NDT Inspection Management Software for Inspection Companies in British Columbia

Short answer: The Atlantis ERP solution is a fully customized ERP for NDT and inspection companies working in British Columbia. It holds technician certifications (CAN/CGSB-48.9712, SNT-TC-1A, CP-189 and others) with automatic expiry status, controls instrument calibration, dispatches crews to remote sites, captures reports offline and runs quoting through invoicing on one system. Implementation is remote and typically takes 2 to 4 weeks from kickoff, depending on how clean your existing records are. Affordable. Accessible. Fully customizable. Ask for a British Columbia demo.

British Columbia is an awkward province to run an inspection business in. The work is spread across a coastline, an interior plateau and a northeast gas field that are days apart by road, and much of it sits in places with no mobile signal. One week a crew is on a shipyard block in North Vancouver, the next it is at a gas plant north of Fort St. John, and the week after that a technician is on a pulp mill shutdown in the Interior. The paperwork follows them everywhere: certificates, calibration records, permits, timesheets and reports. This page explains what that means for the software you run the business on, what the Atlantis ERP actually does, and what you should ask any vendor before you sign.

The British Columbia inspection market: where the NDT work is

Direct answer: NDT demand in British Columbia comes from five clusters: the Lower Mainland (refining, pipeline terminals, ports and shipbuilding), Vancouver Island (naval and ship repair, pulp and paper), the North Coast (LNG and aluminium), the Northeast (Montney gas production and processing) and the Interior (mining, smelting, forestry and hydro). Each cluster has different clients, codes and paperwork.

Lower Mainland. The Burnaby refinery on Burrard Inlet is the province's main coastal refinery and a regular source of turnaround inspection work. The Trans Mountain pipeline ends at the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, and the expanded system that entered service in 2024 added tankage and loading infrastructure that will need in-service inspection for decades. The Port of Vancouver handles bulk, container and liquid cargo, and its terminals, cranes and storage tanks all need periodic NDT. Seaspan's Vancouver Shipyards in North Vancouver build federal vessels under the National Shipbuilding Strategy, which brings weld inspection to classification-society and government standards. Fabrication shops in Delta, Surrey and Richmond supply all of this, and they run their own MT, PT, UT and VT.

Vancouver Island. CFB Esquimalt is the home of the Royal Canadian Navy's Pacific fleet, and Seaspan Victoria Shipyards operates the Esquimalt Graving Dock for repair and refit work. Pulp mills on the island run digesters, recovery boilers and pressure vessels that need regular thickness surveys and weld inspection.

North Coast. LNG Canada's export terminal at Kitimat shipped its first cargo in 2025, fed by the Coastal GasLink pipeline from the Dawson Creek area. Rio Tinto's aluminium smelter in Kitimat and the Port of Prince Rupert add their own maintenance demand. Work here is often rotational, with crews flying in and staying in camps.

Northeast. The Montney formation around Fort St. John and Dawson Creek is the centre of BC natural gas production, with gas plants, compressor stations, gathering lines and pipelines that need construction and in-service NDT. Site C, BC Hydro's dam on the Peace River, added large steel and penstock fabrication work.

Interior. Prince George has a refinery, pulp mills and a rail and logistics hub. Highland Valley Copper near Logan Lake, the smelter at Trail and many smaller mines run crushers, mills, pressure equipment and structural steel that need inspection. Kamloops, Kelowna and the Okanagan have fabrication, light aerospace and maintenance shops.

For an inspection company, that map means long travel, mixed codes and clients who each want their own document pack. The software problem is not "can we write a report"; it is "can we prove, for any job on any date, that the right certified person used a calibrated instrument under an approved procedure, and can we bill for it correctly".

Who sets the rules for inspection work in British Columbia

Direct answer: Pressure equipment falls under Technical Safety BC and the Safety Standards Act, with CSA B51 as the construction code. Oil and gas pipelines and facilities are regulated by the BC Energy Regulator under the Energy Resource Activities Act, with CSA Z662 for pipelines. Interprovincial pipelines answer to the Canada Energy Regulator, and industrial radiography is licensed federally by the CNSC.

