Managing the Translation Process

The software features must be customized on a customer-by-customer basis to accommodate the laws of commerce that are applicable in each case. Usually the laws of commerce that apply are those of the country from which the customers do business. These laws vary depending on what the product is and whether the customer sells product nationally or internationally.

Since the Big Buck's customers are located all over the world, there are always customizations. Since laws change, the custom software features might need updating. Since the product is Web-based and used for Web-based transactions, timing is everything.

The Technical Communication department, based in the US, creates a base set of documents that they then customize (in English) to match the service and software functionality the customer purchases. The document set is then sent to the international project management team for translation. The international project management team hires and manages freelance translators to do the translation. Big Bucks wants to move the entire translation responsibility to the Technical Communication department.

The Technical Communication department has been working with the international project team for a few years now, but only on an as-needed basis. While there are some people in the Technical Communication department who have worked closely with the team on some international projects, the department manager feels that they are starting at ground zero. The department manager is also concerned about the impact that this additional responsibility will have on her staff and their ability to meet the deadlines that are so critical to the Big Buck's success. However, she wonders whether this new responsibility can be used to render her department more efficient.

Issue

Student Solution to Case 4

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