LingoPort, Inc.1734 Sumac AvenueBoulder, ColoradoUSA 80204+1 303 444 8020www.lingoport.com

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Technologies for Global eBusiness

Jason Hall and Adam Asnes

Internationalization Assessment and Execution:

How Do You Get There From Here?

LingoPort, Inc.

• Internationalization Focused– Internationalization consulting– Software solutions

• Global Investigator• String Externalization tools• Pseudo Judo

• All localization through partners

Jason Hall

Globalization Design Specialist

Experience:• Over 15 internationalization assessments• Wide variety of technologies and domains• Project planning and process consulting

How Do You Get There From Here?

• Decision Pathways– Customer Driven– Internally Identified

Opportunities– Other?

• Keys to Success– Proper Planning– Training

• I18n Only Once– High initial cost– Lowest cost in long run

• I18n Process– Planning– Marketing Requirements

Analysis– Architectural Requirements

Analysis– Code Review– I18n Design– I18n Execution– Testing– Localization– Support

Marketing Requirements

• Case Study: XYZ Software– VP: “XYZ Software must be in Japanese, French,

Germany, Chinese, and Spanish by November”• Three-tiered web application• 100,000 Lines Java/JSP• Oracle DB• Crystal Reports

– Where do you start?

Marketing Requirements cont.

• First, analyze the locales– Locale vs. Language– Simultaneous Locale Support?– User levels: Administrator vs. Regular User– Rule of thumb: Match locales with character sets; the

more characters, the more difficult I18n!

• Key Product Launch Dates– Any flexibility?– Drivers and stakeholders

Marketing Requirements cont.

• Concurrent Development– Watch out for code forks!– Resource availability

• Product Support Channels– Foreign language support calls– New product sales– Minimum Technology Requirements– Target Customers

• Understand Your Target Cultures

Marketing Requirements Summary• Visualize Product from:

– Customer Experience/Usability– Sales/Support Channels

• Compile Locales – Develop list of required features

• GUI• Character Sets• Additional Features• Legal• Cultural• Currency

• Marketing Requirements Specification

Marketing Analysis Case Study

• XYZ Software– Phased Rollout

• Phase 1: Spain, Germany, France, Mexico, Peru• Phase 2: Japan, China

– One server farm in US, single database– Foreign partners for sales/support channels– Must support IE 5.0+– All resources dedicated to I18n

Architectural Analysis

Database Application

3rd Party Products

U/I

Business Logic

Platforms, Browser Support Requirements

Architectural Analysis Cont.

• Analyze each technology– Character set compliance

• Match with supported locales!

– Programmatic locale• Organic or New Feature?

– Dependencies• Fonts• Service Packs• Libraries

– Third Party Products

Architectural Analysis Summary

• Gather research and recreate architecture• Character tracking

– From GUI to DB and back– Analyze each technology boundary

• User locale tracking– Critical for GUI formatting/display, data storage– Database vs. Dynamic

• I18n Architectural Document

Architectural Analysis: Case Study

• XYZ Software– JSP/Java/Oracle to support Unicode

– GUI formatting per locale – locale switching– Locale tracked by Java’s LOCALE object

• Extracted from browser at runtime

– Oracle to accommodate dynamic locale switching– Crystal Reports only localizable: research alternative

strategy

Browser(Native)

Java(UTF-16)

Oracle(UTF-8)

Code Review and i18n Reengineering

– Code Review to Identify:• Unsafe methods/functions• Strings to extract• Image references• Unsafe programming constructs (ex: regular expressions)

– How to Identify?• Brute force • I18n-aware software tool

– Global Investigator

Code Review Considerations

• Strings• Dates• Times• Sorting & searching• Currency• Transaction process• Disparate offerings• Character set

conversions

• Telephone formats• Postal formats• Region-specific functions• Shipping conditions• Numerical formats• Page layout• Reporting, workflow• Database enabling• Multi-byte enabling

Code Review Examples – Detailed Reporting

Configure – Add Functions/Filter False Positives

Code Review and i18n Reengineering Cont.

– Develop I18n enhancements (example)• Locale-chooser• Other based upon Architectural Analysis (Currency, etc.)

– I18n Reengineering• Extract strings• Fix Unsafe Methods

– Internal Resources vs. Outsourcing • Internal: Retain new knowledge, understand system, but loss

of normal development cycles• Outsourced: Knowledgeable about I18n, rapid execution, but

must transfer knowledge to existing team/learn system

Code Review and I18n Development: Case Study

– XYZ Software• Internationalized Software• Pseudolocalization Testing• Unit/Regression Testing• Localization Kits

CurrentSource Code

Locale NeutralSource Code

en_US

en_US en_SP

Testing and Deployment

– Pseudolocalization Testing Before• UserNameLabel=Username• SomeMessage=The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

– Pseudolocalization Testing After • UserNameLabel=捗 XXUsernameXX捗SomeMessage=捗 XXXXXXXXXXXXThe quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.XXXXXXXXXXXX捗

– Tests character set handling and size expansion• LingoPort’s Pseudo Judo

Testing and Deployment

– Pseudolocalization Example:

Testing and Deployment Cont.– Regression Testing– Localization Testing

• Test with all possible combinations!– Languages AND platforms

– Deployment• Case Study: XYZ Software

– Phased approach: partner channels developed– Online documentation translated into targets– Deployment team training/foreign counterparts– Go Live

• Packaging/Documentation• Professional Services Training

I18n As An Ongoing Process

– Pervasive influence on entire organization• Paradigm shift: not US-Centric!• I18n Coding Standards

– Quality Assurance

– I18n software lifecycle tools: Global Investigator

– Avoid code forks• New features with international focus to launch in ALL

locales

– Relationship with Localization partner

Questions and Answers

– For a beta trial of Global Investigator visit:• http://www.lingoport.com/public/demo• or email aasnes@lingoport.com

– Contact Adam for a copy of this presentation

– Thank you for your time and attention!