NDT Inspection Management ERP in Illinois — Certification, Calibration and Work Orders in One System

NDT software for inspection contractors across Illinois

Short answer: an Illinois NDT contractor needs one system that can mobilise a turnaround crew to a refinery, keep a nuclear outage team's qualifications current, run the fabrication shop work in between, and bill all of it accurately. The Atlantis ERP solution is an NDT ERP configured to do that around your written practice, your equipment and your customers. Affordable, accessible, fully customizable, with a quote on request.

Illinois concentrates several demanding inspection markets in one state. Four large refineries run here: ExxonMobil at Joliet, CITGO at Lemont, Marathon at Robinson and the Wood River refinery near the Mississippi. Constellation operates six nuclear plant sites (Braidwood, Byron, Clinton, Dresden, LaSalle and Quad Cities), which gives Illinois one of the largest nuclear fleets of any state. Around those sit chemical and grain-processing plants, steel, heavy-equipment manufacturing in Peoria and the Quad Cities, rail and barge infrastructure, and a dense fabrication base across the Chicago region.

The overview above lists those industries. This section is about running the inspection business behind them: turnaround and outage mobilisation, certification across schemes, boiler and repair documentation, tube and tank methods, calibration, procedures and billing.

Crew dispatch software for refinery turnarounds

Short answer: every job runs as a team assignment that moves from planned to dispatched, in field, submitted and closed, with site GPS coordinates and mobilisation and demobilisation dates. The system blocks double-booking of technicians and of equipment serial numbers, and warns when an out-of-calibration instrument is assigned.

Turnarounds compress months of inspection into a few weeks and pull every available technician into one site. The planning problem is knowing, weeks ahead, who is free, who is qualified for which method and level, and which kits are calibrated and available. The technician availability calendar records assigned, leave, training, sick and unavailable days and blocks overlaps. Approved Time Off feeds it automatically. For each technician you see status, current assignment, utilisation percentage and next available date, so you can plan the Joliet crew without taking people off a committed Wood River job by mistake.

Once the crew is on site, the offline field app keeps reports moving even where plant networks and phone signal are unavailable. Drafts and photos are stored on the device, signatures are captured on screen, and everything syncs when the tablet reconnects. A REST API for field devices shows each technician the jobs assigned to them and the equipment issued to them. Calendar, kanban and list views let the turnaround coordinator, the Level III and accounts all work from the same schedule. The Fleet app records vehicles that can carry radioactive sources, with transport licence numbers and expiries, and assigns them to project and driver. See Team Assignments and Fleet.

Nuclear outage work: CP-189 and SNT-TC-1A on the same technician

Short answer: ASNT CP-189 is a built-in scheme in the certificate register alongside SNT-TC-1A, ISO 9712, PCN and CSWIP. A technician qualified for nuclear and conventional work holds both sets of certificates on one record, each with its own level, method, dates and computed status.

With six nuclear plant sites in the state, Illinois outage seasons are a regular source of work, and a strict one. Site access coordinators want qualification evidence, vision tests, radiation training and dosimetry details before a technician is processed. The employee NDT profile holds highest level, methods certified, radiation safety training, radiation badge number and medical fitness expiry. Vision tests are recorded with near vision at Jaeger J1 or J2, far vision, colour perception, contrast, examiner, clinic, certificate file and expiry.

Each certificate records scheme, level, method, certifying body, industry sector, issue, expiry and renewal dates, OJT hours, training hours, whether the exam was passed and attachments. Examination sheets hold general, specific and practical scores against the passing score, with the exam files attached. A daily check raises warning tasks 90 days before a certificate or vision test expires, and daily email alerts can go to the people who build outage rosters. Timesheets warn if hours are logged while a certificate is invalid. Company-level certifications, such as ISO certificates and other accreditations the company holds, have their own alert days. See Certificates.

Technician certification tracking software that fits a mixed-scheme workforce

Short answer: certificate templates are set up per scheme, each with validity in months, whether a vision test and exam are required, and minimum OJT and training hours. The rules of your written practice sit in the system, and each certificate is checked against them.

Illinois contractors often employ technicians who have come from different backgrounds: military, nuclear, pipeline, aerospace, or overseas employers. That produces a workforce holding SNT-TC-1A certificates alongside CP-189, ISO 9712, PCN or CSWIP. Recording all of them in one place matters when a customer's pre-qualification asks for specific schemes, or when a Level III needs to see the full history before recertifying someone. The Expiring Soon and Expired menus show where action is needed without anyone filtering a spreadsheet. The Dashboards app adds KPIs such as certificates expiring and expired, equipment calibration due and overdue, and issued equipment overdue for return. See Dashboards.

