Collision or Convergence? Managing the Intersection of Content and Translation Management Systems

Collision or Convergence?Managing the Intersection of Content and Translation

Management Systems

8 June 2010

Presented in collaboration with …

Gilbane San Francisco 2010“Breaking Down the Silo: Improving Global Content Value

Chains by Collaborating Across Departments

http://multilingual.com/index.php

Research by the Gilbane Group indicates that leading practitioners of content globalization have recognized that standalone, “stovepipe” technologies and processes simply cannot keep pace with prospect and customer demand for relevant content in multiple languages. These companies understand that while content management and translation management systems deliver benefits as standalone technologies, they are reaching – or have reached – the limits of what they can deliver in their own right. What’s more, there is growing recognition that they will deliver exponential impact when they are integrated into a holistic CMS/TMS solution. The business benefits of connecting content repositories with translation management systems include cost reductions through maximized reuse, brand protection through standardized terminology, increased efficiencies through automation, and stronger governance and process improvement through visibility and control.

What is much less clear is how to actually design, deploy, and manage integrated solutions that deliver these benefits to a global enterprise. In this session, experts from different domains related to CMS/TMS integration discuss the key issues and provide guidance and insight that will enable attendees to avoid collision and proactively manage convergence.

Collide or converge?

Content and asset sharing

No

18%

Yes - informal, collaboration

guidelines with manual file

sharing

50%

Yes - formal, governance with

technology-driven workflow

32%

Gilbane Group, Multilingual Product Content:Transforming Traditional Practices Into Global Content Value Chains

Managing CMS/TMS Convergence

Market forces and business drivers

Process Issues

Integration Issues

Benefits to global customers

Getting started and advice

Questions and wrap-up

Experts

Noz UrbinaSenior ConsultantMekon

Sukumar MunshiHead of Key Account ManagementAcross Systems

Fred HollowoodDirector of Research and DeploymentSymantec Corporation

Scope Assumes understanding of content

management and translation management systems

Assumes that the case for integration has been made

A look at one instance of integration . . . There are others

Infrastructures comprise people, process, and technology

Cursory introduction

Market forces and business drivers

Study findings include . . .

“Progress towards

overcoming language

afterthought syndrome.

We see slow but steady

adoption of content

globalization strategies,

practices and infrastructures

that position language

requirements as integral to

end-to-end solutions rather

than as ancillary post-

processes.”


Cost of ancillary post-processes Time to market delays Inefficiencies due to redundant translations Content that should be reusable but isn’t High customer support costs due to mediocre quality of translated

product content Time and money to retrofit translated content to meet regulatory

requirements Maxed out language capability, constrained by non-scalable

globalization infrastructures Inconsistent and out-of-synch multichannel communications Mysterious localization and translation costs

Language afterthought syndrome

A pattern of treating language requirements as secondary

considerations within content strategies and solutions.

Five key investments for 2010

1. Improve quality at the source2. Pilot translation approaches3. Integrate value chain components4. Institute cross-functional processes5. Establish metrics

Target objective: addressing Language Afterthought Syndrome

Gilbane 2010 Heat Map

createlocalize/translate

enrich

manage publish consume

optimize

Cross-functional collaboration

Metrics

Five key investments in content globalization

Global Content Value Chain (GCVC)

Integration on the heat map?

Integration is the key to automation Automation is a “first principle” of eliminating

afterthought syndrome Making language integral to end-to-end-processes

comprising the value chain Content management, translation management solutions,

authoring environments, multichannel publishing, analytics tied to content consumption

Beyond technology integration . . .

Integrate technology and processes across the value chain

Integrate GCVC components

Proven benefits derived from standards-driven component-level management of content destined for delivery in multiple languages

“. . . the added savings and higher quality enabled by coupling DITA content management with translation and terminology management tools. Now our component content strategy enables us to efficiently and flexibly create documentation. . . . Our ability to reuse content reduces time and cost to enter global markets while extending global shelf life.”

