Determining how many projects to create for a given customer
Tip
The major difference between the two is that a customer is static, while a project is dynamic that changes as the requirements of the translation job change over time.
Each project can only have one customer, but each customer can be a part of many projects.
Each customer within the software is defined as an entity that contains a unique Translation Memory, terminology, and rule set.
Each customer is then assigned to a project (where job-specific parameters are applied) so that it can be sent for translation.
Example 1: Translating a web application and a mobile application for Product-X
For example, let's say that you are translating a web application and a mobile application for Product-X.
In the case of a customer, the web application and mobile application have almost identical translation memory and terminologies.
Note
Hence one can create a single customer called Product-X.
In the case of a project, a Project Manager can send the content for Product-X for translation.
Note
Hence one can create a single project called Product-X, which contains the customer Product-X.
The project will contain multiple source files, one for the web app, one for the IOS app, and one for the Android app.
Example 2: Translating a web application and a mobile application for Product-X with different translation teams for the web and mobile applications
In this example, as Product-X grows, your organization has decided on separate translation teams for the web and mobile applications.
Note
In this case, we still need only one project and only one customer since a project can contain multiple source files, each with its own set of linguists assigned.
Therefore the web app is one file, and the mobile application consists of two files (IOS and android).
Each file has its own team of linguists.
Example 3: A single product with web and mobile apps, whose branding is different between each app.
Your company has decided on some slightly different branding between the web app and each mobile app (IOS and Android). This means that the terminology between the three and the translation memory contents are slightly different between the three of these.
Note
One could create one unique customer for the android, IOS, and web app.
However, the customer should be static, and the project dynamic.
Therefore a unique project will be created for all three applications using the same customer called Product-X.
Each project will have unique TM penalty profiles and terminology penalty profiles, to accommodate for the minor differences in terminologies and translation memory.
Example 4: Different release cycles between web and mobile apps.
Your company has changed the release cycle for Product-X. Mobile apps are now released one week before the web app. Therefore the due dates for translations have changed.
Note
There is only one customer, but multiple projects, each referencing the same customer Product-X. but with different due dates.
Assigning due dates is a project function.
Example 5: Machine translated vs. non-machine translated, or corrected help desk articles
Your company has decided to translate help desk articles. Older help desk articles are to be machine-translated with no edits, while newer articles are machine-translated with manual corrections.
Tip
When defining a customer make sure that the translation memory can't be overwritten.
Note
In this use case, both older and new articles use the same terms and TM.
However, you wouldn't want the un-edited machine-translated content to accidentally enter the TM for new articles due to someone accidentally approving that content for the TM.
Therefore you would create two customers (one for older help desk articles and one for newer articles). The Project Manager would then share the translation memory between the two.