Boiler, pressure vessel and repair documentation in Illinois

Short answer: the ERP keeps the NDT side of boiler and pressure vessel work documented and retrievable. It does not calculate inspection intervals, corrosion rates or remaining life, and it does not replace the jurisdiction's inspectors.

In Illinois, the Office of the State Fire Marshal's Division of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety regulates construction, installation, operation, inspection and repair of boilers and pressure vessels. The division commissions boiler inspectors, issues permits for repairs and licenses repair firms, and in-service inspections are carried out by state specialists and by insurance-company inspectors. For NDT contractors, that means a steady flow of repair NDT, thickness surveys and weld inspections supporting owners, repair firms and their inspectors.

Each report records work order, request, WPS, contract and drawing numbers along with procedure and standard references. There are fields for the third-party or authorised inspector's name and signature, alongside the inspector, reviewer and approver signatures captured through the workflow from draft to in progress, review, approved and sent. UT thickness reports record readings by direction. PWHT reports document heat treatment on repairs, and hardness reports record post-weld checks. The overall result on every report is acceptable, not acceptable or acceptable with remarks. See NDT Reports. Owners who want inspection services for API 510, 570 or 653 programmes can see Atlantis inspection services.

NDT reporting software for tubes, tanks and piping

Short answer: the 17 report types include IRIS, eddy current, MFL, PAUT, TOFD and UT thickness, alongside UT, RT, MT, PT, VT, PWHT, PMI, hardness, ferrite, holiday/coating and computed radiography. Each has its own numbering sequence and method-specific fields.

Refinery and chemical turnarounds in Illinois generate large volumes of tube and tank work. Heat-exchanger bundles are tested with IRIS or eddy current. Tank floors are scanned with MFL, whose reports carry scan mode and item lines. Pressure welds go to PAUT, with focal laws recorded, or TOFD. Alloy verification during turnarounds runs through PMI reports, and ferrite reports cover duplex and stainless welds. Holiday reports document coating checks on tank linings and buried pipe.

Customers often want their own forms. Versioned company templates in Excel, Word, PDF or HTML carry your logo, header and footer, and Excel templates are filled automatically by mapping fields to cells, so a refinery's tube-inspection summary sheet is generated straight from the data rather than retyped. Photos, signatures and the PDF output per method are produced from the same record. Plant owners who want to see thickness trends and indications on a 3D model can pair the reports with Atlantis Digital Twins, and the companion Digital Twin Reporting Software covers model-linked reporting.

Calibration management software for turnaround-scale equipment pools

Short answer: every instrument, probe and piece of source-related equipment is tracked by serial number with calibration frequency and status, assignee, condition, firmware, accessories and lifecycle state. Calibration records hold provider, certificate number, standard, range, uncertainty, accredited-lab flag, result and next due date.

A turnaround can double the number of instruments in the field overnight, including hired kit. Lifecycle states cover new, active, in calibration, in repair, rented out, retired and disposed, and rental rates can be recorded on items you hire out. The issue and return workflow, with supervisor and manager approval, records condition at issue and return. Reservations prevent clashes, and inbound and outbound movements are logged.

The calibration certificate register holds the lab's accreditation number, the certificate PDF, a valid, expiring or expired status and expiry alerts. Purchase orders can be raised to vendors typed as OEM, dealer or calibration lab, with the lab's accreditation number and expiry, and order lines linked to the specific serial. The maintenance log covers preventive and corrective work, repairs, cleaning, firmware updates and probe replacements. Consumables such as couplant, penetrant, developer, magnetic particles and PPE carry reorder levels and a low-stock flag. See Asset Management and Purchase.

Procedure control for multi-client, multi-code work

Short answer: the procedure register holds document number, revision, method, scope, material, applicable standard such as ASME Section V, acceptance criteria, and the procedure text or file. Procedures move through draft, submitted, reviewed, approved and published, approved revisions are locked, and each revision keeps a snapshot.

Illinois contractors often maintain parallel procedures for refinery, nuclear and fabrication customers, each tied to different codes and acceptance criteria. Revision history with prepared, reviewed and approved names and dates lets a Level III show what was in force on any date. Rejected drafts keep the reason. Approvers get email notifications and reminders. An AI-assisted first draft, falling back to a built-in template, speeds up new procedures, but a Level III still reviews and approves before anything is published. See Procedures.

