Target audience: Project Managers
Overview
XTRF Language Business Platform is a powerful tool to automate your projects including full information management about the files and notifications coming from your partners: clients and vendors. Automatic document management accelerates your project where the Project Manager can streamline the information flow through the vendors activities. As a result, you need to spend much less time on coordinating the communication between all people participating in the projects, and the translation process requires less effort even while translating documents to many languages. Within XTRF Platform you can create even very complex projects where clients can specify their requirements and where vendors can work in the most efficient way. This article describes how to provide basic information for your project and include all data in a functional specification. You are guided on how to prepare a project where the file is supposed to be translated into two languages. If you require a more complex solution, you can also apply the description presented below, however it might require additional involvement to repeat the steps from a given section.
Create Your Project
To put your project up on XTRF Platform, you need only to start your work. Let's create one!
The very first step of creating a project is providing basic information, such as the name of your project, what kind of activities the project should include, and who is going to manage the project at your company. This triggers the whole process of creating a project.
Click to perform the steps...
To trigger the process of creating a project, perform the following steps:
| Sign in to the XTRF Home Portal. |
| Click the Projects module icon in the left-hand panel. A list of previous projects appears. |
| Click the Add Project button on top of the list. OR Click the button on top of the page and select the Project button from the drop-down menu. You are redirected to the Add Project display. |
| In the Name field provide a unique and concise title for your project. |
| From the Client drop-down menu select an existing client you create this project for. 
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| From the Service drop-down menu select the service you want to offer your client in this project. Be sure to choose a service for Classic Projects. To learn more about Services, see the Services for the Clients article. |
| Click the Add Project button. You are redirected to the Main Data tab of the Add Project display. Here you can add some details about the project. From the Client Price Profile drop-down menu select the price profile with the rates you want to apply for this project. (Optional) In the Client PO Number field provide the client’s Purchase Order number. From the Contact Person drop-down menu select a person who will be responsible for the project from the client’s side. When the work is finished, the files will be sent to this person. (Optional) In the Project Template section you can specify which template should be applied to this project. From the Project Manager drop-down menu select a user responsible for this project from your company’s side. By default, the system automatically selects the currently signed-in user. (Optional) From the Project Coordinator drop-down menu select a user responsible for the specific tasks of the project. (Optional) From the Workflow drop-down menu select a workflow definition you want to use. This option accelerates the process of creating the project because in the Workflow Definition the jobs are already defined. (Optional) From the Specialization drop-down menu select the appropriate specialization. It will be used to find qualified vendors for this project. In the Added on field provide the project creation date. By default, the system sets the current date and time automatically. Click on the icon or enter the date and time manually. In the Start Date and Time field decide when the entire project should begin. Click on the icon or enter the date and time manually. (Optional) In the Deadline field decide when the work should be finished and the files delivered to your client. Click on the icon or enter the date and time manually. 
Click the Save button at the bottom of the page. You have just set up a project with basic information.
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One of the most important things while setting up a project is defining the languages of your source and target files. This can be done in the
Create Project Language Combination display.
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To select the language combination, follow the steps:
| In the Mode section select the radio button of the method you want to use for your translation process: One to Many: In this workflow you will process the files from one source language to many target languages. If you want to make a simple translation from one language to another, just choose only one target language. Many to One: In this workflow you will process the files in different source languages to one target language.
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| From the Source Language drop-down menu select the language of the client’s source files. |
| In the Target Language multi-selection field add the language(s) of the output files. Double-click on a language in the Available Items list in order to add it to the Selected Items list. |
| Click the Add button. You have just defined the source and target languages as the language combination in the newly created projec |

Each project contains one or a set of tasks associated with a given language combination. You need to create a task for each language combination because at the lower level each task contains jobs which are assigned to proper vendors. This results in each vendor performing a given job such as translation or editing for a given language. It also means that you manage the project from the task level where every single task is a set of services purchased by your client.
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To create a task for a given project, perform the following steps:
| (Optional) Provide all data in the Main Data tab. All required settings are already set up because the information is transferred from the recorded item's data. |
| Click the Save button. The task appears below its associated language combination in the left-hand panel. |