Technical Safety BC administers the Power Engineers, Boiler, Pressure Vessel and Refrigeration Safety Regulation, handles design registration (which leads to the Canadian Registration Number, or CRN) and oversees contractors who install, alter and repair regulated equipment. See our notes on Technical Safety BC compliance, CSA B51 and CRN registration. The boundary matters: equipment used in connection with a pipeline or facility as defined in the Energy Resource Activities Act is largely handled by the BC Energy Regulator rather than Technical Safety BC, so the same inspection company may answer to two provincial regulators in one week.

The BC Energy Regulator requires pipeline permit holders to follow the current edition of CSA Z662. Trans Mountain, as an interprovincial line, is regulated by the Canada Energy Regulator. Industrial radiography in every province is licensed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and exposure device operators must hold CNSC certification; see CNSC compliance for inspection companies. WorkSafeBC enforces the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation on every site you send a crew to.

On the personnel side, the Canadian national scheme for NDT certification is CAN/CGSB-48.9712, the national adoption of ISO 9712. The Canadian General Standards Board, which published the standard, closed on 1 April 2026; CAN/CGSB-48.9712 remains valid, but confirm the current certification body for your technicians' renewals. Many BC employers also run an ASNT SNT-TC-1A written practice for US-owned clients or US-code projects. Fabricators and inspection organisations that work under CSA W47.1 often need CSA W178.1 certification as an inspection organisation and W178.2 certified welding inspectors.

None of this is software certification. What it creates is an evidence trail. An auditor from a client, a regulator or a certification body will pick a job and ask who did the work, what their certification was on that date, which instrument they used, when it was last calibrated, and which procedure revision applied. Your ERP should answer that in minutes.

What operators and EPCs in British Columbia ask NDT vendors for

Direct answer: Before a BC operator or EPC lets your crew on site, expect a prequalification file (safety programme, insurance, often a contractor-management platform such as ISNetworld, Avetta or ComplyWorks), a personnel file showing current certifications, a calibration file for every instrument, and procedures approved by your Level III. During the job they expect daily reports, timesheets and a final report pack.

The pattern repeats across the province. A gas plant in the Montney wants radiography crews whose CNSC certification and dosimetry records are current, and wants to see the source container and vehicle paperwork. A shipyard wants UT and MT technicians certified to the scheme its class society and customer accept, with reports in its own format. A refinery turnaround wants dozens of technicians mobilised on a fixed date, all with valid site orientations, plus a daily record of what was inspected. A pulp mill wants thickness readings and weld inspection reports it can file against its own equipment records.

Each of those requests touches a different part of your business: HR, equipment, quality, operations and accounting. Most small and mid-sized BC inspection firms handle them with a mix of spreadsheets, shared folders, a reporting tool and accounting software. That works until the business grows past a handful of technicians or a client audit lands during a busy month. The Atlantis ERP puts those records in one place and connects them, so a certificate that lapses shows up at dispatch, on the timesheet and in the report, not just in a spreadsheet nobody opened.

What the Atlantis ERP does for British Columbia NDT companies

Direct answer: The Atlantis ERP covers technician certification tracking, NDT equipment and calibration control, crew dispatch, offline field reporting, procedures, quoting, timesheets and invoicing for inspection companies. The table maps typical BC needs to built-in features; anything not listed is configured during implementation.

Each app is described in more detail on the ERP apps page, including certificates, team assignments, asset management and NDT reports. The full product overview is on the Atlantis ERP page.

Certification tracking for CGSB, ASNT and CNSC records

Direct answer: Each technician's certificates are stored as separate records with scheme, level, method, certifying body and dates. A CAN/CGSB-48.9712 certificate is recorded under the ISO 9712 scheme with the certifying body named; SNT-TC-1A and CP-189 certificates sit beside it. CNSC exposure device operator certificates can be recorded the same way so they get the same expiry warnings.

