]project-translation[Innovation in Translation Processes

20.8.2005

Translat.Workflow

Projects

UsersClients

Costs

DataWare-House

FileStorage

ProjectForum

Quality

Sales

ProviderMgmt.

Invoicing

Contents

1. ]project-translation[ Overview2. Competition in the Translation Industry3. ]project-translation[ Modules

– Translation Workflow– Provider Management

]project-translation[ Overview

What’s …?

ExtranetIntranet A Web site for

all in-house staff

“ERP” Costs Invoices Customers Providers Quality Reporting, …

Collaboration with customers and providers

Benefits

ExtranetIntranet Organize globally

distributed teams Improve language

staff productivity using online project collaboration

Improve team coherence and align culture

ERP Improves the

productivity of your PMs and administrative staff by 50-100%.

Simplifies the management of complex projects

Allows cost control on the project level

Allow selected customers to view the status of their projects online

Allow providers to participate in projects as if they were working on-site.

Features

Projects

UsersClients

Costs

FileStorage

Work-flow

Sales

TradosIntegra-

tion

ProjectForum

FreelanceDatabase

Invoicing

PurchaseOrders

100% pure Internet Support for Translation

project cycle For Linux and Windows

using the free PostgreSQLdatabase

It’s based on

Open-Source Software

We earn our money with installation, training, customization, support and the creation of specific business modules

Innovative Modules

ProjectManager

Translator

Editor

Customer

CreatedforTrans

Trans-ing

forEdit

Edit-ing

forProof

Proof-ing

QC-ing

DeliveredStatus

ProofReader

Translation Workflow Automatic management of the translation

workflow Integration with TMs (Trados, ...) Access permission based on project roles

Provider Management Maintains the collaboration history and quality

evaluations Digital Purchase Orders and Invoices

Quality Management Using modified LISA templates Provides graphics and statistics to track

provider quality over time

Satisfy theCustomer

UnderstandRequirements

Do it Rightthe First Time

Every Time

ContinuallyImprove

Company

MainProviders

SecondaryProviders

Internet Collaboration Allows project team to meet in virutal Project

Rooms Incident resolution workflow

20. The managing director evaluates the profitability of his projects and customers

The Project Cycle1. The customer shows interest in a project

2. The key account creates a new (potential) project

3. The key account logscustomer interaction

6. The project managerassigns translators and editors to the project

5. The project manager imports the Trados wordcounts

7. The project manager assigns individual files (tasks) to translators

4. The project manager receives files from the customer

8. The workflow process starts

9. The key account andthe project manager track the project progress10. The translated

files are being delivered to the customer

12. The language leads evaluate the participating language staff

14. The accountantcreates an invoice

15. The accountant tracks the invoice

16. The accountant logsa customer paymentand retires the invoice

21. The operations director evaluates the efficiency of his language staff

13. The key account evaluates the quality delivered to his customers

17. Providers post theirinvoices into the system

18. Providers tracktheir invoices

19. Providers confirma payment reception

The project manager creates a purchase order

Translat.Workflow

Projects

UsersClients

Costs

DataWare-House

FileStorage

ProjectForum

Quality

Sales

ProviderMgmt.

Invoicing

11. The project staff collaborates onlineand resolves issues

ProjectTeamMgmt.

StaffMgmt.

Free-lanceMarket-place

WorkflowModule

IncidentMgmt. & Discussions

MLV Processes

- Presales- Price Negotiations- Send PO- Send files

selectfreelance

candidates

ProjectManager

Customer

CustomerManager

- Create project- Store files- Assign PM

File StorageModule

TM

ProofersTranslatorsEditors

Created forTrans

Trans-ing

forEdit

Edit-ing

forProof

Proof-ing

QC-ing

Delivered

assignselected

freelancers

invite freelancers

Apply TM

receiveavailability

confirmations

FreelanceDatabase

receive confirmations

- Share files- Update status

LanguageLead

InvoicingModule

importWord counts

Filesdelivery

Accountant

invoicing

ProofersTranslatorsEditors

Invoice,payments

moderate discussions

QualityDB

QC

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

910

]project-translation[ Modules

Translation Workflow

(Time Flow)

ProjectManager

ProofReader

Translator

Editor

Customer

Created forTrans

Trans-ing

forEdit

Edit-ing

forProof

Proof-ing

QC-ing

DeliveredStatus

]po[

A translator downloads a file from ]po[

The same translator uploads the file back to ]po[

Translation Workflow

The Translation Workflow is a kind of “FTP-Server”.

It allows translators, editors and proof readers to upload and download their files.

The list of files for each project is imported from a Trados word count or similar translation memories.

The workflow allows to assign translators and editors to specific tasks.

