NDT Management Software (NDT ERP): Certificates, Calibration, Dispatch, Reports and Invoices

What is an NDT ERP?

An NDT ERP is business software built around how a nondestructive testing company actually earns money: certified technicians, calibrated instruments, approved procedures and signed reports, all tied to a job and an invoice. A generic ERP handles sales, stock and accounting. An NDT ERP adds the qualification, equipment and reporting records that an auditor, a client QA/QC manager or a Level III will ask to see.

The Atlantis ERP solution is a fully customized ERP for NDT and inspection companies, set up and supported by Atlantis NDT, whose founder is an ASNT NDT Level III. If you run an inspection contractor on the Gulf Coast, in the Permian, around Edmonton's Industrial Heartland or in Sarnia, you already know the usual setup: accounting software for invoices, a certification spreadsheet someone updates when they remember, a calibration binder, a whiteboard for crews, and a shared drive full of Word report templates. Each piece works on its own. The trouble starts where they meet. A technician goes to site with a lapsed eye exam. A UT set goes out a week past its calibration due date. An invoice leaves the office without the standby day the client agreed to pay. An NDT ERP exists to close those gaps by putting the job, the people, the equipment and the paperwork in one connected record.

ERP for NDT companies: why a generic ERP fails

A generic ERP fails an NDT company because it treats a technician as a generic employee, an instrument as a generic stock item and a report as a generic attachment. None of those assumptions hold in inspection work, and patching them with custom fields after go-live is where most ERP projects in this industry stall.

Take an ordinary request. A fabrication shop near Houston needs two Level II UT technicians and a Level II RT crew for a week of weld inspection to ASME Section V, with the client's inspector witnessing. To staff and bill that job properly, the system has to know:

• Which technicians hold a current Level II in UT and RT under your written practice, and whose vision test is still in date.
• Which flaw detectors and probes stay in calibration through the end of the job, and which are already reserved for another crew.
• Which approved procedure revision applies, and which acceptance criteria go on the report.
• How the client pays: by technician level, by day or shift, with overtime, standby and travel handled separately, plus equipment and consumables.

A generic ERP knows none of this out of the box. You either pay for months of consulting to build it, or you keep running the real business in spreadsheets next to the ERP, which defeats the reason you bought one. An ERP for NDT companies should arrive already understanding methods, levels, calibration and signed reports, so implementation time goes into your specifics rather than the basics of the trade.

Certificates versus the written practice

Under ASNT SNT-TC-1A, the employer's written practice governs qualification and certification; the certificate on file is evidence that the written practice was followed. So an NDT ERP has to store more than an expiry date. It has to hold the pieces an auditor checks against the written practice.

In the Atlantis ERP, each technician certification records 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, issue, expiry and renewal dates, industry sector, OJT hours, training hours, whether the exam was passed, and the supporting attachments. Examination sheets hold general, specific and practical scores against a passing score. Vision tests are tracked on their own: near vision (Jaeger J1 or J2), far vision, colour perception and contrast, with the examiner, clinic, certificate file and expiry date.

Certificate templates per scheme set the validity in months, whether a vision test or exam is required, and the minimum OJT and training hours, so the rules in your written practice show up in the records instead of living only in a binder. Status is computed automatically as active, expiring soon (within 90 days), expired or revoked. Daily checks create warning tasks 90 days before a certificate or vision test runs out, and timesheets warn when a technician books time without a valid certificate. For Canadian companies whose technicians hold NRCan certification to CAN/CGSB-48.9712 (Canada's adoption of ISO 9712) alongside an employer-based certification, both sit on the same technician record. See the Certificates app for the full field list.

Method-specific NDT reports, not one generic form

NDT reports differ by method, and a single generic inspection form throws away the data a reviewer needs. A UT report without the probe calibration table, or an RT report without the IQI type and placement, will come back from the client.

The Atlantis ERP ships 17 report types: 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. UT carries a probe calibration table; RT records source, technique, IQI type and placement; MT records technique and particle type; PT records method and developer; PAUT records focal laws; MFL records scan mode and item lines; UT thickness records readings by direction. Weld and job lines capture defect type and orientation, and every report ends with an overall result: acceptable, not acceptable, or acceptable with remarks.

Reports move through draft, in progress, review, approved and sent, with inspector, reviewer and approver signatures plus a third-party or authorized inspector name and signature. Work order, request, WPS, contract, drawing, procedure and standard references are captured on the report. Your own versioned templates in Excel, Word, PDF or HTML carry your logo, header and footer, and Excel templates are filled automatically by mapping fields to cells. Details are on the NDT Reports app page and the Digital Twin Reporting Software page.

