This document discusses information quality and its impact on translation costs and time to market. It notes that as writing has become more distributed and global, information quality has suffered, leading to increased translation costs of up to 30% compared to what is needed. It advocates for quality management principles like standards, metrics, and quality built into early stages to reduce these costs and help businesses do more with less.

1. It’s What’s Between the
Tags that Counts
Control Information Quality to reduce
translation cost and time to market
Andrew Bredenkamp (standing in for Kent Taylor)
CEO - acrolinx

2. Overview
• Abbreviated History
• The Result - Global Information Quality and Cost Issues
• Quality Management Principles
• Information Quality
• Information Quality Management Tools
• Q&A

3. The Drivers
Technology
• Analog → Digital
• Internet
Philosophy
• US only → Global
• Collaborative Scheduling → Market-driven deadlines
• Quality at any cost → Do more with less

4. What’s going on?
• Independent writing groups g interconnected, distributed teams
• Print g digital media (CD, Web, Help)
• Unstructured authoring g structured authoring
• Monolithic “documents” g topic-based writing (supporting reuse and
repurposing)
• feature-oriented g task-oriented
• “Writing + Translation” g global information development (also on-demand)
• “Product development + documentation” g coherent “user experience”

5. The Result:
Process Change
The way it was …
• Collect Source Material
• Write Draft -> Edit Draft -> Review Draft
• Write Final -> Edit Final -> Review/QA Final
• Produce Master -> QA Master
• Reproduce – QC (Statistical Sampling)
• Distribute
The way it is …
• Write -> Hit RETURN -> Global Distribution

6. And quality? What quality?
• Paper or web style guides are not consistently used
• Terminology is in the wrong place
• Reuse is not granular enough
• Risks and costs of quality are not appreciated
• 5-10% of global content is under QA
• 25-35% of content (including translation memory content) is redundant
• Every new language costs ≈ 30% more than it needs to...
• ... but that’s where the growth is!

7. So what can we do about it?
• Manage Quality
• Create content with quality built in. Information Quality Management consists
of three key components:
• Best practice writing standards (spelling, grammar, style)
• Terminology (technology and branding)
• Intelligent Reuse (consistent wording)

8. The Bottom Line Part 1:
Doing more with less costs more!
• We’ve effectively applied technology to increase volume and
speed of information development, production, and distribution,
but ...
• Information Quality has suffered, and the costs associated with
poor quality increase daily
• Translations cost more than necessary, and may slow your globalization
strategy
• Non-native speakers have difficulty reading your English content, and are
less likely buy your products
• Misinterpretations of your content can lead to increased support costs,
accidents, and/or litigation.
• Every shortcut taken in authoring adds a corresponding cost -
multiplied 5, 10, 15 … 30 times or more - in
translation/localization.

9. The Results - Readability
Case Study:
• In one 1,100,000-word software manual set:
• 15% of words were simply not needed
• “We suggest that you use…” > “Use”
• Translation: $40,000 per language
• Production: ~330 pages less (~$66) per copy (~ $66,000)
• 30% of sentences were at a graduate-school reading level
• 50% of sentences were at a college reading level or higher
• 85% of sentences were at a high-school reading level or higher

10. What does this mean in practice?

11. Content reuse (how not to)
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA012303211033.aspx
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291875