The upload and download actions of the assigned translators and editors are tracked, and allow to follow-up on the project status

ProjectManager

Translator

Editor

Customer

Created forTrans

Trans-ing

forEdit

Edit-ing

forProof

Proof-ing

QC-ing

DeliveredStatus

ProofReader

TM

Translation Workflow

Tracking the translator and editor actions eliminates the PM task of sending files back- and forth

Your PMs gain 50-100% productivity. Large projects can be managed more

easily if you can see if the translators/editors have uploaded and downloaded their files (see below).

The translator has already downloaded the file

The translator has not yet downloaded the file

Company

MainProviders

SecondaryProviders

Provider Management

Provider Management serves to maintain the history of collaboration with each of your providers.

It serves to store details about:

– Address and contact details

– The project history– The quality evaluations

for each project and– Provider service notes– The invoicing history

Provider Management

Integrated Provider Database– Providers and freelancers are a

Skill Management– Skills represent capacities such as source- and target

languages– The provider is allowed to maintain his own skills. However,

all changes can be confirmation by in-house staff.

Provider Management

Provider management works like a “CRM”

– Provides the interaction history– Provides the financial history

Provider Self Service– The provider is allowed to

maintain his/her data himself, saving valuable time for in-house staff.

Skill Management– Skills represent capacities such

as source- and target languages– “Self Service”: The providers

are allowed to maintain his own skills. However, all changes require confirmation by in-house staff.

Confirmed

Skill

Unconfirmed

Skill

Freelance Marketplace

Normally, a PM needs to confirm the availability of every project member by email/phone during the staffing phase of the project.

The “Freelance Marketplaces” automates this function, allowing freelancers/ provider to fill a form with their availability and capacity.

“Freelance Self Service”

Free-lanceMarket-place

ProjectManager

invite freelancers

receiveavailabilty

confirmations

FreelanceDatabase

receive confirmations

ProofersTranslatorsEditors

4

5

Select freelancecandidates

Version 1.3/1.4

Quality Management

There is no “best quality”, just “right quality”. It’s just that the “right quality” may be higher than what a specific agency can deliver…

The QM modules allows to talk objectively about quality and to evaluate quality enhancing measures.

The QM module may also identify areas of excessive quality and help to reduce costs.

Satisfy theCustomer

UnderstandRequirements

Do it Rightthe First Time

Every Time

ContinuallyImprove

Quality Management

Recruitment process for freelancers and in-house staff

Rational selection of providers/ freelancers for each project

Corporate culture focused on quality

“Right quality” depending on the customer sophistication and needs

IndustrialQuality Management

Quality „atSource“

Quality specifications for: Customer Projects Language staff

Statistical Process Control Final delivery control using

modified LISA templates Continuous evaluation of

translators by editors and proofreaders

Quality Management

Statistical Process Control (SPC) tracks the performance of a “process” over time and allows to judge its development.

SPC allows to detect tendencies that are not normally visible.

Statistical Process Control (SPC)

A freelancers performance. The variance of the performance

decreases, as does quality

Quality “at Source”

Access to quality evaluation history when selecting a resource for a project

Project quality evaluations are added to the history of the respective translators and editors

ProjectManager

assignselected

freelancers

FreelanceDatabase

LanguageLead

QualityDB

QC

4

6

Select freelancecandidates

Project Collaboration

]project-open[ emphasizes the possibility to integrate clients and providers into the planning and execution of projects.

However, communication across organizational boundaries requires special communication means (and skills!), because of the diverging interests, cultures etc. of the participating partners.

The Discussions & Incident Management module formalizes the communication related to the distribute of work amongst project members.

GeneralManager

ProjectMan.

SalesManager

OperationsManager Finance

Project

ProjectDirector

GeneralManager

Proj.Man.

Manager

Our Company Client

Client Staff

Providers

Freelance

Freelance

TM Integration

The translation memory is integrated into the system

This allows to:– Distribute the right amount of

work (weighted word counts) to freelancers/ subcontractors

– Create invoices automatically– Create purchase orders

automatically Supported TMs:

– Trados 3.x– Trados 5.x– Trados 6.x– Logoport

StaffMgmt.

ProjectManager

CustomerManager

- Create project- Store files- Assign PM

File StorageModule

TM

Apply TM Invoicing

Module

importWord counts

2

3

10

Filestorage

All project documentation is collected in a folder on the local server.

In-house staff can work with local files

The contents of the folder are available over the Internet.

Sales QC/Proofing

EditingTranslation

Post-Project

ManagingDirector

SalesRep

ProjectManager

StaffTrans.

StaffEditor

Freelance

Freelance

FreelanceEditor

StaffEditor

ProjectManager

End

Frank Bergmannfraber@project-open.com

www.project-open.com