Calibration management inside the ERP

Calibration belongs in the same system as dispatch, because the moment it matters is when equipment is being assigned to a job. The Atlantis ERP tracks every instrument and probe by serial number, with equipment type, assigned person, condition, asset tag, firmware, accessories and a lifecycle status: new, active, in calibration, in repair, rented out, retired or disposed.

Calibration records hold the provider, certificate number, standard, range, uncertainty, whether the lab is accredited, the result (pass, fail or conditional) and the next due date. A calibration certificate register holds the lab accreditation number, the PDF and a valid, expiring or expired status, with expiry alerts. Equipment is issued and returned through a workflow with supervisor and manager approval and condition recorded at both ends. Reservations prevent two crews from claiming the same serial number, and when someone assigns an out-of-calibration instrument to a job, the system warns them before the crew leaves the yard. Consumables such as couplant, penetrant, developer, magnetic particles and PPE have reorder levels and low-stock flags. The Asset Management app covers the rest, including a maintenance log for firmware updates, probe replacement and repairs.

Crews, scheduling and dispatch

Crew scheduling in NDT is a matching problem: the right method, the right level, a valid certificate, available dates and calibrated equipment, all at once. The Atlantis ERP handles this with team assignments that move from planned to dispatched, in field, submitted and closed.

Each assignment holds the site GPS coordinates and mobilisation and demobilisation dates. A technician availability calendar marks people as assigned, on leave, in training, sick or unavailable, and overlaps are blocked. Double-booking of a technician or of an equipment serial number is blocked too. For each technician you can see status, current assignment, utilisation and next available date, in calendar, kanban and list views. Radiography companies get fields that matter to them: radiation safety training and radiation badge number on the employee profile, and in the Fleet app, whether a vehicle can carry radioactive sources, plus its transport licence number and expiry. The day-to-day screens are described on the Team Assignments app page.

Quoting by technician level and day structure

NDT quotes are rarely a single line. They are usually built from labour by technician level, charged by the day, shift or hour, with separate treatment for overtime, standby, travel and mobilisation, then equipment charges, consumables and sometimes per diem and accommodation. Clients in refining and petrochemicals often want the quote to name the applicable codes and the methods in scope.

The Atlantis ERP quotation carries job type, site, project dates and applicable codes, with NDT service products flagged by method and category so a Level II UT day and a Level III review hour are separate, reportable items. A global discount can be applied, the quotation PDF is branded to your company, and clients can accept and sign online, after which the quote converts to a sales order and the job can be set up. Your own charging structure, whatever it is, is loaded as service products during implementation. More on the Quotations app page.

Invoicing straight from timesheets

The most common leak in an NDT business is billable time that never reaches the invoice: standby hours, travel days and setup time noted on a paper ticket and lost. The fix is to invoice from approved timesheets rather than from memory.

Timesheets in the Atlantis ERP record work type (inspection, travel, standby or setup), method, a billable flag, a rate multiplier for overtime or weekend work, site, client, equipment serial and approval. Approved billable hours feed billing. The invoice header carries the NDT project, job or PO number, site, invoice type and industry sector, with subtotals for labour, equipment and consumables. Invoice lines show cost centre, method, equipment serial, technician, rate type and days or hours, which is the level of detail refinery and EPC accounts payable teams tend to ask for. Field expenses and per diems can be re-billed to the job through Expenses. Taxes such as US state sales tax or Canadian GST/HST and PST are configured per country during implementation. A financial dashboard shows revenue, cost of sales, gross margin, operating expenses, EBITDA, outstanding invoices, bills and expenses across a 12-month view. See the Invoicing app and Timesheets app.

ERP for inspection companies, not only NDT shops

Many North American inspection companies do more than the classic five methods. They send out PMI crews, hardness testers, PWHT technicians, ferrite and holiday testing, and advanced UT. An ERP for inspection companies has to report all of those, not just UT and RT.

Because PWHT, PMI, hardness, ferrite, holiday/coating and computed radiography are built-in report types, a mixed inspection contractor can run every service line through the same job, timesheet and invoice flow. Marine inspection companies, including those working for ABS-classed vessels along the Gulf Coast, can use marine mode: a vessel cover page and photo, inspection location and dates, and a PDF that merges the classification-society certificate, the inspector's Level II certificate and the calibration certificate, with inspection photos in a two-up grid. Company-level certifications and accreditations are tracked with their own alert days, so the ISO certificate your clients request at prequalification is never the one that lapsed last month.

