Need For Speed

When it comes to translation business, speed is one of the key factors. If you were to ask your customers when they want to receive translated files, they would probably answer: "The sooner the better".

However speed alone won't do, and your customers will keep a close eye on the quality of your services.

Now, say what you will, to ensure high quality you cannot keep speeding up your translators too much. Therefore if you want to work really fast, if you want to be Speed King, you have to accelerate project management.

With the latest XTRF upgrade XTRF 1.6, you have even more ways to do it. One of them is Schemata module, which comes in handy, when you have customers who commision you with projects closely resembling each other.

Imagine you have a customer, who every now and then sends you documents to be translated into the same set of languages. It may be that they even want you to use the same translators.

This being the case it hardly makes any sense to go through all the project management procedure every time. Instead, you can define one of the past projects done for them as a template for the projects to come, and then - while being commisioned with translation again - create a new project based on the aforementioned template.

This is what we call Project Schema. With it you can create a huge project with multiple language combinations with just a few clicks, as the only things that really differ are the deadline and the number of words, pages, hours or other calculation units. So the only things you really have to do, to start a project, is to:

1. Define what schema you are going to use
   
2. Define the deadline
3. Define number of calculation units.

Nevertheless, it doesn't mean you can't do anything more. The points mentioned above are the obligatory ones, allowing you to create a project within extremely shore period of time, still you have freedom to do much more if you wish. So lets have a look at it from the very begining.

On loging into XTRF you can see the following screen. If you want to start a project, just click "Create" in project module.

Fig 1: Creating a project

Then, when you are already in project creation part of the system, you can decide whether you want to create a project based on a schema or no,

Fig 2: Deciding wheter to use schema or not

and - if yes - what schema you want to have it based on.

Fig 3: Choosing a schema (1st obligatory step)

After choosing a schema, which in case of typical projects is the first obligatory step, you can see such a screen.

Fig 4: Defining deadline (2nd obligatory step)

As you can see, customer name and price profile, as well as workflow which is to be used, have been automatically filed into the project, on basis of the template project you had defined as a schema. What's more project manager has been suggested by the system, based on the data from schema project - still you can decide to choose different manger if you wish. Furthermore customer contact person, and person to which the project should be send back, have been suggested.

Of course you can change these, and you can add new people here. When necessary, you can also name a project, and enter customer project number, so if at some point in the future the customer enquires about this project you can look for it based on the number they provide.

Nevertheless, all of these aren't mandatory and the only thing that you really need to define here is the deadline for the project - as the start date is by default the date at which you create it - and then you can go to the last phase of project creation.

However, if a customer has sent you some special instructions for the project or if you have any general instructions for the providers or for people dealing with the project internally you can decide to enter them in "Instructions" tab beforehand.

Fig 5: General Customer, Provider and Internal Instructions

You can also decide to attach some notes to the project - in "Notes" tab, and if you wish to quick note it, so while looking for the projects you can read the reminders already at the browsing level.

Fig 6: Quick noting a project

Still let me remind you that none of these are obligatory, and if you just want to start a typical project as fast as possible, the only steps you have to take are: the decision on schema you want to base it on, defining the deadline for the project and entering the number of calculations units. This last step takes place in the next screen.

Fig 7: Entering number of calculation units (last obligatory step)

As you can see, the language combinations and specialization, as well as type of translation services you have been comissioned with by your customer, and you are to send orders for to your providers, have been filled automatically by the system. The same has been done with type of calculation units, so the only thing that remains to be done is decide on their number.

You can also decide whether you want to change deadlines for particular tasks and translators' activities or to keep the suggested ones - which have been calculated on the basis of their respective length in the project defined as schema.

When you make up your mind, and introduce or not aformentioned changes, you can click 'save'. These done you have virtually finished your project management work.

How come?

The system simply does most of remaining procedures for you.

It assigns number to the whole project, as well as to every language combination, and to all translation services you send orders for.

Fig 8: General overview of particular language combination

It creates directories for input, output, reference and dictionary files within each language combination. It can also create directories for different types of files that you may receive from or send to you customer and translators - for it to be possible, you just need to define their types while configuring your system.

Fig 9: Input files directories created for one of language combinations

It calculates money that you should get from your customer for every service you have been commisioned with within every language combination.

Fig 10: Receivables calculated within each language combination

It chooses the translators for particular activities within every language combination, based on who did these jobs in project defined as schema. As you can see, this feature allows you to delegate your best providers to work on projects you do for your key clients. This way you may use schemata to ensure both speed (project management) and quality of work (translators chosen).

Furthermore it calculates how much money each provider should get - based on their rates, which the system automatically takes from their profile, and number of calculation units.

Fig 11: Translators chosen and payables calculated for every language combination

Another thing the system does for you is automatic calculation of profitability for the whole project and all language combinations. The possible discrepancies between currencies used by your customer and providers, should not bother you, as everything is calculated into default project currency.

Fig 12: Profitability caluclated for all language combinations

Still another way in which the system saves your employees time is calculating payment terms, such as invoice issuance and payment dates and prompting VAT rates.

Fig 13: Calculating payment terms

Should I add that everything you can do while managing a project created without a schema applies here as well? So if you wish, you can enter names and customer numbers for every single task and you can manage and calculate discounts and surcharges both for client and translators automatically.

Furthermore all the entries suggested and caluclated by the system: e.g. translators, receivables and payables, dates, values and rates can be edited and changed anytime and the new values will be caluclated automatically for particular language combination, as well as for the whole project.

All these said and done, let me add that you can send orders to all providers with one click. The system will automatically generate e-mails, fill data into PO documents sent with them, and inform you that they have been sent.

Fig 14: E-mails with Project Orders and Specification are sent directly from the system

The same is of course true with Project Specification sent to the customer. All the data is filled into it automatically, and it is send directly from the system with a click.

To summarize, lets just have a look at the screens attached in this post. We had here a project with 22 language combinations (a translation from English into all EU languages), with 3 services commisioned by the client and consequently three providers chosen for each language combination.

The creation of this project, during which I took my time and tried to fill most of the available fields and not only obligatory ones, took me just a couple of minutes. During that time about:

• 89 numbers have been assigned: for the whole project, for 22 tasks and for all translation jobs withing every task (language combination)
• 88 directories have been created for input files
• directories have been created for output files within every language combination
  
• 66 providers have been chosen
• 132 totals have been calculated - 6 for each language combination
• 67 documents have been created
  

Not to mention the creation of rule for sending the files between successive providers (workflow), generating and sending of e-mails, calculation of profitability for all language combinations and whole project, and lots of other things that I didn't even have to bother about, while sipping my cup of tea.

So if you'd like to send send your PMs on holiday, have a time of your own and do more projects at the same time, in other words if you are in for the speed, just contact our consultants to learn more about Schemata module and our latest upgrade.

Wojtek, XTRF