Most organisations that decide to put their translation work in order start designing a process straight away. Yet what determines which process is needed is what the current situation is, and this is generally not known.
First the current situation is made visible
It is worked out who had what translated by which supplier over the past year. In most organisations this list has never been made, and when it is made for the first time it gives a surprising picture.
It starts with three questions
Which departments produce requests, which types of document recur, how large is the total volume. The answer to these three questions is the basis of all the later decisions.
The data is already there
Invoices, e-mail correspondence and file folders carry this information. It can be extracted from the existing records without setting up a new system.
The number turns out different from the estimate
The total volume and the total expenditure are generally far from the common estimate inside the organisation. This difference produces of its own accord the justification needed to argue for improvement.
Duplicate jobs are the first finding
The fact that the same document has been translated in two departments is visible at once when the list is drawn up, and it is the item that is easiest to correct.
Setting up a process is the second step
A request form or an approval flow set up without measurement produces a solution not to the real problem but to the assumed problem.
The start is small
Instead of an arrangement that covers the whole organisation, it is possible to start with the one or two departments that produce the most volume. Once the result has been seen, the roll-out becomes easier.
Counter-view: this inventory takes time
It is true that going through a past year calls for effort. But this is a few days of work, and in return the basis of decisions that will last for years is formed; a process set up on guesswork, on the other hand, is corrected afresh every year.
An owner is named
If it is not defined whose responsibility this work is, the inventory is drawn up once and is not updated.
The findings are shared in writing
When the total volume and the distribution are shared inside the organisation, the justification for the later steps has been shared as well.
The easiest gain is taken first
Preventing duplicate jobs or removing an unnecessary type of document produces an early and visible result.
The target is not set high from the outset
Trying to move to a mature structure in a single step ends, more often than not, with no step being completed.
The first measurement is the baseline
The effect of later improvements can be shown only by comparing them with these first numbers.
Data can be requested from the supplier too
The records of the existing suppliers complement the internal search and fill in the parts that remained missing.
Takeaway
The first step is not to set up a process but to measure the current situation. Answering the three questions, extracting the data from the existing records, sharing the findings in writing and taking the easiest gain first: these four build all the later steps not on guesswork but on measurement.