Due to the serious consequences of external corrosion and leaks in underground pipelines, external corrosion direct assessment, as described in AMPP SP0502, was developed to proactively prevent external corrosion and ensure the integrity of oil and gas pipelines that are difficult to pig. This standard requires a minimum of two indirect inspections to confirm the most susceptible locations on a pipeline for external corrosion to occur. Cathodic protection, coating and soil resistivity are collected during the indirect inspection process to help classify and prioritize anomalies for direct examination. This is also applicable during stress corrosion cracking direct assessment, where indirect inspection data are supplemented with other data to help pinpoint susceptible locations. All these techniques are not capable of identifying external metal loss or external stress corrosion cracks from aboveground; the pipeline must be exposed for the defects to be evaluated. The invention of the non-contact magnetic gradient tomography method has elevated DA protocols. This technology can use magnetic field strength from aboveground to identify external metal loss, cracks, dents, etc. This paper presents process improvements and real-life case studies demonstrating the benefits of this technology on non-piggable pipelines.