Quality assurance and control procedures

1. At the initial stage Project Manager estimates required resources using a proprietary resource planning mathematical formula (the tool calculates the number of translators and editors needed for the project, given project volume, project start and end dates, working days in a week, average text portion size, subject area, time losses and several statistical indexes).
2. Translators and editors are selected into the project team according to their performance on test pages in corresponding subject fields. In case there’s a project on a subject not previously covered a test page, Vendor Manager creates a test page for from the project source text corpus.
3. After the page is translated by a number of candidates, Vendor Manager evaluates translations using a Translation Quality Metric tool (Proprietary metric or SAE J2450 or LISA QA Model 3.1 or ATA Framework for Standard Error Marking).
4. Vendor Manager checks if Terminology Specialist candidate (compile/maintain glossaries and TMs) has a degree in the subject area. Additionally, Terminology Specialist has to demonstrate adequate Translation Quality Index on translation and editing tests.
5. Vendor Manager checks if Proofreader candidates (correct grammar, spelling and style errors): have completed higher education in target language linguistics. Additionally, Proofreader has to correct 100% typos and errors in punctuation, grammar and spelling in a test page.
6. Terminology Specialist is assigned to every large translation/localization project. They compile and maintain project glossary and TM, ensure glossary compliance with client requirements and usage.
7. Translation workflow includes 5 stages minimum, each performed by an individual qualified specialist (roles and responsibilities clearly stated): terminology (glossary and TM creation and maintenance, consulting editors on project terminology), translation proper, editing by a subject specialist (e.g. qualified engineer, lawyer etc.), proofreading by a qualified linguist-proofreader, final check by a Quality Assurance Editor (total quality control). Additional stages may include DTP, software testing, additional revision or review, terminology consultations etc., depending on the project.
8. Proprietary best practice guides and procedures have been developed for every work stage.
9. Vendors/freelancers receive a copy of procedures/instructions to follow at the beginning of every large project.
10. In-house Quality Assurance Editor edits and proofreads all translations before delivery to client.
11. X-Bench is used by Quality Assurance Editor as a standard translation QC package.
12. Quality Assurance Editor gives feedback to project team members – translators, editors, proofreaders, DTP specialists, Terminology Specialist and Project Manager, and updates the vendor database accordingly.
13. Project Manager monitors procedure/deadline violation on part of freelancers, and updates the vendor database accordingly. Customer satisfaction surveys are carried out on a quarterly basis.
14. “Mystery shopper” tool is used (on a non-regular basis) to compare translation quality-on-delivery with competitors’.