What Is TBDS? TÜRKAK Document Verification System Explained

TBDS is one of the abbreviations that people working in accredited laboratories in Türkiye come across often. Being able to verify an issued document means trust, both for the laboratory and for the customer who receives it. On the other hand, the operations behind that trust add new steps to the daily workflow and become error-prone when they are tracked by hand. The topic matters most to calibration laboratories that handle a large number of instruments. In this article we explain what TBDS is, how it shows up in everyday laboratory work, and how software with TBDS integration prevents the typical mistakes.

What is TBDS?

TBDS is the Document Verification System of TÜRKAK, the Turkish Accreditation Agency. It allows documents issued by accredited organisations to be verified through this system. For a calibration laboratory, this means that an issued certificate is associated with a record in TBDS. For the rules of the system and current details of its application, TÜRKAK's own announcements should always be taken as the reference. This article does not aim to interpret regulations, but to look at the practical consequences for the laboratory's daily routine.

How it affects daily laboratory work

Working with TBDS adds a few steps to the certificate process. In broad terms, the steps are as follows.

• The instrument and customer details are reported and a number is obtained for the record.
• When the certificate is completed, the related record is activated in TBDS.
• If the certificate needs to change later, a revision is reported.
• If the certificate is no longer valid, a cancellation is reported.

On days with only a few instruments these steps are easy to follow. As the number of instruments grows, it becomes harder to remember which record is at which stage, and many laboratories start keeping a separate tracking list. That list then becomes one more record that has to be kept up to date.

Typical errors in manual tracking

When these operations are carried out by hand, separately from the laboratory's main records, certain mistakes keep coming back.

• Number assigned to the wrong instrument: Rows get mixed up between instruments with similar names or from the same customer, and the number ends up on another instrument's record.
• Duplicate request: A second request is created, unnoticed, for an instrument that already has a number, raising the question of which number is valid.
• Forgotten activation: The certificate is completed and delivered to the customer, but activating the record is skipped on a busy day and the record stays pending.
• Revision confusion: After a certificate is revised, it is unclear which version is valid and whether the notification has been made.

What these errors have in common is that they are usually noticed after the work is finished, sometimes only when the customer tries to verify the document. An error found late means more correction work and more correspondence with the customer.

How software integration prevents these errors

Calibration software with TBDS integration lets you carry out these operations from within the certificate workflow. KALDATA Calibration Laboratory Management Software is integrated with TÜRKAK TBDS, so obtaining a number, activation, revision and cancellation notifications are all done inside the software. The real gain is that these operations come with checks that prevent user errors.

• The action button appears only on eligible records. No request is made for records outside the accreditation scope or for records that already have a number.
• The same number cannot be given to two different instruments.
• The user is asked to confirm before the operation. Revising an active certificate requires a separate confirmation, and a reason must be given for a cancellation.
• If TBDS rejects a request, the record in the software does not change either, so the two sides do not drift apart.

What these checks have in common is that they stop an error from happening in the first place instead of correcting it afterwards. Even if a user tries to start an operation on the wrong record, the software leaves no room for it.

Reminders for records that are coming due

Forgotten activation is a common result of manual tracking. KALDATA sends reminder e-mails for TBDS records that are coming due and offers automatic activation. Records that might be overlooked in busy periods are no longer left to someone's memory. The responsible staff learn what is pending without having to search for it. For a laboratory manager, this means follow-up no longer depends on one person's attention.

TBDS operations in the field

For teams performing on-site calibration, waiting to get back to the office can cause delays. The KalData Saha mobile app uses status badges in the instrument list to show which instruments already have a number and which are still waiting. Several instruments can be selected to obtain numbers in bulk, confirmation is requested before irreversible operations, and a second request for an instrument that already has a number is blocked. The screen is locked while an operation is in progress, the list refreshes by itself until the number arrives, and explicit confirmation is required for operations such as number transfer and revision. Because the mobile app uses the same rules as the web software, the result is the same in the office and in the field.

Conclusion

TBDS is a system that makes documents verifiable, and it brings steps into the laboratory workflow that need regular follow-up. When these steps are handled by hand, the risk of error increases. When the calibration software works in integration with TBDS, the checks become a natural part of the job. For details, see KALDATA Calibration Laboratory Management Software and the KalData Saha mobile app. If you would like to see TBDS operations on your own workflow, you are welcome to request a demo.