Manage translation projects more professionally according to ISO 17100

Project managers have a great deal of responsibility at translation service providers. You need to estimate the scope of the project, allocate the resources and ensure the quality. When many different projects are being worked on at the same time, project management can quickly reach its limits. However, mistakes in project management can be expensive: They cost time that cannot be charged for and, in the worst case, customers are dissatisfied.

This can be remedied by standardized processes, as prescribed in the ISO 17100 standard for translation service providers. Translation companies that are certified according to this standard have automatically implemented the right project processes.

It's all about this:

• How are projects processed in compliance with ISO 17100?
• How to optimize your translation projects
• The project manager must pay particular attention to this

Manage projects better with the ISO 17100 standard

When customers commission large translation projects, the project management first has to put things in order. It is important to get an overview of the requirements of the customer and whether the appropriate skills are available. Many translation service providers have established their own procedures and processes. Most of these have grown over time and attempts have been made to adapt to new challenges. The problem: There is insufficient documentation for traditional rules, they are rarely shown in workflows and some important details are missing because you don't even know that they are needed.

ISO 17100 can help here. It prescribes project managers in great detail which requirements there are. A checklist can then be created from this in order to optimize the work processes when processing translation projects.

Formal requirements for projects according to ISO 17100

In the case of certification according to ISO 17100, we as auditors first check whether the required form has been taken into account. The globally recognized ISO 17100 DIN standard consists of a list of requirements that are important for a project. These are the first steps in creating a translation project:

Unique project name

It's hard to believe, but projects are still not named according to a clear scheme. Within the same company, some projects may be named after the customer's name, others after the topic, and still others simply with input data. If you introduce nomenclature, for example customer number-customer name-project topic-project number, then you will be able to list and find projects more easily.

Appoint project managers

In the second step, further important information is assigned to the project, the order of which should be the same for all projects. Only so you can later

Compare your services. Accordingly, a contact person and a contact person must be assigned to each project.

Specifications for submitting a bid

 Before a project can be processed, the order must first be won. At this point, ISO 17100 intervenes in quality assurance and sets specifications for the submission of offers and how this should be documented internally.

This data includes:

• Date of receipt of the request
• Offer including terms and conditions, a quote, scope of the project, timeline and how the translations will be delivered
• Additional agreements that are made
• The original document and the languages to be translated into
• Date of receipt of documents and other related materials
• Name of the document to be translated
• Description of the content (e.g. contract for the acquisition of a company, manual for operating a machine, terms and conditions)
• Purpose and subsequent use of the translation
• List of already existing technical terms and internal terminology as well as other important references
• Style templates and instructions

If there were deviations from the original tender in the preliminary talks, these must also be documented in the offer, especially when it comes to changes in scope or the terms and conditions.

This is what you need to be aware of during an ISO 17100 translation project

With ISO 17100 certification, you will learn how to apply the internationally recognized best practice rules for quality translations in your company.

The ISO standard requires projects to be comprehensively and comprehensibly documented. This is the only way you can prove to customers what work you have carried out, who the responsible persons were and how professionally the project was implemented.

Some requirements for this ISO 17100 documentation are:

• Description of the scope of work (including extra work), divided into translation
• Editing by translators
• Editing by a second person
• Technical examination
• Review by project management
• Release
• Additional services that have been agreed
• Workplace distribution (which work should be carried out where)
• Project schedule and delivery date
• Offer including price and currency

This information should be constantly available and available to all project members.

Important rules for the workflow according to ISO 17100

In the translation process itself, the ISO standard for translation services is characterized by details intended to streamline the process and avoid errors.

For example, it should be clearly stated what further information is available on the translation text, for example who wrote it, the extent of the text in terms of words and characters. In addition, it must be explained which linguistic features have to be taken into account and which specifications are required for this (mandatory and optional).

In order to produce a quality translation, the target audience and the purpose for which the document is intended should be known.

The ISO standard also requires:

• Evidence that work is being done accurately
• Observance of the specified style descriptions
• Application of local linguistic peculiarities

Documentation of the translation project

All work must be documented during the project and at the end.

These include:

• A plan showing the project status in the different phases
• Feedback from the customer and how it was incorporated
• What corrections have been made

That's why you should be ISO 17100 certified

As an ISO 17100 certified translation service provider, you have a distinguishing feature. You can prove that you carry out your projects according to an internationally recognized standard and thus offer the highest quality. Internally, you can use the ISO 17100 requirements to optimize your processes, reduce the error rate, process feedback and make better use of resources.

During the audit, we examine your workflows to see whether they already comply with the requirements of the translation standard. For an initial certification, we suggest a pre-audit in which your processes and standards are first examined in detail. You will then receive a list of suggestions as to which changes need to be made in order to be compliant with DIN ISO 17100. These analyzes do not take very long, certification can be completed in a few weeks.

Get an offer today. We would be happy to advise you, without obligation, on ISO 17100 certification and the associated advantages for your translation project management.