NDT Pilot vs. spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are flexible, free, and familiar, which is exactly why inspection companies start with them and then hit their limits: no statuses with meaning, no controlled release, no audit trail, and connections held together by whoever built the files.
| Criteria | NDT Pilot | Spreadsheets |
|---|---|---|
| Connected customer, site, asset, and inspection records | Available | Manual re-entry across files |
| Work-request lifecycle | Available | Ad-hoc status columns |
| Scheduling and dispatch | Available Date-based assignment with qualification visibility; visual calendar planned | Manual |
| Field usability | Partially available Browser-based technician portal; photos and offline are planned | Not designed for field use |
| Qualification visibility | Available Register with levels, methods, expiry; auto alerts planned | Manual tracking |
| Equipment and calibration tracking | Available Due dates and certificates; auto alerts planned | Manual tracking |
| Evidence traceability | Partially available Linked records today; per-reading photos planned | Folder conventions |
| Technical review workflow | Available | Email chains |
| Report approval | Available Recorded typed signature with reviewer and dates | Implied by sending |
| Revision control | Available Status lifecycle, superseded documents retained | Version confusion |
| Customer access | Partially available Scoped portal live; external accounts in current release | Email attachments |
| Quotation management | Available | Separate files |
| Invoicing | Available Status tracking; payment processing not included | Separate spreadsheets |
| Audit history | Available | None |
| Implementation requirements | Guided onboarding Scope-dependent, see Implementation | None, but fragile at scale |
Spreadsheets: genuine strengths
- Total flexibility in structure, every team shapes its own file
- No cost and no onboarding
- Instantly familiar to everyone in the office
Spreadsheets: where it strains
- Statuses are ad-hoc text columns with no lifecycle rules
- Version confusion, nobody can prove which copy is the released report
- No review or approval workflow; sign-off is implied by sending the email
- No audit trail, history lives in memories and inboxes
- One person usually owns the structure; when they leave, the system leaves
When spreadsheets is the right choice
Very small teams with low report volume, simple reporting formats, and no external customer delivery expectations.
Migrating from spreadsheets
Your request lists and registers import into NDT Pilot's entities during onboarding; reconciliation with your team happens before production use. You keep any file formats you still need in the governed document library.
See the onboarding processFrequently asked questions
Alternatives are described generically; no named competitor claims are made. Validate any platform against your own requirements. See also the main comparison and the permissions documentation.
Bring your current tools to a demonstration
We will map your existing process onto NDT Pilot honestly, including where staying with your current tool makes sense.
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