what i wish i had known - sdldownloadcentercdn.sdl.com/tridion/pdf/sdl-gim-nyc-2009...i wish i had...

What I Wish I Had KnownTales of implementing SDL TMS at VMware

James Ingalsbe

Senior Manager, Globalization Technology

September 23rd, 2009

Copyright © 2009 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at http://www.vmware.com/go/patents.

Ain’t it the Truth?

“When you're drowning, you don't say:

'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,'

you just scream.”

--- John Lennon


Company Overview~$1.9 B in 2008 revenue

Over $2B in cash

20%+ operating margins

~7,000 employees worldwide

5th largest infrastructure software company

Our Customers Love Us150,000+ VMware Customers

100% of Fortune 100

100% of Fortune Global 100

96% of Fortune 1000


VMware – The Industry Leader in Virtualization

*Source: Comprehensive survey of VMware customers conducted in July-August 2008





Over $2B in cash




Our Customers Love Us150,000+ VMware Customers

100% of Fortune 100


96% of Fortune 1000




Over $2B in cash




Our Customers 150,000+ VMware Customers

100% of Fortune 100


96% of Fortune 1000




89% of all virtualized applications in the world run on VMware. Gartner, December 2008


The Globalization Team at VMware

Consolidated Team under Corporate MarketingFormed 2 years ago with one person, now 35 worldwide

Responsible for localizing approximately 90% of customer-facing content (except our software products and tech docs)

Primarily support 9 languages; up to 13 for small projects

Use a mix of multi-lingual and single language vendors

Geographically disbursed – project managers and linguistic reviewers in each major market

Perform nearly all post-translation linguistic review


VMware’s Globalization Technology Stack Licensed from SDL International

Translation Management System (TMS)

Hosted automated translation workflow tool and translation memory database. Saves significant time and money by streamlining the process of translating documents and images with multiple vendors and reviewers.

Trados Professional

A powerful desktop tool for translators and reviewers to allow for offline translations.

MultiTerm Hosted terminology management database with over 1,200+ VMware specific terms in 11 languages which improves consistency and quality of translations.

Author Assistant

A software plug-in that allows English authors to auto-check content against the corporate Style Guide, terminology database and translation memories. The increased consistency of English content reduces costs of localization.

Trisoft CMSTP An DITA XML-based Content Management System for developing and managing technical documentation at the component level to allow for rapid publishing and localization.

Passolo R&D Desktop tool for localization of software user interfaces. Streamlines the process of incrementally translating menus, dialogs, & error messages before code freeze.

TP System owned and managed exclusively by Tech PubsR&D Implementation and Integration to be managed exclusively by R&D


VMware TMS Development Timeline – Phase One

Q1 - 2008 Q2 - 2008Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

1/7 Sr. Mngr, Globalization Technology hired

1/17 Kickoff meeting with SDL Professional Services

3/5 Solution Blueprint signoff

6/30 Functional Signoff

4/24 First training session on VMware’s TMS

6/18 User Acceptance Testing Starts

3/25 Scope Increased: DITA XML and VMware.com XML, New ‘Process Tracks’, TM Strategy and Cleanup

11/2707 PO Approved


VMware TMS Development Timeline – Phase Two

Q3 - 2008 Q4 - 2008July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

8/20 Full Day of TMS Admin Training

10/20 On site training for European PMs

10/30 User Acceptance Testing starts for VMware.com XML filter

8/6 First Pilot Projects Started


VMware TMS Development Timeline – Phase Three

Q1 - 2009 Q2 - 2009Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

2/19 Signoff on VMware.com XML Filter

3/19 First VMware.com project delivered

3/19 1,200 Terms in 11 languages loaded into MultiTerm

6/12 Delivered last vSphere file: ½ Million Words, 3 languages, 9000 xml files, 51% Leverage = 32% Savings in 11 weeks

7/21 Added a new vendor to TMS

3/25 Kickoff of vSphere project, largest product launch in company history

1/27 Added the ‘TM Update Workflow’ to TMS


Many Lessons Learned

If I had to do it all over again, would I have done it differently?

Of course!

If I had to do it all over again, would I have done it faster?

Probably

If I had to do it all over again, would I have done it cheaper?

Hmmmm… good question!


