Translation Management System Scorecards

Transcription

1 Translation Management System Scorecards A Ranking of Feature Coverage in Commercial TMS Offerings By Benjamin B. Sargent and Donald A. DePalma

2 Translation Management System Scorecards By Benjamin B. Sargent and Donald A. DePalma ISBN: Copyright 2007 by Common Sense Advisory, Inc., Lowell, Massachusetts, United States of America. Published by: Common Sense Advisory, Inc. 100 Merrimack Street Suite 301 Lowell, MA USA or No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Permission requests should be addressed to the Permissions Department, Common Sense Advisory, Inc., Suite 301, 100 Merrimack Street, Lowell, MA , , info@commonsenseadvisory.com. See for usage guidelines. Trademarks: Common Sense Advisory, Global Watchtower, Global DataSet, DataPoint, Globa Vista, Quick Take, and Technical Take are trademarks of Common Sense Advisory, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Information is based on the best available resources at the time of analysis. Opinions reflect the best judgment of Common Sense Advisory s analysts at the time, and are subject to change.

3 Translation Management System Scorecards i Table of Contents Topic... 1 Managing Business Activities for Translation Workflow... 1 How to Navigate This Report... 1 Who Should Read This Report?... 2 Analysis... 3 How You Can Buy Translation Management Systems... 3 TMS Subcategories and Features You Should Expect... 5 Business Management Keeps the Lights On... 6 Process Management Ensures Job Flow... 7 Language Management Centralizes Translation Assets... 9 Summary Scoring by System Type System Scorecards Legend for System Scorecards Feature Coverage for Translation Management Systems The Basics The Core Technology Standards and Integration File Handling across Language Server Advanced International Translations Projetex Beetext Productivity Solutions Idiom WorldServer Lido-Lang XTRF Lingotek Lionbridge Freeway The Language Technology Centre - LTC Organizer Plunet BusinessManager ]project-open[ Sajan GCMS SDL TMS SDL Trados Synergy thebigword Translations.com GlobalLink GMS Transware Ambassador TMS Selection Worksheet About Common Sense Advisory Future Research Figures Figure 1: Discrete Activities Drive Different Applications (listed alphabetically)... 5 Figure 2: Essential Features for Translation Management... 6 Figure 3: Feature Scorecard Example Copyright 2007 by Common Sense Advisory, Inc. Month 2007

4 ii Translation Management System Scorecards Figure 4: across Language Server Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 5: AIT Projetex Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 6: Beetext Flow Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 7: Idiom WorldServer Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 8: Lido-Lang XTRF Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 9: Lingotek Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 10: Lionbridge Freeway 2.0 Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 11: LTC Organizer Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 12: Plunet BusinessManager Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 13: ]project-open[ Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 14: Sajan GCMS 2006 Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 15: SDL TMS Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 16: SDL Trados Synergy 2006 Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 17: thebigword Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 18: translations.com GlobalLink GMS Feature Coverage Scorecard Figure 19: Transware Ambassador 6.8 Feature Coverage Scorecard Tables Table 1: Adoption Options by Vendor... 4 Table 2: Feature Coverage Scoring for Business Management Sample... 7 Table 3: Feature Coverage Scoring for Process Management Sample... 8 Table 4: Feature Coverage Scoring for Language Management Sample... 9 Table 5: How the Translation Management Systems Fared by Category Table 6: Comprehensive Systems Those That Scored Five or Higher in All Areas.. 12 Table 7: File Handling Capabilities Table 8: across Corporate Revenue and Breakout Table 9: Language Server File Handling and Adoption Options Table 10: AIT Corporate Revenue and Breakout: Table 11: Projetex File Handling and Adoption Options Table 12: Beetext Corporate Revenue and Breakout Table 13: Beetext Flow File Handling and Adoption Options Table 14: Idiom Corporate Revenue and Breakout Table 15: WorldServer File Handling and Adoption Options Table 16: Lido-Lang Corporate Revenue and Breakout Table 17: XTRF File Handling and Adoption Options Table 18: Lingotek Corporate Revenue and Breakout Table 19: Lingotek File Handling and Adoption Options Table 20: Lionbridge Corporate Revenue and Breakout Table 21: Freeway 2.0 File Handling and Adoption Options Table 22: Language Technology Centre Corporate Revenue and Breakout Table 23: LTC Organizer File Handling and Adoption Options Table 24: Plunet Corporate Revenue and Breakout Table 25: BusinessManager File Handling and Adoption Options Table 26: Project-Open Corporate Revenue and Breakout Copyright 2007 by Common Sense Advisory, Inc.

