Alchemy Translations

Project Manager Functions:

• Activity and resource planning
• Organizing and motivating a project team
• Controlling time management
• Cost estimating and developing the budget
• Ensuring customer satisfaction
• Analyzing and managing project risk
• Monitoring progress
• Managing reports and necessary documentation

Project Life Cycle:

1. Request - you get a request as a forward message from our marketing team of from a client directly
1.1) Read the email carefully and pay attention to all questions. You should reply them all
1.2) Have a look at the lead's website if any
1.3) Add a new lead to in our CRM, called VTiger (see here how to add a new lead to Leads)

2. Reply - it should have the following information:
2.1) Languages - if it's not indicated, PM should ask about the languages the client needs
2.2) Files to be translated - the best variant is Word-file (if other see here)
2.3) Deadlines (if needed)
2.4) Other client's preferences

3. Preparing files and Rates - using our table with rates PM should calculate the price
3.1) Open the file and see the word count if it's compatible to MS Word¹
3.2) If it's not compatible to MS Word, check if it's compatible to any CAT-tool and make word count there
3.3) Open the table Rates and make final calculations (further guides will be later)
* if the file is small or does't have repetitions, we don't use Trados or other CAT-tool while calculation
* NB: Textboxes, Footnotes and Endnotes are not counted in Word by default so you should add them to the word count by yourself

4. Offer - PM composes an offer considering rules for writing of business letters and some language templates
The offer should contain:
4.1) source and target language
4.2) file names and price
4.3) delivery date (if needed) and start confirmation request or other questions

5.Order
5.1) Every step should be reflected in VTiger, see the picture above
5.2) PM should send a confirmation letter to the client
5.3) Ask for reference files (e.g. source files, previously performed translations of similar files, terminology or glossaries if any)

6.Project
6.1) Create a new project in VTiger and tell to the team in Rocket Chat about start
6.2) Ask and agree with the translators and editors (HR manager can help finding new translators)³
6.3) Send prepared files with all information to them and a PO (Purchase Order). The cover letter should contain the following information:
* final word count
* rate
* deadline
* client's comments or other information
* source files for other files for reference
6.4) monitor the translation and proofreading processes, reply any questions
6.5) gather the ready translation, compare it with source files, make final corrections and prepare for delivery³
6.6) send the file to the client with a request for receipt confirmation
6.7) close the project in VTiger and tell to the team in Rocket Chat.

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1 - PM will need to have and use the following programmes
- MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
- Adobe Acrobat Pro - to look PDF files
- Abbyy FineReader Pro - to recognise the files
- CAT-tools (Trados Studio, MemoQ, Wordfast, Passolo, etc.) - to make translation projects and estimation
- QA-Distiller and SnellSpell - to check the translated XLIFF-files before delivery and make final corrections

2 - You may need a help of a DTP specialist while preparing file for translation, if it is a PDF file and/or it contains pictures with not recognised text. While preparing an offer, make an estimation by eye.

3 - Prepare the files for delivery:
- delete metadata of the files and other personal data of translators
- source and translated file names should be the same. The allowed addition is language code after underscore, like “File_de.docx”