Certificate Revision and Cancellation in TBDS: What Laboratories Should Watch For

The TÜRKAK Document Verification System (TBDS) is used to verify documents issued by accredited laboratories in Türkiye. When a certificate is registered in TBDS it gets a TBDS number and a verification link, which customers and third parties use to check its validity. We explained what TBDS is in What Is TBDS?; this article focuses on the two steps that cause the most trouble in daily work: revision and cancellation.

A certificate's path in TBDS

A certificate is first registered in TBDS as a draft and receives its number. Before it is completed and sent to the customer it is activated, and a QR code with the verification link and the TBDS number is printed on it. Revision or cancellation may follow. Each step requires the laboratory's own record and the TBDS record to stay in line.

Before requesting a number: scope checks

TBDS registration is for work within the accreditation scope. No number should be requested for a device outside the scope, for work sent to a contracted laboratory or for a record found nonconforming. Requesting a second number for the same device also creates confusion that is hard to clean up later. Not leaving these checks to the user's attention is the safest way to prevent errors.

Forgotten drafts

Jobs that have a number but are not finished can pile up. Listing certificates still in draft, reminding the responsible people and following up the activation of completed ones prevents the situation "sent to the customer but not active in TBDS".

Revision: keep the reason and the trail

When an active certificate in TBDS needs a correction, a new version is published. Points to watch:

• Write the reason: it is reported to TBDS and ready when someone asks later.
• Keep the revision number and date: there should be no doubt about which version is valid.
• Keep old and new linked: the new version should be stored linked to the previous one, and the old version should show as invalid when verified.
• Do not send without confirmation: revising an active record cannot be undone; the user should see what will happen and confirm.

Cancellation: keep the two systems together

For cancellation, one of the reasons defined by TBDS is selected; examples include a detected nonconformity, publication by mistake, incorrect data entry, customer or contract reasons and a TÜRKAK request. The most common mistake is cancelling the record in the laboratory's own system while leaving it active in TBDS. The safe approach is to cancel in TBDS first and not to cancel the local record if TBDS rejects the cancellation.

Errors and synchronisation

Because an external system is involved, connection problems and error messages from TBDS are normal. Showing errors clearly, allowing records to be resent and synchronising the local record with its status in TBDS keep the two systems from drifting apart.

TBDS in KALDATA

KALDATA handles TBDS within the certificate's own workflow: draft and number, QR code, activation, revision and cancellation with a reason. The software performs the scope and duplicate checks, drafts are reminded, TBDS errors are shown clearly and records can be synchronised with their status at TÜRKAK. Field teams can request numbers with the same rules from the KalData Saha mobile app.