When you have created the tasks for your project, you need to attach proper files to them. It might happen that you can upload the same files for all language combination or only for some of them. You can upload single files in different formats or you can zip your files into one and attach this package to your task.
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To upload the source file for a given task in your project, perform the steps:
| On the left-hand side select a task to which you want to upload the files. The selected item appears in boldface. 
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| Click the icon. |
| Go to the Workflow Graph tab. |
| In the Workflow Graph tab you can find a diagram presenting your translation process. Select the files item in the Task Input graph box. 
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| Click the Add button in the Task Input graph box. |
| The Upload File pop-up window appears. - Click the Add files... button in the Upload File tab. The file manager window available on your local machine appears.
- Select the files you want to upload to the XTRF's project: you can attach one or more files. The names of the attached files should appear in the Upload File pop-up window.
- Define what kind of files set you are uploading from the Bundle drop-down menu. The types of bundles must be defined while creating a Workflow Definition.
- Click the Save button.
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| The Upload File pop-up window closes. You can see the uploaded files in the Task Input diagram box. 
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Selecting vendors for the activities means that you need to assign them to different jobs, for example a translator with German specialization should be assigned to perform the German translation of a given document. This exemplifies the scenario where vendors do jobs typical for their professions in the localization process. The jobs constitute each task for a given language combination and might be done by different vendors. This guide shows a project with two tasks, each of them containing only one translation job. Assigning a vendor to a job is a mandatory step in the process of creating a project in the Home Portal. In the following scenario, you are going to assign a vendor manually, which means that you have already contacted your vendor who has accepted to do the offered job.
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To assign a vendor to a given activity in your project, follow the steps:
| On the left-hand side select a task which you want to assign a vendor to. The selected item appears in boldface. 
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| Click the icon. |
| In the Workflow Graph tab click the Select Vendor button on the desired job diagram box. The Job pop-up window appears. 
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| In the Job pop-up window select a vendor you want to assign to a given job clicking the Select Vendor button. List of the vendors defined in the Home Portal appears. - Select a vendor:
- Select a vendor you want to do a given job by double-clicking their price profile on the list.
- You might want to narrow the displayed vendor entries using a search filter. Next, double-click a vendor to assign this person to a job.
- Click the
icon in the Deadline section. The calendar pop-up window appears.
- Select a month and year as a deadline date for your project.
- Select a day as a deadline date for your project. The calendar pop-up window closes.
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| Click the Save button. The Job pop-up window closes. The vendor is assigned to a workflow job, therefore the status of a job is set to Accepted.
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When you have created the project where the vendors have been assigned to all jobs, you need to take care of the financial statements of the project. First, you need to prepare individual charges paid to the vendor for the job. In XTRF Platform the vendor financing is called a payable. For each single job you need to prepare a payable which includes charges, discounts, and surcharges.
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To add a payable for a given job in the project, follow the steps:
| On the left-hand side select a task which you want to add a payable to. The selected item appears in boldface. 
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| Click the icon. |
| Go to the Jobs tab. In the Jobs tab you can find all jobs which are supposed to be performed in the project. In this case, only the translation job is displayed. |
| Click the icon for a given job. You are redirected to the last visited tab for the selected job. |
| Go to the Payables tab. 
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| Click the Add Payable button. The Job Payable pop-up window appears: provide the following data: - Click the Job Payable radio-button in the Payable Type section.
- From the Calculation Unit drop-down menu select the unit to calculate the cost for the vendor's service, for example the source word.
Provide the value of the rate in the Rate Value field. - In the Quantity section provide the amount of a material processed by the vendor. You can do it as follow:
- Provide the number manually
- Click the Import from... button to get the number from the file statistics.
- (Optional) Leave some additional information in the Description field.

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| Click the Save button. The Job Payable pop-up window closes. |
| (Optional) If you want to provide some discounts or an additional charge you need to click the Edit button in the Discounts/Surcharges row in the table. |
| You have added the payable for the translation job for a given vendor. If you hover your mouse over the newly added payable you can see all details about the financial entry. 
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The last step before you start the jobs is adding a receivable in a project. Adding a receivable means that you want to charge the individual for each of the task jobs and, if required, include or remove discounts or surcharges. In the Receivable tab you can override the minimum charge defined in the client's price profile and use the task's lower total value instead. Note that the financial details provided in the receivable will be transferred into the invoice document when it comes to close a project.
Click to perform the steps...
To add a receivable for your client to charge for the desired service, perform the following steps:
| On the left-hand side select a task which you want to add a receivable to. The selected item appears in boldface. |
| Click the icon. |
| Go to the Receivables tab. |
| Click the Add Receivable button. The Task Receivable pop-up window appears. Provide the following data: - Select the Task Receivable radio button in the Receivable Type section.
- Select a service which you want to charge your client for. In the example, the translation job is selected.
- Select the unit to charge your client for the service from the Calculation Unit drop-down menu, for example the source word.
Provide the number of your rate in the Rate Value field. - In the Quantity field provide the amount of material to be processed. You can do it as follows:
- Provide the number manually.
- Click the Import from... button to get the number from the file statistics.
- In the Discount/Surcharge section click the Edit button to define the discount or surcharge for your client.

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| Click the Save button. The Task Receivable pop-up window closes. |
| You have added the receivable for the given task. If you hover your mouse over the newly added receivable you can see all details about the financial entry. |

For each language combination you need to create a task. If you have created one task, instead of creating the next ones and manually reentering all information, you can copy an existing task in the project. While copying the task, you specify which information you want to duplicate in the new task or provide data specific only to the task being copied. Note that you can copy provided information, but even more, you make a copy of the input files uploaded in the original task. In addition, while copying a task, you can set up a different workflow of the vendors' activities. The receivables and payables can also be propagated.
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To copy the existing task and set up the options appropriately, follow the steps:
| In the Task display click the Copy Task button. The new display with the duplicated data of the existing task appears. |
| Select which the existing task should be copied from the Task drop-down menu. |
| In the Languages multiple selection field, decide which language combination the new task will be created for. Double-click the desired language combination in the Available Items list. Items in the Selected Items list represent the language combinations which will receive a copy of the task. |
| (Optional) You can select which information will be copied to the new task such as vendors, payables, or input files. |
| Click the Copy Task button. 
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| You can see your newly copied task under its selected language combination. 
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When you have planned the work for a given project by creating all tasks and assigning the vendors, you can start to execute the jobs. This is a one-click action in the Workflow Graph tab.
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To start the workflow for your task in the project, follow the steps below:
| On the left-hand side select a task to which you want to start. The selected item appears in boldface. 
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| Click the icon. |
| Go to the Workflow Graph tab. |
| In the Workflow Graph tab you can find a diagram presenting your translation process. Check if the job status is set to Accepted. In other words, the Accepted status means that the vendor has accepted the offered job and enables you to start your project workflow for a given task. 
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| Click the Start Workflow button in the left-bottom corner of the workflow graph box. |
| The status of the job has changed to Started: 
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