5 iii Translation Management System Scorecards Table 27: ]project-open[ File Handling and Adoption Options Table 28: Sajan Corporate Revenue and Breakout Table 29: GCMS 2006 File Handling and Adoption Options Table 30: SDL Corporate Revenue and Breakout Table 31: SDL TMS File Handling and Adoption Options Table 32: SDL Corporate Revenue and Breakout Table 33: SDL Trados Synergy 2006 File Handling and Adoption Options Table 34: thebigword Corporate Revenue and Breakout Table 35: thebigword File Handling and Adoption Options Table 36: Translations.com Corporate Revenue and Breakout Table 37: GlobalLink GMS File Handling and Adoption Options Table 38: Transware Corporate Revenue and Breakout Table 39: Ambassador 6.8 File Handling and Adoption Options Table 40: TMS Selection Worksheet Business Management Table 41: TMS Selection Worksheet Process Management Table 42: TMS Selection Worksheet Language Management Copyright 2007 by Common Sense Advisory, Inc.

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7 Translation Management System Scorecards 1 Topic Managing Business Activities for Translation Workflow While researching Translation Management Technology (Dec06), we amassed a huge quantity of information about the offerings of two dozen suppliers of translation management systems (TMS) in North America and Europe. For this report, we evaluated this data for 16 of these suppliers against the criteria we established for this market sector. This report also presents relevant features and functionality in a consistent format for prospective buyers. The longest section of this report includes details about solutions from across, Advanced International Translations, Beetext, Idiom, Lido-Lang, Lingotek, Lionbridge, The Language Technology Centre, Plunet, ]project-open[, Sajan, SDL, thebigword, Translations.com, and Transware. We will add other vendors as we continue our investigations into this topic. These suppliers represent a cross-section of the TMS development community, including commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software and what we call captive systems that are available only as part of a service engagement. We chose to represent this information in a catalog format to capture details that we consider to be important and that will allow us to track innovations over time as we update this research. How to Navigate This Report This report is divided into three sections: A summary of translation management system issues and typology. To save you time flipping back and forth between documents, this report briefly summarizes the TMS marketplace. It summarizes information from our December 2006 research, including TMS subcategories. In this section we present the consolidated scores for all 16 TMS solutions in comparative tables. These comparisons show how well they met the criteria we set for business, workflow, and language management. Individual product assessment. This catalog-like section assesses each product according to the major functions of a translation management system. It also presents relevant data for anyone making a purchase decision. Copyright 2007 by Common Sense Advisory, Inc.

8 2 Translation Management System Scorecards Finally, it presents a Coolness Factor and Potential Issues to alert prospective buyers to some hot and cold aspects of the products. A worksheet for selecting a TMS. This section includes three checklists that will help you determine which product best meets your needs. A report later this year will gauge the success of these suppliers in actually meeting customer requirements. Who Should Read This Report? This report provides an overview of the capabilities found in TMS and an assessment of leading solutions. It is directly relevant both to enterprise buyers of translation services and technology and to language service providers looking to automate their translation operations. The report should appeal to: Any organization that distributes global content. Planners at multinational companies, government agencies, military and intelligence units, and nongovernmental organizations that globalize their websites, documents, products, and other materials will learn what technology is available to support translation and related business activities. Many organizations will turn to web-hosted or software-enabled service providers to obtain some or all of these capabilities, and the solutions discussed in this report include those options. Suppliers of language services. Language service providers (LSPs) rely on software tools and vertically oriented business systems to increase the efficiency of their knowledge-based services activity. This report will help them select, manage, and perfect their internal and customer-facing translation management systems for operational and business effectiveness. Suppliers of translation management systems and tools. Managers, marketers, engineers, and business consultants responsible for developing, selling, and integrating software products that support translation management will benefit from the discussion of market requirements and technology dynamics. Copyright 2007 by Common Sense Advisory, Inc.