Translator queries – how do we manage these at eurocom

Moving from effort to a knowledge source

Almost every translation job causes questions. Ambiguities in the text, for example in technical terms or instructions, cause our translators to investigate the exact meaning. At eurocom, we appreciate this kind of feedback a lot, especially because it can significantly contribute to the quality of the translation. As project managers we therefore strive to answer these questions as fast and as best as possible by passing them on to the client. 

Managing these queries can be very complex especially in large projects, because usually several translators and target languages have to be coordinated. So the same questions come up again and again, but as a professional LSP we simply have to ensure that we ask the client only once. Therefore, at eurocom we introduced Excel lists which contained all queries that arose during the translation of any given project. Theses Excel lists definitely were better than just relying on the memory of the particular project manager. The limits of Excel lists, however, became evident almost right away: How do you keep track of queries across multiple projects? Several months? Years? How do we know after months which Excel list contains the answer to a particular query? How do you control the access to Excel spreadsheets? And, basically, how can queries be used as term candidates and will suggestions for text improvements be forwarded to the technical writers? Is it possible to solve translator queries collaboratively and, most suitably, web-based - similar to bug tracking systems in software development? These and many other questions were our constant focus. Now, a special software delivers the answers.

Software as Support

For several months now we have been using smartQuery by Kaleidoscope. The system is set up as a role-based online portal. In other words, depending on the assigned role certain rights are granted. A project manager, e.g., has more duties and thus rights than a translator. Everyone can access the system simultaneously, so all the required information is always available.

For us, the core of smartQuery is the task list. Here, each user always sees the pending queries she or he has 

to answer. In addition, the tracking function lists all the queries which can be filtered and searched by certain criteria. Due to the status and user filtering features everyone involved in the process can check the "task list" of open queries, answers, comments, etc. And finally, you can search the entire database, even after very specific issues. In order to simplify the workflow, the system has an e-mail notification with digest function.

We have linked smartQuery to our process management system LTC Worx. This link ensures that all queries are systematically assigned to projects, customers, languages, files, etc. Vice versa, all queries of a certain project can be viewed and edited immediately. SDL MultiTerm and Kaleidoscopes quickTerm cover all terminology related aspects of all the numerous queries.

Conclusion: The dreaded Excel lists have finally served their term. Now, everyone is always up-to-date. Access is easy. Nothing is lost. On the contrary, queries flow back into the terminology and can even help to improve the source texts.