BC inspection firms often carry technicians with more than one certification. A UT technician may hold a CGSB Level 2 certificate for Canadian work and an employer certification under an SNT-TC-1A written practice for a US-owned client. A radiographer needs a CGSB or employer certification for the method and a CNSC certification to operate an exposure device. A welding inspector may also hold CSA W178.2. If those live in different spreadsheets, someone eventually misses a renewal.

In the Atlantis ERP, each certificate record holds the scheme (SNT-TC-1A, CP-189, ISO 9712, PCN, CSWIP or other), the level (trainee, I, II or III), the method, the certifying body, the industry sector, issue, expiry and renewal dates, OJT hours, training hours, whether the exam was passed, and attachments such as the scanned certificate. Status is computed automatically, so nobody has to remember to change it. Vision tests are recorded separately with near vision (Jaeger J1/J2), far vision, colour perception, contrast, examiner, clinic and expiry, because a lapsed eye exam can invalidate an otherwise current certification under many written practices.

The employee's NDT profile pulls this together: technician flag, highest level, methods certified, radiation safety training, radiation badge number and medical fitness expiry. Certificate templates per scheme let you set validity in months, whether a vision test or exam is required, and minimum OJT and training hours. Examination sheets record general, specific and practical scores against a passing score (70% by default, adjustable). If your written practice calls for in-house exams, those results stay with the technician's record.

Company-level certifications, such as your ISO 9001 certificate or CSA W178.1 certification, are tracked the same way with their own alert days, so the company's own paperwork does not lapse during a busy season.

Equipment, calibration and radiography logistics across the province

Direct answer: Every instrument, probe and accessory is tracked by serial number with its assigned person, condition, lifecycle stage and calibration status. Calibration records and certificates carry due dates and expiry alerts, and dispatch warns when someone assigns out-of-calibration equipment. Vehicles can be flagged as able to carry radioactive sources, with transport licence number and expiry.

Equipment in BC spends a lot of time in trucks and on aircraft. A flaw detector goes north on a crew truck, a probe gets damaged in a camp, a thickness gauge comes back from Kitimat missing its cable. The asset management app records each item's equipment type, asset tag, firmware, accessories and lifecycle stage (new, active, in calibration, in repair, rented out, retired or disposed). Issue and return go through supervisor and manager approval with condition recorded both ways, so you know when and where the cable went missing. Reservations stop two crews from booking the same phased array unit for overlapping jobs.

The maintenance log covers preventive and corrective work, repairs, cleaning, firmware updates and probe replacement, with condition before and after. Consumables such as couplant, penetrant, developer, magnetic particles and PPE are tracked with reorder levels and a low-stock flag, which matters when the nearest supplier is hundreds of kilometres from the job. Purchase orders can be linked to a specific equipment serial, and calibration labs can be recorded as vendors with an accredited-lab flag, accreditation number and expiry.

For radiography, the fleet app records vehicle purpose, whether the vehicle can carry radioactive sources, the transport licence number and expiry, and assignment to a project or driver with dates and mileage. The ERP does not replace your CNSC licence conditions or your radiation safety programme; it keeps the dates and documents those programmes depend on in front of the people dispatching crews.

Field operations: remote sites, rotations and offline reporting

Direct answer: Jobs are created as team assignments with site GPS coordinates and mobilisation dates, technicians and equipment are checked for clashes and validity at assignment, and reports are captured in an offline app that syncs when the crew is back in signal. Timesheets separate inspection, travel, standby and setup time for billing.

A typical Northeast BC job runs like this. The office creates a project with the client PO, site, methods, codes, scope and acceptance criteria. The dispatcher creates a team assignment, picks technicians from the availability calendar and assigns equipment by serial number. If a technician is on leave or already booked, the overlap is blocked; if a gauge is out of calibration, the dispatcher gets a warning. The job moves through planned, dispatched and in field. On site, the technician uses the offline field app to pick the method, fill the report, take photos and sign on screen. Drafts and photos stay on the device until it syncs at the hotel or camp.

