has an open REST API. The same API the offline field app uses to fetch assigned jobs and issued equipment and to submit reports is available for integration, and the records an NDT company cares about are reachable through it: jobs and team assignments, NDT reports and their status, technician certifications with their computed status (active, expiring soon, expired, revoked), equipment with calibration status and due dates, timesheets, quotations and invoices. Which objects are exposed, in which direction and to which system is agreed during implementation, because every integration is scoped to the customer's landscape rather than shipped as a fixed connector.

No prebuilt, certified connector is claimed. The integration is built against your system's published API and Atlantis's REST API during implementation.
Your system stays the system of record for whatever it owns today, whether that is the asset register, the general ledger or the customer master.
Mapping is agreed in writing before anything is built: object, field, direction, trigger, and what happens when a record fails validation.

What gets configured during implementation

Scope workshop. Which records move, in which direction, and who owns each field. Anything not agreed here is not built.
Access on both sides. A dedicated integration user or app registration on your system with the minimum permissions for the agreed objects, and API credentials on the Atlantis side.
Key mapping. How a record in one system is found in the other: work-order number, equipment or functional-location ID, customer number, invoice number.
Field mapping and code lists. Status values, units, methods and result codes translated between the two systems.
Triggers and timing. Event-driven (on approval, on posting) or scheduled, depending on what your system supports and what the business needs.
Errors and retries. Where a failed record is logged, who is told, and how it is re-sent once fixed.
Test in a sandbox, then a controlled go-live on a small set of records before the full flow is switched on.

Choosing between integrating and moving the ledger

If your accountant is happy in QuickBooks and your reporting needs are met there, integrate. If you are already re-keying bills, expenses and payroll allowances into two places, it can be simpler to run invoicing, expenses and the financial dashboard in Atlantis ERP and let your accountant work from there. We will tell you which is less work for your business during the scoping call; there is no reason to move a ledger that is working.

Why integrate instead of re-keying

Every NDT company that works for large asset owners ends up typing the same facts twice: the work order number from the client's system onto the job, and the result from the report back into the client's system or into accounts. Re-keying is where report numbers get transposed, where a rejected weld is closed as accepted in someone else's system, and where invoices wait because nobody has matched the timesheet to the purchase order. An integration removes the second keystroke for the records that matter, and leaves an audit trail showing what was sent, when, and what the other system replied.

To see how an approved timesheet becomes a posted invoice, book an integration scoping call. See also the Invoicing app, the Timesheets app and the integrations overview.

Frequently asked questions

Does the integration work with QuickBooks Online and Desktop?

QuickBooks Online is integrated through its Accounting API with OAuth 2.0. QuickBooks Desktop uses a different, older integration route and is scoped separately.

Which system creates the invoice?

Usually Atlantis, because the timesheets, jobs and PO numbers are there, and the invoice is then posted to QuickBooks. The mapping decides what detail QuickBooks receives.

Do we have to keep customers in both systems?

One system owns the customer list and the other receives changes. Which one owns it is decided in the scope workshop.

Can we stop using QuickBooks later?

Yes. Atlantis ERP includes invoicing and a financial dashboard, so the ledger can move later if that suits you, but nothing forces it.

Is this a certified connector?

No. Atlantis does not claim a certified or marketplace connector. The integration is built during implementation against your system's published API and the Atlantis REST API, scoped to the records you need.

Who owns the integration once it is live?

That is agreed in the scope: typically Atlantis maintains the Atlantis side and the mapping, and your IT team owns credentials and permissions on your system. Changes to the mapping are handled as change requests.

Sources

Speak to an ASNT NDT Level III

Atlantis NDT provides ASNT Level III consulting, NDT training to ASNT SNT-TC-1A, inspection management software and independent report validation. Request a free consultation and we will return a tailored quote — affordable, accessible and fully customizable to your programme.