RSS feedThe online Demo for ]project-translation[ is available at http://pcdemo.dnsalias.com/.
Frank Bergmann says: Hi Peter, please go to http://pcdemo.dnsalias.com/. I propose you to go through the entire lifecycle of a project, from acquisition to end... Or what exactly are you interested in? Potential Client says: That sounds great, the lifecyle for acquisition to the end to really see your "baby" in action |
Frank Bergmann says: Perfect. So let's asume that a client has called you, and tells you that they possibly want to make a project with you... Potential Client says: Lets call the client "ABC-Systems", and the new project "ABC Translation", ok? Frank Bergmann says: Great: So let's go to the Project tab. Potential Client says: I've clicked the Projects tag Frank Bergmann says: On the sub-navigation bar on the very right there is a "blank" file icon, right of the "Costs" tab. If you put the mouse above (without clicking!), it says: "Add a new Project" Potential Client says: got ya Frank Bergmann says: Ok, so please click the icon to create a new project. Frank Bergmann says: Are you at the "New Project" page? Justmove to the "Project Name" field and enter "ABC Translation Project". Then move to the "Client" field and select "Internal". (This is a demo server, so only the client "Internal" works). Potential Client says: gotcha Potential Client says: I will be "Staff Member" the start translator of your company... Frank Bergmann says: No, don't! "Staff Members" have have very restricted access to customers. It's better if you select "Project Manager" or "General Manager". Potential Client says: Understood Frank Bergmann says: Just chose some arbitrary values for Source Language, Target Language, Subject Area, Start and End date. Frank Bergmann says: And then press "Create Project" Potential Client says: done Frank Bergmann says: Ok, you should now be at the "Project" page. Potential Client says: correct Potential Client says: I have spelled the project name with lowercase letters Frank Bergmann says: No problem, you can edit the values by pressing the "Edit" button.... Frank Bergmann says: But first let's add some team members. There is an "Add member" link on the right hand side. OK? Potential Client says: ok Potential Client says: Should I add an employee? Frank Bergmann says: Perfect, click the link. In this MemberAddPage you can add members in a "Role". For example, select "Free Lance One", and "add as" "Translator". Then press the "Add" button. Potential Client says: Free Lance One, our star translator has been added. Frank Bergmann says: Ok, I see it has worked out... Frank Bergmann says: I've run an "Anonymizer" with all names, project, clients, etc... Potential Client says: I wondered... I thought or still think you are very creative though too. Frank Bergmann says: ... Frank Bergmann says: Ok, now let's asume we have received a bunch of files from the client by email. So there are two options to store the files into the project: Frank Bergmann says: 1. If you are in the office (physically), you can copy them locally using the "Windows Explorer" or with Outlook "save attachments as". That iss faster then uploading the files one-b- one over the Internet. I'll do that now, just copying some files from another project. Frank Bergmann says: 2. You can upload them one-by-one over the Internet. This is something you can do from everywhere. Potential Client says: Understood. Cool feature :-) Frank Bergmann says: Wait a second, I will now copy some files locally (saving the files from an Outlook mail attachment). Potential Client says: Funny how these emoticons [ :-) ]have become so accepted around the world, ne? Frank Bergmann says: Well, I guess it's "nerd culture"... Potential Client says: Well then, I guess we need more nerds in the world. It a form or Revenge of the Nerds I guess Or perhaps to express emotions without showing it Frank Bergmann says: I think one Bill Gates is sufficient... Potential Client says: Righto ... :-) Frank Bergmann says: Ok, you'll need to do a "reload" of your Project Page to see the new files at the very botton of the page. Potential Client says: Hit the reload botton, and have seen the files in the "source files" folder Frank Bergmann says: Ok, just a sample. Potential Client says: Of course Frank Bergmann says: Now we are ready to import the Trados Log. Unfortunately, this is a server, and there is no Trados installed. So I've copied you the corresponding trados wordcount.csv Potential Client says: gotcha Frank Bergmann says: Ok, I've copied a wordcount. I doesn't match the files 100%, but you'll see the idea working. Potential Client says: Should I hit reload again? Frank Bergmann says: You can make a "reload" to see the wordcount file. Just imaging someone runs Trados on the directory (locally, in the office, from his Windows PC). Frank Bergmann says: To import the Trados log press the "Trados Import" button from the "Task List" just above the file tree. I pray it works.... Potential Client says: Ok, I got a long list of files here. Frank Bergmann says: You can also add tasks manually. This is necessary for non-Trados files (PDF, ...). Potential Client says: Did the program count the billable units automatically? Frank Bergmann says: Yes, it uses a configurable "match matrix" to calculate a weighted word cound: 100% count 30%, 95% matches count 50% and the rest counts 100%. Also, you can change the "Billable Units" manually, because the client somethims won't pay everything