12. ... and this:
Please enter start date before or equal to the end date. The Status End Date is either earlier than the Start Date
Please enter a start date earlier than or the same as the end date. of the Assignment or later than its End Date.
Please enter an end date that is later than the start date.
Please enter an actual start date earlier than the actual end date.
Date To must be later than or equal to Date From.
The Start Date cannot exceed the End Date.
The Date To must be later than the Date Received.
The End Date cannot precede the Start Date.
The actual end date must be on or after the actual start date.
End Date must be later than Start Date.
End date should be greater than start date.
End date must be equal to or later than the start date.
End Date cannot be before the Start Date.
The end date must be later than or the same as the start date.
The start date must be prior to the end date.
End Time must be later than the Start Time.
You entered a start date later than the end date.
The valid grade's end date must be later than or equal to its start date.
Ending range must be later or the same as starting range
Please enter an End Date that is later than or the same as the Start Date.
Please enter a new start date later than the original end date.
Competence end date has to be later than or equal to the start date.
The ending date must be later than or the same as the
The start date cannot be later than the end date.
beginning date.
The appraisal end date must be later than or equal to appraisal start date.
The date to has to be later than or equal to date from.
The Effective start date cannot be later than the Effective end date.
End Date must be greater than Start Date.
Date from cannot be later than date to.
You cannot enter an "End Date" that is before your "Start Date."
The start date must be on or before the end date.
End Date must be greater than or equal to Start Date.
The Start Date cannot be after the End Date.
Please enter a start date that is before the end date.
Your end date must be after your start date.
The end date you enter must be between the grade's start and
The end date cannot be before the start date.
end dates.
Start date must be before end date.
The start date you enter must be between the grade's start and
Your start date must be before your end date.
end dates.
Enter a Start
The projected end date must be on or after the projected start
date.
The Period start date cannot be later than the Period end date.

13. The Result – Translation Issues
Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a
good time. (In a Rome laundry)
Please fasten seatbelt to prepare for crash. (Tokyo Taxi)
Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food, give
it to the guard on duty.
(at a Budapest zoo)
Caution: Blade Extremely Sharp! Keep out of children. (Multipurpose
Knife Instructions)
Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar. (In a Norwegian
cocktail lounge)
Drop your trousers here for the best results.
(Thai Dry Cleaner)

14. Product Information Ecosystem
Marketing
& Pre-sales Technical
Documentation
Market “In-product”
Analysis Technical Information
Specifications Regulatory
Information
Partner/OEM
Information Support
Knowledgebase
Training FAQ
Material

15. The Result – Translation Cost
25% reduction
13% reduction
15% reduction
46% 9% reduction
20% reduction
25% reduction
© 2006 Comtech Services, Inc.

16. Effect on TM Reuse: example

17. The Bottom Line Part 2:
Quality doesn’t cost – it pays!
• Translatability/Readability
• High Quality content costs up to 30% less to translate
• Quality content is easier for non-native speakers to read
• Call deferrals
• Consistent terminology and style  better indexing  better search 
better self-help  fewer calls
• Product liability risk management
• Certifiable quality  manageable risk
• Internal process efficiencies and cost savings
• Less rework
• Less copy editing
• Cleaner handoffs between process tasks
• Less “friction”: fewer Writer/Editor/SME “debates”

18. Getting Started…
General Quality Management Principles
• Formal, documented Standards and processes
• Metrics Driven
• Real-time feedback to process participants (QA)
• Test results/reports at process gates (QC)
• Quality built-in from the beginning
• Focus on continuous quality improvement

19. Definition…
Technical Information Quality
• Key criteria:
• Compliant with relevant standards and guides
• Correct (grammar and spelling)
• Consistent (style, terminology)
• Concise
• Result:
• Easier to read and understand
• Easier , quicker, and less costly to translate

20. Pop Quiz!
• Do you have Information Quality Standards?
• Do you monitor, measure, and track conformance to these Standards?
• Do you provide meaningful, actionable, real-time quality feedback to
Writers and Editors?
• Do you collect Quality metrics consistently and objectively?
• Are Information Quality metrics collected on every information product
you deliver?
• Can you conclusively demonstrate Quality improvements?
• Can you tie time and cost reductions directly to Information Quality
improvements?
• Is your CFO happy with current translation/localization costs?