-- from the FICO case study

Integrate content through XML-basedreuse across the value chain

Integrate GCVC components

Multilingual multiplier as a glaring example of afterthought syndrome

“Based on qualitative evidence from the research and on Gilbane’s experience in the market, we see that companies are still struggling with desktop publishing in order to meet requirements for page-formatted product content. The multilingual multiplier is again the culprit. It increases the cost of producing formatted output significantly, remaining a major challenge for many organizations.”


Integration of content and language managementsystems with dynamic publishing engines

Why invest in the effort?

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 5 Year TotalCurrent Process Costs

(No XML) $2,153,176 $2,268,621 $2,446,475 $2,664,736 $2,864,164 $8,479,736

Costs with SDL Technology and XML $1,486,524 $1,310,518 $932,887 $996,315 $1,053,671 $5,779,915

Total Savings with SDLTechnology and XML $666,652 $958,102 $1,513,588 $1,668,421 $1,810,493 $6,617,256

NPV $5,098,754

Projected Globalization Costs/ Savingswith SDL Technology and XML

$0

$500,000

$1,000,000

$1,500,000

$2,000,000

$2,500,000

$3,000,000

$3,500,000

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

Current Process Costs(No XML)

Costs with SDL Technologyand XML

Gilbane Group, The FICO Formula for Agile Global Expansion, 2009

Obstacles to sharing

18%

15%

15%

13%

39%

Siloed departmentalinitiatives and processes

Varied perspectives on styleguides; little governance

Department/division specifictechnologies

Converting content from oneformat to another/varied tools

Overall corporate culture


Organizational value

“We implemented structured content authoring, automated

desktop publishing, and interoperability with our content

management system, translation technology, and services.

The result was a savings of over $900 per document and

reduction of translation time by five days.”

Gilbane Group, Multilingual Communications as a BusinessImperative: Why Organizations Need to Optimize Their

Global Content Value Chains

Process issues

~ Founded in 1990 / Started in 2000~ Technology independent~ Specialist in document-centric business

processes~ Supplier of consultancy, system integration,

training and development services~ Global client-base

Mekon (& Noz Urbina) overview

More understanding, Effective solutions

In order to provide an effective solution, one must first understand the problem in the full context of the clients’ business process, problems and future strategy.

Our philosophy

Agenda

~ Collision or convergence:– Thank you!

~ Traditional process types~ Target process types~ Implications

Manual Administration

Traditional Process

File System

DOCUMENT

DOCUMENT

DOCUMENT

DOCUMENT

DOCUMENT

DOCUMENT

UnstructuredAuthoring

Creation-timeFormatting

UnstructuredAuthoring

WWW

Web Formatting

Localisation + Formatting

PrintFormatting



Review

Reuse by

duplicationAccess!

4 product 9 supporting 5 output 5 EU 900 variants document types channels languages outputs

Install Guide

RepairManual

User Guide

TrainingManual

Product Data Sheet

CustomerSupportMaterial

Packaging Product Brochure

ProductRange Catalogue

CD ROM

ExternalWWW

Intranet

Product Platform

Product

VARIANT 1

Product

VARIANT 3

Product

VARIANT 2

Product

VARIANT 4

The Problem - MultiplicityCustomer- or machine-specific?

Addressing the problem

– Use componentized content with metadata, update shared components centrally, and distribute automatically

– Manage version differences by locale or audience– Author content without formatting and apply formatting at publish-time

– Translate only items that have changed, not entire documents or sections– Review with sections or items that have changed highlighted as actually needing new attention

– Finding all changes

– Copy and pasting updates across all versions– Re-Formatting for different output formats (web/print/CD/etc.)

– Re-Translating because it’s unclear exactly which items have been updated

– Repeatedly reviewing the same core content because some parts have changed

~ From pain points to solutions

Optimization: Target ProcessPlan / Write

Check / Manage

CCMS

…in multiple formats

…out to multiple audiences

Oth

er?

Cu

sto

mers

Serv

ices

Ap

plicati

on

s

Use multiple times

DeliveryEngine

SMEs RA/QA

Translate

TMS

…and back again!

Review more smoothly

New!New!

New!New!

New!New!