you do... Frank Bergmann says: I've assigned the "Trans + Ed" Workflow to each the files. We could invent as many different workflows as you need. Potential Client says: For example for the various forms of testing we offered for ABC Frank Bergmann says: Right. Ok, now we assign translators and editors to the tasks. Frank Bergmann says: Press the "Assign" button. Potential Client says: okay, pressed "Assign" Frank Bergmann says: Now you can assign project members to the various phases ... and press "Save Assignments" Potential Client says: Question: Who should do the Translation or Editing tasks? Frank Bergmann says: How doy you mean? You are acting here as a project manager. So you can assign anybody for any task. It's up to you if that makes sense.... Potential Client says: I clicked on assign an now back to the projects page Frank Bergmann says: Perfect. The assignments determine who can upload or download a file, depending on the "status" or "phase" of each task. A task automatically advances from "created" to "translating", when the translator download the file. It also advances from "translating" to "for edit" when the translator uploads the result. Potential Client says: Really, thats great, so the PM can see at what stage the project is Frank Bergmann says: Exactly. Potential Client says: Cool dude Frank Bergmann says: But you would have to log in as the respective users to check how that works out... Frank Bergmann says: We can check that later. Frank Bergmann says: This is the way how I can determine if the workflow advances: Controlling upload & download of files. We could add other "events" as well, for example automatic uploads from clients if you need. Frank Bergmann says: Alternatively, privileged users (such as the PM) may just manually change the status of each task.... Frank Bergmann says: Did you see the "Message" on the right hand side? Potential Client says: Yes, I see the message. "File is ready to be translated by another person" Frank Bergmann says: Exactly. Later we can log in as "Staff Member". He will see "Please download the file", because he's been assigned the translation job... Frank Bergmann says: Now: Let's assume BX has a question about project terminology. Potential Client says: lets assume Frank Bergmann says: On the top right hand side of the page you can see the "Forum" component. Just post an new "Issue" by clicking on the "Thunderstorm" icon (hold the mouse over the icons to see the other types of discussion items). Frank Bergmann says: You can assign incidents to specific persons. "Discussions" are not assigned to persons, they just invite communication. Potential Client says: Okay, I created a new incident Frank Bergmann says: Well, now "Staff Member" should receive an Email alert and may start to resolve the issue. Then he marks the issue as "finished" which sends out an Email to you (the owner) that the issue is (suposebly) resolved. Potential Client says: Understood, and the issue can be assigned to teams or person that should see the note Frank Bergmann says: Issues can be assigned only to a single person, but the default "visibility scope" for all messages is the Project, so everybody sees them. Frank Bergmann says: However, you can restrict visibility to staff members only (employees), to client+staff or to staff+freelancers, so that the clients don't see nothing. Freelancers are only allowed to post to staff. This separates completely clients from freelancers. Potential Client says: A very important function! Frank Bergmann says: ... well, yes... Ok, that's the forum basicly. You can mark messages as "Mark as read", so that it doesn't appear on the project page anymore (however, it will still appear on the "Forums" page (tab in the main navigation bar)). Potential Client says: Saw that, great. Frank Bergmann says: You can select a whole bunch of messages with the select boxes on the right and "deselect" them with a single click. Frank Bergmann says: Ok, now let's assume the project has been translated/edited by our editors and delivered successfully to the client. The client may fetch the files over the Internet, or we may just send them by mail ... Potential Client says: Are files sent via a link to the server for them to download automatically? Frank Bergmann says: Well, the client will receive a notification that the project has been "finished". This mail contains a link to the project page, so that he can download the content.... Potential Client says: The mail with the link is really great feature I think for downloading the content Frank Bergmann says: ... this was the main reason to develop the system. As a kind of "FTP"... Frank Bergmann says: Ok, now we have to change the "project status" to "delivered" to be able to write an invoice. So, please press the "Edit" button in the "Project Base Data" component and change the "Project Status" to "delivered". Frank Bergmann says: Be careful! There is a difference between the status of individual tasks (many) and the project status (only one)... Potential Client says: Oh, understand. I have made the changes underneath Project Base Data. Frank Bergmann says: Perfect. Frank Bergmann says: Now we go to the "Invoicing" tab at the main navigation bar. Potential Client says: I'm there Frank Bergmann says: All prices and clients are ficticious.... (completely random). Potential Client says: of course Frank Bergmann says: Ok, we can see that some invoices are over due, because they are red... Frank Bergmann says: But