Overview

XTRF Platform enables you to set up communication with third-party systems such as common computer-aided translation (CAT) tools used in the translation process. XTRF Platform provides different levels of integration with the CAT tools available on the market. The deepest integration is developed for memoQ, Phrase, Trados GroupShare, Trados Studio, and XTM software, but cooperation with many other systems is also supported.

If you use one of the CAT environments to translate files received from your clients, you can easily integrate it with the XTRF Platform. This enables you to use the tool your translators know very well and simultaneously gain control of the project workflow. This approach not only automates the work of the project managers who need to set up projects in only one of the two systems - the XTRF Platform but also enables them to control the status of the projects and the workload of the vendors. What's more, it accelerates the translation process by sending notifications to vendors that a given job is started in the project. The vendors can start their work just after the status of the preceding job is changed to ready; therefore, there are no delays in the translation process. When winding up a CAT tool project, the files are transferred back to the XTRF Platform, where they can be viewed by the project manager, sent for additional processing, if necessary, and delivered to the client. You can decide on the level of automation and project manager's involvement, which can differ between projects.

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XTRF Platform is a flexible and efficient tool that enables you to extend its capabilities by adjusting project management workflow to your requirements. Thanks to the XTRF Platform's integration with CAT tools, it is possible to:

• Modify the project workflow to anticipate your clients' and vendors' needs.

• Easily import analysis files in many different formats from nearly two dozen CAT tools available on the market.

• Prepare a project workflow with additional jobs that can be performed outside the CAT tool at certain stages of the translation process.

• Allow clients to order services that use CAT tools directly from the Client Portal.

• Prepare quotes and projects, including cost calculations prepared automatically based on the data from both integrated systems.

• Generate target and/or bilingual files to be delivered to the client.

• Update translation memories and term bases in the CAT tool when the integrated project is completed.

• Track project progress and deadlines.

• Send information to vendors about setting up a new project.

• Automatically deliver files to and from vendors and clients, with the project manager's optional preview of files at every step.

Available CAT tools and supported versions

The XTRF Platform is fully integrated with five well-known CAT tools. The project workflow integration allows for the automatic creation of projects in the CAT tools based on the files and parameters entered in the XTRF Platform. The CAT tools can analyze the files and send the analysis to the XTRF Platform, where the receivables and payables are then calculated. At each stage of the CAT tool's project workflow, it is possible to preview the current state of files in the XTRF Platform. The extent of the project manager's involvement can be significantly reduced due to a fully automated project management process. The integration is available for the following versions of the CAT tools:

• XTM - XTM Cloud 13.1 version.

• memoQ - memoQ 10.2. version.

• Phrase TMS - the latest available version.

• Trados Studio - Trados Studio 2019 and 2021 versions.

• Trados GroupShare - Trados GroupShare 2020 version.

Comparison of current CAT tool integrations

Integrated project workflow

The project manager can create a project that consists of tasks split into particular jobs, such as translation or proofreading. The tasks are created for the language combination included in the project. The jobs defined in the tasks can be assigned to the vendors who either declare their availability by responding to availability requests or are assigned directly by the project manager. The project manager can upload the input files and other content received from the client as reference files for each task. In case of integration with the external software, the translation memories (TMs) and terminologies (TBs) are usually added or created automatically in the CAT tool. Files can be pre-translated with the TMs or with machine translation engines. In the XTRF Platform, the project manager can decide whether machine translation engines should be used and whether the TMs and TBs should be updated after the finalization of the project workflow. Before starting the workflow, the project manager can leave some comments for the vendors to give them some hints or instructions about the projects. The project manager can also store the instructions received from the client or internal notes about the project itself or its tasks.

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Client:

• Places an order*

• Uploads input files*

• Uploads reference files*

• Adds instructions*

Project manager:

• Creates a project*

• Uploads input files*

• Uploads reference files*

• Adds instructions*

• Assigns vendors

• Starts workflow

 Vendor:

• Receives information about the job

• Is informed how to access the project in the CAT tool or download files

When the workflow starts, the information, including language pairs, input files, resources, and client and vendor data, is transferred to the CAT tool. On the XTRF Platform, each project can consist of several tasks, each corresponding to one CAT tool project. All information about the segments, pages, words, and characters, depending on what is provided by the CAT tool, are stored in the analysis files. This analysis is used when the information gets back to the XTRF Platform to properly estimate the value of the payables for the vendors and the value of the receivables for the clients. The vendors are notified with an automatic email that they can start working on their assigned jobs. By clicking a link in the email, they can open the Job Manager, read the instructions sent by the translation agency, and, depending on the CAT tool used, either:

• directly go to the editor in the CAT tool to work on the received source files, download a package to open in their CAT tool, or

• receive information about the project they should download from the translation agency's CAT tool server.

Vendor in a CAT tool:

• Uses the external CAT tool

To inform the project manager that the vendors' jobs are done, the vendors confirm the readiness of the jobs using the Job Manager. XTRF Platform also sends information to the CAT tool to close the job there. An automatic notification is sent to the project manager, who can start the final work on the project: check and accept the output files if the action is required and forward the message to the clients that their project is completed. Optionally, all the PM's work can be done automatically, depending on the translation agency's preference. In that case, the finalization of the project is done when the vendor closes the job; after that, the client gets an automatic notification that the output files are ready. In this approach, the review of the output files is skipped by the project manager. The client can download the files using a link in the email or directly from the Customer Portal.

 Client:

• Gets information about the completed project

• Receives output files

 Project Manager:

• Checks and accepts files

• Sends information about the completed project to the client

Vendor:

• Optionally uploads files and adds comments

• Notifies the project manager that the job is completed

CAT tool project templates

When creating a workflow definition (for Classic projects) or a process template (for Smart projects), or creating a task in a project, the project manager can use a project template from the external CAT tool. The advantages of using the project template are as follows:

• You can use all properties of a CAT tool project while integrating with the XTRF Platform, even those unavailable through the Home Portal interface. Whenever new features are added to the CAT tool in its future release, they will automatically become available in the XTRF Platform within the project templates.

• You can easily and consistently apply a repeatable set of CAT tool projects among projects set up in the XTRF Platform.

• Even a less experienced project manager can create complex CAT projects by applying project templates defined by an experienced project manager. Thus, you can increase the efficiency of all your employees regardless of how familiar they are with the software.

However, please take into account that XTRF Platform task and workflow settings might override some of the CAT tool's project template settings. The most commonly overridden settings are:

• Languages

• Workflow steps

• Client's settings

• Domain, called Specialization on the XTRF Platform

• Vendor's settings

These settings are configurable when preparing a workflow definition and task in the XTRF Platform.

CAT tool analysis files

XTRF Platform allows you to import CAT analysis files from over 15 CAT tools. Those files are known as logs, metrics, or project master data. You can use them to automate creating CAT payables and CAT receivables instead of entering the financial information manually.

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