21. Where to Start?
product data: 0.1 - 0.2
documentation design: 0.5
Moving
authoring: 1.0 quality
management
Savings
editing: 2.0 upstream
reduces
costs
©J Schütz & R Nübel, IAI
acceptance: 5.0
translation: 10.0
maintenance: 20.0
The unit cost of fixing term errors
at different points of the Content Supply Chain

22. acrolinx - the company
• World leader in Information Quality Assurance (we invented it )
• Spin-off from German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)
• Technology under development since 1997 (since 2002 as acrolinx)
• Users in 25 countries, checking around millions words a month

23. Some of our customers
Software Life Sciences Communications Industrial Technology
Adobe Dräger AlcatelLucent DAF Bosch
Autodesk GE Cisco HOMAG Embraer
CA Medtronic Huawei John Deere KonicaMinolta
EMC Siemens Motorola MAN Philips
IBM SonyEricsson SEW Eurodrive
SAS Institute Siemens
Leica
Symantec
GeoSystems

24. The acrolinx Information Quality Suite

25. acrocheck Writer/Editor Interface
on-demand checking and guidance
• acrocheck toolbar
• Color-coded flags
(like spell check on
steroids!) an delay
Style
Terminology
New term
Spelling
Grammar
• Auto-fix
• Suggestions and
examples
• New term harvesting and
control

26. acrocheck Information Quality Status
Report - I
Settings and Result Overview ▼show | hide
Status Results
Spelling 2 Results
Grammar 3 Results
Style 18 Results
Terminology 11 Results
New Terms
Administrative Information ▼show | hide
User Name kent
License ID Acrolinx Internal / kent
file://C:/Documents and Settings/Kent Taylor/My
File Name Documents/Acrolinx/sampleDocs/Word/Topspin 360
Quick Start-Reuse.doc
Rule Set Demo
File format application/word
Document language English
Checking scope 618 word(s) / 77 sentence(s)
Date and time of check Sat Sep 22 07:16:48 MDT 2007
Version information Plug-in : 3.1.0 (build : 384) / Server : 3.5.0 (build : 1622)
Resources standard : 3.5.0 (build: 139 / 2007-09-10)
Term banks used Switches
Checking status (score: 138)

27. acrocheck Content Quality Status
Report - II
Result - Spelling ▼show | hide
Word Count Suggestion Context
One managment workstation, such as a PC running
managment 1 management
terminal-emulation software
chais
chases
chasms
chasis 1 The chasis cable kit (included)
chassis
phasis
Phasis
Result - Grammar ▼show | hide
Summary
a_an_distinction 1
avoid_duplicates 1
wrong_sequence_of_words 1
Details
a_an_distinction
Install a additional switch blade: → Install an additional switch blade:
avoid_duplicates
Tighten the screws to the on the left and right- Tighten the screws on the left and right-hand sides of
→
hand sides of the IB switch card. the IB switch card.
Tighten the screws to the left and right-hand sides of
the IB switch card.

28. acrocheck Project Management Report
metrics and reporting I
• Summary
metrics for
entire project
• Customer
definable
scores,
weightings and
thresholds
• Overall scores
can be used to
optimize
workflow

29. acrocheck Project Management Report
metrics and reporting II
• Summary report
for each metric
category
• Color-coded
status indicators
• XML or Database
storage
• Active links to
individual reports
and document
files

30. Content Quality Management
A Real-World Example
Excerpt from a Best Practices Presentation, 2006
• Savings of as much as $1M in a year so far
• Projected savings of $3M per year for the next 5 years
• Translation costs for MT projects cut by 50%
• Time to market for MT projects cut by 50%
• 40% reuse of content
• 75% reuse for localization

31. Bottom Line
Information Quality improvement doesn’t cost …
It PAYS!

32. The role of quality management
• By defining and deploying (a.k.a. enforcing) standards:
• All information in the product works together
(coherent product information)
• The customer knows what you do
(consistent branding)
• Costs of going to (new) markets is manageable
(reduced localization costs)

33. Return on Investment
• Reduced product liability risk
‣ Certifiable and documented quality
• Reduced support and maintenance costs
‣ Coherent after-sales information
• Reduced costs of entering new markets
‣ Translation costs reduced by 20-30%