first let's click on "New Invoice" on the sub- navbar. Potential Client says: Done that, clicked on new invoice Frank Bergmann says: On this page you can see all "delivered" projects, order by client. You can select several projects (from the same client!) to create cummulative invoices. That's an important feature if you have many small projects.. Potential Client says: And for us too- especially with clients in the states who only pay by check! Frank Bergmann says: But we are going to select just a single project "ABC Translations" with Customer "ABC". Frank Bergmann says: So click on the checkbox at the right of the project and press "Select Projects for Invoice" at the bottom. Potential Client says: Done Frank Bergmann says: Now you can (de-) select one or more "Tasks". That's because sometimes you need to create several invoices for the same project project... And press "Create Invoice" at the bottom. Potential Client says: Done that Frank Bergmann says: Ok, now we can see the draft invoice. The invoice lines represent different types of activities. So 10 files of "Trans + Edit" result only in a single line... You need to select a "Payment Method" and "Invoice Template" and you can change the "Description" and "Billable Items" of the invoice lines. Frank Bergmann says: Ssometimes you can't invoice everything you have done... Frank Bergmann says: The price system in Translation is _very_ special. Prices sometimes depend on the Quality (Trans, Trans+Ed, Trans+Ed+Proof, ...). Other clients pay depending on subject area and target language... So I have associated a price list for every client based on all of these parameters: Source Language, Target Language, Quality, Subject Area, Unit of Measure, ... Potential Client says: I'm sure the list can be very complicated Frank Bergmann says: So what the invoice module does is to select the best match for the invoice price based on the parameters. But I also show all the other combinations below in the "Reference Prices" section, so that the accountant can verify that the system has chosen the right price. Frank Bergmann says: It's not an optimum solution, but translation agencies sometimes have very different pricing schemes, for example "CHF per source line" for Swiss clients, "USD per source word", etc. Potential Client says: But I believe you have found a solid solution, it is similar to what we have done with with our internal application. Frank Bergmann says: I'm releaved. So it's not me who is complicated, but the business model... :-) Frank Bergmann says: Perfect, so let's generate the invoice. Potential Client says: Okay, I hit the generate invoice and hit the invoice page Frank Bergmann says: Now you can click on the "Preview" link to get an idea.... Potential Client says: Excellent! Frank Bergmann says: Ok, to print invoices you need to configure your browser so that it doesn't print out header or footer lines for each page. Frank Bergmann says: We can install you a free "PDF Printer" using Linux, so that you just have to print the invoices using the browser, and it will come up as PDF.... Potential Client says: We have the same here as well. Our appliction generates the PO, Invoice, Quote etc as PDF and automatically attached to an email with standard greeting Frank Bergmann says: Perfect. Potential Client says: Indeed, perfect Frank Bergmann says: Unfortunately, ]po[ can't generate PDF yet, so that you have to send the PDF file manually. I hope that will come in one of the next versions... Frank Bergmann says: We're nearly at the end of the guided tour. What's missing is adding a payment for the invoices (trivial) and checking the client page to see how everything comes together... Frank Bergmann says: So let's have a look at the "RL Punnurloi Vununjull" client. Potential Client says: Okay... Frank Bergmann says: ... This client has several projects and invoices attached. What I want to show is how project and invoices are presented from the client side. Potential Client says: Ah ha. So they can see a running balance of the relationship. Frank Bergmann says: Yes, the page is visible both for clients and in-house manager. You can check how much the client ows you, and how much you've done from him. Frank Bergmann says: At the bottom of the page you can also see a more detailed price list attached. Potential Client says: I noticed that. Frank Bergmann says: Well, we're about at the end of the guided tour... Potential Client says: I've enjoyed it a lot Frank Bergmann says: Well, I hope I will be able to show you the brand new "Freelance Marketplace" module from Guillermo the next time. This module will allow to keep track of freelance interaction (project + quality reviews), payments and will help during the staffing of projects to find a perfect match against their profiles. Potential Client says: So Guillermo is building the freelance module as part of his Masters Thesis? Frank Bergmann says: Well, a "Freelance Marketplace", yes. It allows you to invite freelancers to participate in a project, based on their experience and their quality reviews. The invited freelancers receive an Email notification with a link to ]project-translation[ and can edit online their availability and their rates. Potential Client says: Similar to the Lion Portal? Frank Bergmann says: Well, sort of, but quite different. More designed for many small projects, then for few big ones. It's mainly to save the PMs the time to call around and to take advantage of the quality reviews...