The report then follows a draft, in progress, review, approved and sent workflow with inspector, reviewer and approver signatures, plus a third-party or authorized inspector name and signature where the client requires one. Seventeen report types are built in, including UT, RT, MT, PT, VT, ECT, IRIS, PAUT, MFL, TOFD, PWHT, PMI, hardness, UT thickness, ferrite, holiday/coating and computed radiography, each with its own numbering sequence. Method-specific data is captured properly: probe calibration tables for UT, source, technique and IQI type and placement for RT, focal laws for PAUT, readings by direction for thickness surveys, and weld or job lines with defect type and orientation.

Timesheets record work type, method, site, client, equipment serial, billable flag and rate multiplier, and go through approval. Standby days at a gas plant waiting for a permit and travel days to Kitimat are recorded as what they are, which makes the invoice easier to defend. Field expenses and per diems go through the expenses app and can be re-billed to the job.

Compliance, reporting and data questions in British Columbia

Direct answer: The ERP holds the evidence auditors ask for: certificate status on the job date, calibration records, approved procedure revisions, signed reports and approved timesheets. It does not certify you to any standard. Hosting location, data residency and privacy questions for BC public-sector or Crown corporation clients are discussed during scoping.

Procedures live in a register with document number, revision, method, scope, material, applicable standard (for example ASME Section V or a CSA standard), acceptance criteria and body text or an uploaded file. They go through draft, submitted, reviewed, approved and published stages, with rejection reasons and approver reminders, and approved revisions are locked with a full revision history. An AI-assisted first draft is available, but your Level III still reviews and approves it. If you need outside Level III help with procedures or a written practice, see NDT consulting in Vancouver or NDT consulting across Canada.

Non-conformance and corrective action (NCR/CAPA) workflows can be set up during implementation to match your quality manual. Taxes, including GST and PST on BC invoices, are configured during implementation; the ERP is not presented as certified tax software, and your accountant should confirm the setup.

What the ERP does not do is also worth stating. It does not perform risk-based inspection or fitness-for-service assessments, it does not calculate API 510, 570 or 653 inspection intervals or corrosion rates, and it does not hold TML or CML databases for a client's plant. Those belong in the owner's inspection data management system. The Atlantis ERP runs the inspection company's side: people, equipment, jobs, reports and money. If you want inspection data shown on a 3D model, look at Digital Twin Reporting and Atlantis Digital Twins.

Implementation for a British Columbia inspection company

Direct answer: Implementation is remote and typically takes 2 to 4 weeks from kickoff; it depends on how clean your existing records are. The work is mainly loading technicians and certificates, equipment and calibration records, procedures, clients and report templates, then training your office and field staff.

The first step is a scoping call: how many technicians, which methods, which certification schemes, which clients need their own report formats, and what accounting system you run now. Then your data is collected. Certificates, calibration certificates and equipment lists are usually the slowest part, because they are spread across spreadsheets, email and paper files. A firm with one tidy spreadsheet per area moves quickly; a firm whose records live in several people's inboxes takes longer, and the timeline reflects that.

Configuration covers certificate templates per scheme, alert recipients and look-ahead days, report templates with your logo and each key client's format, invoice layout and taxes, and any NCR/CAPA workflow. Office staff are trained on dispatch, quoting and invoicing; technicians are trained on the offline field app, which is usually the quickest part because it follows the report forms they already know. Because everything is remote, the time difference does not matter and nobody has to fly to Vancouver or Fort St. John.

Integrations with SAP, Maximo, NetSuite and QuickBooks

Direct answer: The Atlantis ERP has an open REST API and can integrate with SAP, Maximo, NetSuite, QuickBooks or any system that accepts API connections. Integrations are scoped per implementation, so the exact data that moves in each direction is agreed during scoping.

Large BC operators often run SAP or Maximo for their own work management. Your ERP does not replace that; it runs your side of the contract. Common requests are pushing completed report data or job status to the client's system, pulling work orders in, or passing invoices to your existing accounting package if you want to keep it. The field-device REST API also handles jobs assigned to a technician, equipment issued to them, report submission and sync. Integration effort depends on what the other system exposes, so it is quoted on request with the rest of the implementation.

