Increasing productivity with a Content Management System

The translation of the product manuals and online knowledge base fell to the Technical Publications team of the company. However, as the translation needs increased, the limitations of their proprietary authoring tools became evident.

Their existing tools forced the writers to do much of the same work twice.

Identical content was being created (and localized) multiple times across these disparate programs and platforms.

Writers spent days resolving formatting issues with each delivery format. Consequently, a huge portion of the translation budget was being spent on desktop publishing.

The team needed a solution that would oust these inefficiencies and provide an environment that tied authoring, translating, localizing, publishing and tracking all to one place.

(ULG) partnered with the Technical Publications team to determine a content management solution that would ease their pain points and deliver long-term benefits.

A comprehensive Content Management System (CMS) was quickly implemented and launched in a matter of weeks without requiring an upfront capital expenditure. The new CMS enabled the company to see a 40 percent decrease in translation costs by eliminating the need for outsourced formatting and desktop publishing.

The implementation activities included:

• Migrating legacy content to XML and populating information components into the repository.
• Setting up automated workflows to streamline the editorial, translation and production processes.
• Creating automated style sheets to replicate their existing production standards for print and online help delivery.
• The use of centralized Translation Memories (TMs) and glossaries, which were set up and maintained on the client’s behalf by ULG, to improve translation leverage for reduced cost and increased consistency.
• Training and support for end users of the system.