New!New!

New!New!

New!New!

Implications

~ The business case is a no brainer– Closer to sim-ship + 30% content de-duplication + 70% DTP

savings internally + 100% DTP savings in localisation + less admin & QA costs

~ Without XML the numbers are different, but still compelling

~ Tech is easy, but “process change = cultural change”*– Information architecture, legacy content strategy, topic-based

review, planning writing for reuse, releasing formatting, collaboration…

– Professionally authored content or SME-sourced?– Culture change can only happen so fast

~ Context – can your process deliver it?– Reuse and conditional text (in XML or not) complicates context– Reuse needs controlled terminology, language and style– Costs can initially go up

~ Discussions with RA/QA, Reviewers~ PLM integration

*Emma Hamer, Hamer and Associates

Integration issues

„While the benefits of automation and integration are accepted, many pitfalls remain unknown until you have your first project.“

„Combining both the CMS and the TMS world seems a natural consequence, but the benefit of a CMS feature can be a disadvantage for the TMS based localization process.“

„It is key to understand both the CMS and TMS requirements from a business, process and technology point of view.“

„In the quest of best support for the supply chain and the humans working on it, the authoring, technology and translation stakeholders should talk, ideally before the solution is finally designed.“

• What is the granularity of content that is productive for both authors and translators?

• Where best to integrate the review process?

• How can Auhtoring support translation processes better?

• The authoring side is not designed with translation in mind.

• Reuse benefits are rated higher than the performance and productivity of the complete supply chain

Projections into the intersection CMS/TMS

• How do authoring and translation process interrelate?

• How does a sound end-to-end process look like?

• How should both content creation and translation processes be organized to be mutually beneficial?

• Authoring eats into the translation and therefore the publishing deadlines

• Updates become a challenge even with or because technology is supporting

• Publishing mechanisms are often not shared for process participants

• Has technology been checked wether it its configured best to a harmonic integration?

• Is technology applied to a sufficient degree, not to make the feature of the first the nightmare of the second?

• Technical integrity of the files after translation may evolve into showstopper.

• Insufficient integration creates more work than before, especially with increasing granularity of content.

• Troubleshooting becomes undoable without technology support

Business Processes Technology

Intersection lopic list (non exhaustive) Content granularity (high)

less context Low productivity

Content export for translation Exporting only the „delta“ Metadata: „translate =

yes/no“ Export granularity Context export

Content locking on checkout Publication mechanisms

locked too Authoring impacted

Import requirements: technical validation

Publishing requirements Context, preview

Automation & Integration (types) Cold (import / export file

format) Warm (automated FTP,

watchfolder, catalog files) Hot (API integration) Pre- and postprocessing

Metadata management GUID Routing Translate or not Project status

Integration options More CMS, 3rd party

systems Terminology Authoring Support

Example: CMS translation report / export

Decide what to send See status of translations Tree based selection Automation

Deeper integration – CMS queries TMS

CMS queries TMS Project types Resources Schedules

Settings Delta Send source Send context Test export Localization friendly

formatting

Context On Demand

Conclusions Adoption of an end-to-end view on the supply chain is important get

it right from the start or to adress issues.

Resources productivity depend on the right technology setup on both sides.

Deeper integration between CMS and TMS delivers substantial options for greater productivity, when business, process and technology aspects are taken into cosideration equally.

While an agreed granularity level would be ideal for both authors and translators, the reality is different. Extrawork or automation is needed to reconstruct context or processable units with technology on the translation side.

The needs of the user, source content design and technology options should be weighed against each other and selected with care.