Affordable ERP for small inspection companies

An affordable ERP for small inspection companies is one where you pay for the NDT scope you actually use, not for a blank platform and a long consulting project. The Atlantis ERP is quoted on request, based on the apps and customization you need.

In concrete terms, affordability comes from four places. First, the NDT pieces already exist, so implementation time is spent loading your technicians, equipment, templates and charging structure rather than inventing a certificate module. Second, one system replaces several separate tools: a certification tracker, a calibration tracker, a reporting package, a scheduling board and a quoting spreadsheet. Third, you can start with the apps a small shop needs most, typically Certificates, Asset Management, NDT Reports, Timesheets and Invoicing, and add CRM, Purchase or eLearning later. Fourth, the AI features for marketing emails can run on a model hosted on your own server, so you are not forced into a separate AI subscription. We do not publish pricing; ask for a quote for your company size and scope.

Customizable ERP for NDT: what customizable actually means

A customizable ERP for NDT should bend to your written practice, your report formats and your clients, not the other way round. Here is what that means in practice with the Atlantis ERP:

• Your report layouts. Upload your existing Excel, Word, PDF or HTML templates; Excel fields are mapped to cells so reports look exactly as your clients already receive them.
• Your written practice. Certificate templates per scheme hold validity periods, vision and exam requirements and minimum OJT and training hours.
• Your procedures. The procedure register runs draft, submitted, reviewed, approved and published with locked approved revisions and full history, and can produce an AI-assisted first draft that a Level III reviews and approves.
• Your commercial structure. Service products, quotation and invoice layouts, cost centres and tax setup are configured to how you bill.
• Your other systems. An open REST API connects to QuickBooks, NetSuite, SAP, Maximo or any system that accepts API connections, scoped per implementation.
• Apps that do not exist yet. If a workflow is specific to your company, custom apps are built on request; see custom apps.

Spreadsheets vs generic ERP vs Atlantis NDT ERP

How an Atlantis ERP implementation runs

1. Discovery call. We walk through your methods, written practice, report formats, charging structure and current tools.
2. Scope and quote. You receive a scope listing the apps, templates, integrations and any custom work, with a quote.
3. Data load. Technicians, certificates, vision tests, equipment, calibration certificates, procedures, clients and service products are imported.
4. Template setup. Your report, quotation and invoice layouts are configured and checked against real past jobs.
5. Deployment and hosting. The deployment location is agreed during implementation.
6. Training and go-live. Office staff, supervisors and field technicians are shown their screens, including the offline field app, and Atlantis NDT supports you after go-live.

If you want to see it with your own data types, book an NDT ERP demo.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best ERP for NDT companies?

The best ERP for an NDT company is one that already understands technician certification, calibration, crew dispatch and method-specific reports, so you are not building them from scratch. The Atlantis ERP solution was designed for exactly that and is customized to each company during implementation.

Can a small NDT company with a handful of technicians use the Atlantis ERP?

Yes. Small companies usually start with Certificates, Asset Management, NDT Reports, Timesheets and Invoicing, then add apps as they grow. Pricing is by quote on request based on scope.

Does the ERP replace our SNT-TC-1A written practice?

No. Your written practice stays your governing document. The ERP records the evidence that it is being followed: levels, methods, hours, exam scores, vision tests and expiry dates, with warnings before anything lapses.

Can it record ISO 9712, PCN or CSWIP certificates as well as SNT-TC-1A?

Yes. Technician certifications can be recorded under SNT-TC-1A, CP-189, ISO 9712, PCN, CSWIP or other schemes, which suits Canadian technicians certified to CAN/CGSB-48.9712 and crews that work internationally.

Will it connect to QuickBooks or our client's system?

The Atlantis ERP has an open REST API and integrates with QuickBooks, NetSuite, SAP, Maximo or any system that accepts API connections. Each integration is scoped per implementation.

Can technicians write reports without cell signal?

Yes. The installable field app works offline, stores drafts and photos on the device, and syncs when a connection is available, with method picker, photo capture, on-screen signature and PDF preview.

How do we get a quote?

Tell us your methods, headcount and current tools and we will scope it. Request a scoped quote for the Atlantis NDT ERP.