A translation management system (TMS) is a tool, either in the form of software or a website, which enables you to:

  • manage and track translation/localization projects
  • submit, track, download, and store project files
  • manage and store linguistic resources like translation memories (TM), glossaries, reference files, etc
  • communicate with stakeholders including clients and vendors such as agencies, translators, editors, DTP specialists, QAers, dubbers, subtitlers, etc
  • issue and record payments through documents like vendor P.Os and client invoices

In the TMS course taught by Professor Adam Wooten, I have learned a great deal about SDL WorldServer and GlobalLink through hands-on training from the professor and TransPerfect project managers, the difference between different TMSs through our group comparison project, and professional consulting skills through the consulting project for our client.

In this blog post, I will discuss about the key takeaways and present deliverables of our projects.

TMS Group Comparison Project

In this project, my team compare SDL WorldServer and GlobalLink against the need of our “client” Hulu, an American video streaming service provider owned by Walt Disney and Comcast. I learned that the key to select the best TMS is to understand and define the needs of a company, set up the weights of different requirements that are taken into consideration, and compare the performance of the TMS objectively with their scores.

The following is our presentation slides and detailed business requirement scorecard (links to Google Drive):

Presentation
Business requirements scorecard

TMS Group Consulting Project

In this project, we experienced and analyzed a TMS product of our client. The TMS was used internally originally, and the client meant to sell it as an affordable solutions to individual translators. Our team looked into the possibility of turning this TMS as an enterprise-level solution for media streaming companies. As the market of media localization grows exponentially, we believe it’s a great opportunity for our client to step into this side of the industry. We envision the target consumers of this TMS to be small language service providers (LSPs) specializing in subtitle localization, subtitlers, translators, and big and small streaming media platforms.

Small LSPs probably wouldn’t have the budget to purchase MediaNext,  the only video localization tool on the market provided by TransPerfect, nor would they be able to build their own platform, so they would be the perfect target clients for our client. Also, we suggested our client to keep the affordable pricing strategy of the product to attract more individuals whose work revolves around subtitles.

In order to win the streaming media service providers, our client needs to make some adjustments to the product:

  • Support more subtitle file types that can be imported and exported into and from the TMSL:
    • ASS (existing), SSA, SUB, SMI, and WEBVTT
  • Customize the user interface for video localization with some new features:
    • Text editing and formatting
    • Video timeline
    • In-context subtitle QA feature (refer to the real-time video preview feature of MemoQ)
  • Improve the workflow
    • Create setting and parsing templates for subtitle projects
    • Enable PMs to assign the projects and vendors to claim them

For more details, please watch the consulting video that we delivered to our client (link to Google Drive):

Client Consulting Video