Benefits to global customers

39

Content Across the Enterprise

Fred HollowoodDirector R&D

Localization World Berlin 2010

Connect Customers to the Enterprise

Localization World Berlin 2010 40

Authoring

Customers


• Global– Diverse

– Busy

– Connected

– Educated

– Sophisticated

– Multi-cultural

– Influential

– Promoters/Neutral/Detractors

– Net Promoter Score www.theultimatequestion.com

Authoring

• Influences– Proximity

– Tradition

– Education

• Processes– Custom and practice

• Awareness– Enterprise feedback mechanisms

• Technologies– Authoring, controlled language, CMS, terminology, publishing systems,

PDFs, podcasts, multimedia, posters, events


Translation


• Influences– Globally dispersed

– Tradition

– Education

• Processes– Custom and practice

• Awareness– Enterprise query mechanisms

• Technologies– TM, MT, controlled language, GMS/TMS, terminology, publishing systems,

PDFs, podcasts, multimedia

Publishing

• Influences– Centralised

– Global reach

– Technology

• Processes– Workflow driven

• Awareness– Regional market feedback

• Technologies– Web services, publishing systems, PDFs, podcasts, multimedia, search,


Information System


The newest breed of security risks includes adware and spyware, which can take control of computers without user permission or knowledge. Search (Precision; Recall)

Topics

The newest breed of security risks includes adware and spyware,

which can take control of computers without user permission or

knowledge.

NN NNNNNNAdj VB

Readability/Comprehensibility

metadata

Content models

Example Content model – Administrator’s Guide


Purpose (Administrator’s Guide) Deliverable structure (Book)• Provides users who are

responsible for the network, or specific areas of network security, with enough information to configure the solution, optimize performance, perform key tasks, and maintain the Solution

• Serves as a companion to an Installation Guide

• Contains the portion of an Implementation Guide that remains after installation has been moved into a separate guide

• Title page• Copyright, License, Warranty• Service and support• TOC• Key tasks (1-n)• Appendixes• Index

Task topics

Concept topics

Boiler plate

Reference topics

Example Metadata


Purpose Attribute: Possible values• Audience

segmentation• Segment own

products and versions• Segment 3rd party

products and versions

• Intended audience: user / admin / dba• Products and versions: vcs_all / sfrac_all /

sfm_1.0• 3rd party products: oracle_all / oracle_10g /

db2_all

Relationships: Customer and Enterprise


comm

unity

Customer Care

DevelopmentInformation

DevelopmentCustomer

Content Development Style and Purpose


Information Development Content• Pre-determined, highly structured, searchable• Describes general cases, reflects product design• Stored in deliverables (books/help) and databases

Customer Care Content• Reactive, searchable• Case specific• Stored in Databases

Community Generated Content• Reactive, unstructured• Case specific• Perishable

Translation Technology


Traditional Translation• Variable cost• Quality tried and tested• Supported with TM technology

Machine Translation• Fast, cost-effective• Domain specific• Requires post-editing for “high brand material”

Community Collaboration (Translation)• Product power-user driven, lightly tooled, individual• Not usually a trained translator• Target specific

Localisation Opportunity by Content type

Localization World Berlin 2010

Information Development Content

Customer Care Content

Community Generated Content

Community Translation

Machine Translation

Traditional Translation

51

Put “How to” topics on the web


Over 10 Million web hits

Connect Customers with Global Content


Inform

Assist

Cultivate

Getting started and advice

Collaboration:Institute cross-functional processes

Functions: techdoc, training, product development, customer support , product marketing

Eliminate individual afterthought processes that are inconsistent and hard to scale

Pushes processes up and across the organization, closer to alignment with business goals and objectives

Leverage capabilities, assets, and subject matter expertise stronger ROI story

Benefits also derive from collaboration and asset sharing Between headquarters and regions With service providers With partners like digital agencies

Move content-centric processes outside a single silothrough asset sharing and collaboration

Barriers to Cross-Functional Processes

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%Lack of collaboration

Inconsistent terminology

Other (see below )

Lack of w orkflow integration

Single-sourcing to mutliplechannels

Synchronizingsource/translated content

Lack of project costing/mgmt

Content conversion/exchange

Quality

Conflicting prioritiesLack of mgmt education/visibilityLack of formal processesLack of resources

Other =

Gilbane Group, Multilingual Communications as a Business Imperative

Thanks and contact us

Fred [email protected]

Sukumar [email protected]

Noz [email protected]

Mary [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



Documents

Collision or Convergence? Managing the Intersection of Content and Translation Management Systems