This item is setting up the collection of the organisation's translation requests at a single point and with the same information. It is an arrangement made on the buyer's side, not on the supplier's side.
Scope
Mapping the existing flow, determining the mandatory fields, placing the form in the environment the organisation uses and testing it in a pilot department fall within this item.
Out of scope
Developing the organisation's own systems is outside this item; recommendations and definitions are produced.
First output: map of the current situation
Which department generates how many requests through which channel is worked out and shown in a single table. This table determines what the flow to be set up will be designed around.
Second output: field definitions
Mandatory and optional fields are written down together with what each one is for. The number of mandatory fields is kept limited because it directly affects the completion rate.
Third output: the form
The definitions are placed in the environment the organisation actually uses and delivered in working order. Which environment to choose follows from the map of the current situation.
Fourth output: role table
Who will open the request, who will receive it and who their deputies are is written in a four-column table. The communication channel also sits in this table.
Pilot run
The flow is tested in a single department and the difficulties that emerge are listed. This list makes up the points to be corrected before roll-out and is the real output of the pilot.
What inputs are needed
The request correspondence or the invoices of a past year, and the list of tools the organisation uses. Without these two inputs the map of the current situation cannot be drawn up.
Roll-out plan
The order and the interval in which departments will be brought in are written down. When a large number of departments are added at the same time, support cannot keep up and the arrangement does not fully settle in any of them.
Handover after set-up
The form, the definitions document and the role table are delivered to the organisation. Operating the flow is the organisation's own job.
Unit of measurement
Set-up is assessed according to the number of departments covered and how scattered the existing flow is. The more scattered it is, the longer the mapping step takes.
When it is not needed
In organisations where a single department generates a small number of requests, this item may not be needed; the existing correspondence arrangement may be enough. The decision is made by looking at the map of the current situation.
Relationship with measurement
The flow that is set up is the data source for later measurements. When request dates and fields are on record, setting up indicators does not require a separate data collection exercise.
Relationship with the archive
Searching the archive first for an incoming request can be added to the flow as a step. This step prevents the same document from being translated a second time, at the request stage.
Takeaway
The request flow is the cheapest and most neglected area for improvement in the translation process. Measuring the current situation, four mandatory fields, an environment the organisation really uses and a pilot trial: changes of capacity or supplier made without these four in place produce the same result at a higher price.