The first task required of project managers, when creating a schedule for a localization project is to define all tasks and activities. Most of this information should be generated from a thorough project evaluation. Detailed scheduling can only be performed once

the material has been received and analyzed. Analyze new material using existing translation memories from previous versions of the product in order to accurately budget the amount of time required to translate help or documentation files.

A project manager creates a time schedule at the very beginning of the project, outlining the start and end dates for all activities in the localization project. These activities would include:

• Terminology setup and multilingual glossary preparation, including client review

• Project setup and preparation, including evaluation of source material and extraction of translatable text

• Translation of software, online help and documentation, including all review steps and proofreading

• Engineering and testing of software and help, including screen capture creation

• DTP of documentation, including screen captures and output to PostScript or online documentation format

• Quality assurance and final production

Make sure to allow time for activities such as conversion to and from the translation memory tool, compilation of localization kits, preparation of files for delivery, etc. These tasks are easily forgotten, which may lead to schedule problems, particularly with multilingual projects.

When all tasks have been defined, project managers should evaluate the following aspects of the project, which are critical to creating an accurate project schedule:

• Dependencies, i.e. which activities need to be completed before another activity can start?

• Sequence of activities

• Workload and duration of each activity

• Resource assignments

Each task will cover a certain period and a certain resource will be assigned to each activity.

Dependencies

Localization projects usually contain many dependencies. The most important dependency is the receipt of the source material on time. If no source files have been received from the publisher on the agreed date, there is very little that can be done to expedite the project.

Examples of dependencies between project activities are:

• Translation of online help or documentation files containing references to a software application cannot be completed unless the software has been translated and tested.

• Translated material cannot be proofread until the translations have been edited.

• Client reviews cannot proceed until material has been translated and edited.

• Engineering of software and online help cannot proceed until translation has been completed.

• Software screen captures cannot be created until the software has been localized, engineered and tested.

• DTP on documentation and testing of online help files cannot be completed until all screen captures and other graphics have been localized.

• Localized online help cannot be converted to other formats until the help has been completely localized, engineered and tested.