34. Questions?
More Information:
www.acrolinx.com
US Contact: Kent Taylor
970.921.3700 | kent@acrolinx.com
European Contact: Oliver Collmann
+49 (30) 288 84 83 41 | oliver@acrolinx.com

35. Intelligent Reuse (consistent wording)
• What’s wrong with “fuzzy” reuse?
• ... Fuzzy matching is great for translation!
• Fuzzy matching for authors doesn’t work because writing is not translation:
• Translation memory-based solutions:
• Cannot present focussed suggestions to users
• Does nothing for quality
• Does not reduce redundancy

36. Reusing TMs with fuzzy matching
• Writer types:
• WARNING: Switch power off only when the fan has stopped
• a fuzzy matching will offer:
• WARNING: Switch power on only when the fan has stopped
• WARNING: Switch power off before the fan has stopped
• but will not find:
• WARNING: Disconnect power only when the fan has stopped
• WARNING: Never switch the power off until the fan has stopped
• WARNING: Do not power down until the fan has stopped
• WARNING: You must wait until the fan has completely stopped before
switching off the power

37. Writer support?

38. acrolinx IQ Intelligent Reuse™
• Reuse for writers needs to:
• Maintain or improve quality
✓All suggestions are validated (and reliable for non-native speakers)
• Bring no significant overhead:
✓Typically there is only one suggestion
• Really reduce redundancy:
✓Linguistic search algorithms offer high precision
• No more overhead than spell checking

39. Some examples

40. Overview
• Who we are? acrolinx the company
• What we do? Information Quality Management
• The problem
• The solution
• The acrolinx Advantage
• Return on Investment
• Demos

41. The future of documentation
• The notion of “technical documentation” will start to disappear in the next 5-10
years
• ... to be replaced by “(product) information development”
• The notion of “source language” and “target language” will continue to erode
• Information development will increasingly become part of product
development

42. The role of documentation
• Merging of “in-product information” and “documentation”
• Konica-Minolta: product calls the service engineer before it needs
maintenance
• John Deere: combine harvester with 15 servers, internet access, GPS
controlled
• Siemens Medical: Synchronized console and maintenance information
• ... all products are becoming like software (actually they were all along)

43. Terminology Workflow

44. Best practice writing standards
Spelling Grammar “Style”
Server-based for lower Custom-built component for
Off the shelf writing standards
maintenance of custom dictionaries technical writers.
Integrated with terminology TÜV Certified
Support for non-native authors
management ASD STE Compliant
Specifically designed for technical
Can be easily adapted for specific Different standards can be set for
information (only shows genuine
applications (UI messages) different types of information
spelling errors)
Integrated with other checking Easily and quickly customizable to
Highly customizable
components meet customer needs

45. Reuse Workflow

46. Intelligent Reuse™
Building your Reuse Repository
acrolinx IQ Server
Terminology Writing
Standards
Intelligent Grammar
Reuse &
Spelling
Content / Translation Reuse
repository Repository
Clusters
micro-clustering the cat sat on the mat
The dog sat on the rug the cat sat on the carpet
The elk sat on the moss The cat slept on the sofa
The moose sat on the elk
review and release
the cat sat on the mat
this is a sentence you can’t read
Fish swam in the blue water
The fish swam in the green water
The fish swam in the red sea.
the cat sat on the mat
Another small test snippet
the cat sat on the mat
redundancy and quality
This is the same as the other one.
the cat sat on the malt
The cat ate on the mat
the cat sat on the doormat
the cat sat on the mat
filters
the cat sat on the mat.
the cat sat on the mat
The cat sat on the mat
More useless data points
the cat sat on the mat

47. Raising your corporate IQ
• best-practice writing standards
• spelling & grammar
• terminology
• intelligent reuse (write once, use many times)
• coming soon...
• Smart indexing assistant (the secret problem)
• “Markup Checker” (for example: UI strings)
• Link checker
• Translation QA