NDT quoting and invoicing software for turnaround and outage billing

Short answer: quotes carry job type, site, project dates and applicable codes, with NDT services as products flagged by method and category, and they convert to sales orders when accepted online. Approved timesheets with billable flags and rate multipliers feed invoices with method, technician, equipment serial and rate type on each line.

Turnaround invoices get disputed when they do not match the customer's PO structure or their own gate records. Timesheets record work type (inspection, travel, standby or setup), method, site, client and equipment serial, and go through approval before billing. Rate multipliers handle overtime, night shift and weekend work. Invoices carry the project, job or PO number, site, invoice type and industry sector, with subtotals for labour, equipment and consumables, and cost centres on each line. Field expenses and per diems come in through Expenses and can be re-billed.

A financial dashboard shows revenue, cost of sales, gross margin, operating expenses, EBITDA, outstanding invoices, bills and expenses over 12 months. Accounting can stay in QuickBooks, NetSuite or SAP through the open REST API, with the integration scoped during implementation. See turnaround timesheets turn into invoices on your own rate structure.

Spreadsheets vs generic ERP vs Atlantis ERP for Illinois contractors

Short answer: spreadsheets cope until a turnaround or an outage. Generic ERP handles invoices but not qualifications, calibration or method-specific reports. An NDT ERP connects all of them.

Best ERP for small NDT companies in Chicago, Peoria and the Quad Cities

Short answer: small Illinois NDT companies do best starting with certificates, equipment and reports, then adding dispatch, quoting and invoicing. The same system scales from a five-person fabrication inspection shop to a turnaround contractor.

Fabrication inspection around Chicago, heavy-equipment work in Peoria and the Quad Cities, and rail, bridge and barge work along the rivers are dominated by small firms. For them, the questions are practical. Can we stop keeping certificates in a spreadsheet? Can the field app work in a fabrication bay or under a bridge deck? Can our customer's weld inspection form be filled automatically? Can we invoice from timesheets without retyping? The Atlantis ERP answers each of those with built-in features, and anything specific to your process is configured during implementation.

Growth tools are included. The CRM records service line, NDT service type, industry sector, site country and estimated technicians and days on each lead, scores leads 0 to 100, imports leads from CSV and can enrol them in drip email sequences. The Business Cards app turns a photo of a card from a trade show into a CRM lead. See CRM. Book a demo scaled to the size of your company.

Implementation, integration and training for Illinois firms

Short answer: we build your configuration from your written practice, equipment list, procedures and customer templates, migrate existing records, and scope any integrations before work starts.

The open REST API connects the ERP to SAP, Maximo, NetSuite, QuickBooks or any system that accepts API connections, which matters when a refinery or utility customer wants reports delivered into its own maintenance system. User access rights and approval chains are set to mirror your quality system. Taxes are configured for Illinois and any other state you work in during implementation.

For training records, the eLearning portal provides Level I, II and III course sections, protected video lessons, quizzes and completion certificates, with learner accounts managed by your administrators. Atlantis offers NDT training based on SNT-TC-1A through our training programmes, and trainees can practise on the Practical NDT 3D simulator. The ERP records certificates from other schemes but Atlantis does not train for them.

If you run an NDT or inspection company in Illinois, the quickest way to judge fit is to see your own certificates, instruments and a real job in the system. Book a guided walkthrough for your Illinois team, or request a quote scoped to your crew size and apps — quotes are on request and returned within one business day.

Frequently asked questions

Can the ERP support a refinery turnaround crew?

Yes. Team assignments, the availability calendar, double-booking prevention, calibration warnings, the offline field app and timesheet rate multipliers are all built for that kind of surge work.

Does it hold CP-189 certificates for nuclear work?

Yes. CP-189 is a built-in scheme next to SNT-TC-1A, ISO 9712, PCN and CSWIP, and each certificate has its own computed status and 90-day warnings.

Does the ERP calculate inspection intervals or corrosion rates?

No. The ERP does not calculate inspection intervals, corrosion rates or remaining life. It records NDT results, such as UT thickness readings, and keeps reports signed and retrievable.

Can it produce IRIS and MFL reports in our customer's format?

Yes. IRIS and MFL are built-in report types, and Excel templates are filled automatically by mapping fields to cells in the customer's form.

Can it integrate with our customer's maintenance system?

Yes, through the open REST API, which works with SAP, Maximo or any system that accepts API connections. The scope is agreed during implementation.

How is the ERP priced?

Prices are not published. The Atlantis ERP is affordable, accessible and fully customizable, with a written quote on request.