1M-word project delivered in 4 languages within just 5 business days
Industry/Sector: Legal, Patents and Intellectual Property
One of the five largest service providers (LSP) in the world hired SMARTIDIOM to be part of a multilingual legal project in a regulated sector, which involved delivering 1 million words of technical documentation in 4 languages in just 5 business days.
SMARTIDIOM was assigned an important part of the content, thanks to our certified processes and proved scalability.
The challenge
The challenges were clear from the start: an extraordinary volume of content, an unalterable deadline of 5 days and zero margin for error as a result of the strict regulations in force in this particular sector.
The client required compliance with ISO 9001, ISO 17100 and ISO 18587, thus guaranteeing quality management, qualified linguists and specialised post-editing of any machine translation.
The scalability of resources was another hurdle: the project required the short-term training of a large team of specialised native linguists.
SMARTIDIOM's strategy
Quick start and alignment of requirements
A few hours after being awarded the project, SMARTIDIOM held an initial meeting with the LSP team to collate all the requirements: style guides, terminology lists, regulatory instructions and access to the localisation platform.
We clarified the scope of the project, the quality expectations and created a centralised communication channel for the quick resolution of doubts throughout the project.
Setting up a specialised team
Right away, we put together a scalable team of native linguists and quality assurance (QA) specialists with experience in this area. All team members were briefed on the scope of the project and compliance needs, and each one signed the necessary confidentiality agreements, considering the sensitive nature of the content and the need for congruence with regulatory requirements.
Integration of technology and workflows
SMARTIDIOM synchronised with the tools selected by the client and the linguists worked simultaneously on distinct sections of the content, sharing terminology in real time to ensure consistency. The project management team monitored progress at all times, rebalancing tasks dynamically in order to meet the set deadlines.
Quality control and regulatory compliance checks
As each batch of machine translation was completed, senior translators and proofreaders carried out Machine Translation Post-Editing (MTPE) in compliance with ISO 18587 to detect any errors and ensure that the text respected both linguistic quality standards and current industry regulations. We also implemented automated quality control checks using specialised tools.
Final validation and timely delivery
Our quality control experts carried out a full audit on the translated documents, which included a check against a list of third-party control procedures provided by the LSP agency, to pre-empt any problems.
We confirmed that all the client’s instructions had been followed and that the final content was ready for formatting. SMARTIDIOM delivered the complete translation two hours before the deadline, through the client’s secure portal.
Challenges overcome
• Extremely tight schedule: our team members worked in different time zones, ensuring continuous progress;
• Fast selection of the team of linguists: within a day we had more than 20 qualified translators and proofreaders on board. Drawing on our reputation and existing relationships, we were able to secure the necessary talent promptly, avoiding delays that a traditional sourcing of suppliers could have caused;
• Consistency with multiple collaborators: we have established a real-time collaboration structure, i.e. a shared terminology database and a style guide accessible to all linguists. A team leader was assigned to clarify doubts and provide clarifications on the spot, and it was possible to guarantee that any question would be answered uniformly thanks to regular synchronisations between all parties;
• Regulatory and quality compliance: in the course of their quality review, our quality control professionals checked the translations against the regulatory references. We also submitted the translated text to a third-party quality control tool, enabling any potential problems to be flagged and corrected before delivery.
Key Performance Indicators achieved
- 100% on-time client deliveries;
- Less than 0.02% of the translated content required revision;
- Zero critical problems and no serious nonconformities;
- Sustained productivity of around 50,000 words per day, per language.
Conclusion
This project demonstrates SMARTIDIOM’s ability to be a reliable, low-risk partner, even for the most demanding LSP programmes. When faced with a huge volume and a relentless deadline, we proved that speed does not have to compromise quality. In the end, our collaboration enabled the LSP agency to fulfil its promises to the end client, and demonstrated how SMARTIDIOM adds value as a consultative, quality-orientated extension of large teams of language service providers.
What this client says
“We knew that this project would be a real test of our supplier’s capabilities and SMARTIDIOM exceeded our expectations. They put together a qualified team almost overnight and integrated perfectly into our workflow. Despite the volume and the deadline, the quality was excellent.”
Global Talent Manager, top20 global LSP