Spreadsheets vs generic ERP vs Atlantis ERP

Direct answer: Spreadsheets cost nothing to start but do not connect certificates, equipment, jobs and invoices. Generic ERP handles money and stock well but has no NDT-specific certificate, calibration or report logic. The Atlantis ERP is configured for NDT work from the start and customized to your company.

If you are comparing dedicated NDT software, the NDT software comparison and the inspection software comparison lay out what to check.

Atlantis ERP across British Columbia cities

Direct answer: Atlantis supports inspection companies anywhere in British Columbia remotely; there is no Atlantis office in the province. City pages cover local detail for Vancouver and Prince George, and related Atlantis services are listed below.

• NDT ERP in Vancouver: refinery, port, pipeline terminal and shipyard work around Burrard Inlet and the Fraser River.
• NDT reporting software in Vancouver and digital twins in Vancouver.
• Practical NDT simulator in British Columbia, Vancouver and Prince George for technician practice.
• NDT training in Vancouver (ASNT SNT-TC-1A based, online or onsite at your facility).
• Neighbouring provinces: NDT ERP in Alberta, plus Ontario for national firms.

Firms in Fort St. John, Dawson Creek, Kitimat, Prince Rupert, Kamloops, Kelowna, Trail, Nanaimo and Victoria are set up the same way, remotely. Talk to us about a BC setup.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best ERP for an NDT company in British Columbia?

The best fit is one that tracks certifications, calibration, dispatch, reports and invoicing together and handles remote, offline sites. The Atlantis ERP is built for NDT and inspection companies and customized to each firm; compare it on those points against any alternative.

Can it track CAN/CGSB-48.9712 certificates?

Yes. CGSB certificates are recorded under the ISO 9712 scheme with the certifying body named, alongside SNT-TC-1A, CP-189, PCN, CSWIP and other certificates, each with its own expiry status.

Is CAN/CGSB-48.9712 still valid after the CGSB closure?

Yes. The Canadian General Standards Board, the standards publisher, closed on 1 April 2026, but CAN/CGSB-48.9712 remains the national certification scheme. Confirm the current certification body for renewals; the ERP records whichever body issued each certificate.

Does it work at gas plants and camps with no signal?

Yes. The field app is an installable web app that stores drafts and photos locally and syncs when a connection is available.

Can it hold CNSC exposure device operator certification?

Yes, as a certificate record with its expiry date, so it gets the same expiring-soon and expired status and alerts. The employee profile also records radiation safety training and radiation badge number.

How long does implementation take?

Typically 2 to 4 weeks from kickoff, depending on how clean your existing records are. It is done remotely.

Does it calculate inspection intervals or corrosion rates?

No. The ERP does not do RBI, fitness-for-service, API 510/570/653 interval or corrosion-rate calculation, or TML/CML databases. It runs the inspection company's operations.

Can it connect to a client's SAP or Maximo?

Yes, through the open REST API. SAP, Maximo, NetSuite, QuickBooks and similar integrations are scoped per implementation.

Does it support shipyard reports for class societies?

Yes. Marine mode adds a vessel cover page and merges the class-society certificate, the inspector's Level II certificate and the calibration certificate into the report PDF.

Can we keep our data in Canada?

Hosting location and data residency are discussed during scoping, along with any privacy requirements your clients put in their contracts.

How much does the ERP cost in British Columbia?

Pricing depends on users, apps and integration scope. Quotes are given on request after a scoping call.

Get a British Columbia NDT ERP demo

Whether you run a radiography crew in the Montney, a UT and MT team on shipyard blocks in North Vancouver or a mixed-method service company covering Interior mills and mines, the question is the same: can you show any client, on any job, who did the work, what they were certified for, what they used and what you billed? Book a demo with your own job types, or ask for a quote for your company. Affordable. Accessible. Fully customizable.

More Atlantis NDT services in British Columbia

• NDT training and certification in British Columbia
• Level III consulting in British Columbia
• Practical NDT simulator in British Columbia