I Wish I Had Known…

The Importance of Benchmarking Current L10N Processes

Would have conducted an efficiency study to measure how long and expensive it was to localize materials before we began

Would have focused on both internal and external productivity to demonstrate to vendors how much easier it is for them to support our account = cost reductions

Data would have proven the true ROI of TMS including qualitative metrics such as human time avoided (people we didn’t have to hire), ability to predict and manage workload (avoid burn out), and faster time to market



The Staffing Requirements before and after launchFunctional Requirements Document (aka Solution Blueprint) takes considerable time and attention and lots of meetings to gather data and gain consensus

User Acceptance Testing was more extensive than predicted, requires internal teams and vendors to contribute

Training is an ongoing requirement, never ending

The Admin support after launch is not trivial; highly-specialized tasks



The Challenge of Consolidating our Terminology We discovered multiple glossaries maintained by multiple groups and vendors, no two were formatted the same

No formal information sharing between departments and groups, lots of politics surround terminology

Setting up the new tools wasn't as hard as creating a company-wide Terminology Core Team and keeping it motivated to contribute

Once created, the Terminology Database helps new linguistic reviewers come up to speed much faster and with better quality output



The Power of Real-Time File Analysis and Price QuotesWe used to never know how much something was going to cost or how long it would take to localize until after sending it to the vendors for their analysis

Now we can upload even rough draft content and get total word count and leverage stats — allowing us to set and meet more realistic deadlines while scope is still not fixed

Better utilization of our localization budget via exact price quotes instead of fuzzy, historical estimates



Vendor Reluctance to Embrace ChangeThey didn’t outright fight the implementation of TMS, but they were skeptical and reactive

Initially were suspicious and paranoid about their price lists being sent to SDL employees and uploaded into TMS

Feared “their TMs” would be corrupted by their competitors

Pilot projects really important for them to come up to speed

Ongoing communications important, share with them what’s being planned



The Importance of a Translation Memory StrategyWe initially had no clue how many translation memories were being used, all were maintained by each vendor with no proactive sharing

Found over 160 TMs with 5 vendors, each formatted differently with vastly different content

With SDL’s Professional Services team, worked out a cohesive, company-wide TM consolidation strategy

Now down to seven TMs, all properly sequenced with mutually agreed upon penalties and update rules



How vital comprehensive, ongoing, training isQuickly saw a need for creating an extranet for storing and disseminating training materials and guidelines

Important to record the audio and video of all online training sessions – from full day admin training to five minute “tips and tricks” sessions

Created a low-tech ‘Knowledge Base’ spreadsheet and allowed all internal and external users to contribute to it

Set up recurring meetings with all vendors and power-users to answer technical questions and share updates on new features

More training and communication means less files going into recovery and faster resolutions when they do



What I should have included in the initial Statement of Work

Set up of a TEST_ORG: A sandbox for submitting test jobsTM Assessment and Strategy: Separate project track lead by linguists and long term employees TM Update Workflow: Allows for jobs performed outside of TMS to be easily added to the Master TMsAuthoring TM: A ‘Meta-TM’ which contains the English segments from all other TMs to allow for better AuthorAssistant leverage reports CMS Integration and Testing: Significant expense that you may want to pay for upfront when you have strong Exec supportNew vendors and languages: Forecast your needs for 18 months, easier to do it initially then down the road



How much other SDL customers are willing to help with advice

Many of us learned the same hard lessons independently, happy to share experiences if only to gain good karma

Several large enterprise customers formed the SDL Users Group (www.sdlusers.com) to meet other software technology customers and share best practices

Collective power of the users group helping to drive SDL's product roadmap and support practices


In Conclusion – What you should do

Seek Out Knowledge From within your companyFrom multiple sources within SDLFrom other customers (Join www.sdlusers.com as soon as your contract is signed)From industry experts and analysts

Focus on planning firstDon’t do anything before securing strong executive sponsorshipBuild out and continuously update MS Project based schedulesDefine project scope, secure universal buy-inGet vendors to commit to TMS-based discounts BEFORE you add them to the systemGet SDL to recommend functional enhancements to out-of box systemDevelop staffing plan for 2 + years

Try a Phased ApproachDon’t do everything up front, focus on quick wins firstRoll out to one select vendor first, choose one who’s the most excited, not just the biggestDon’t add unnecessary risk: Pass on major product releases and campaigns until you’re sure


In Conclusion – What you shouldn’t do

Implement in a vacuum More expensive to go it alone, speed gains eventually eaten up when mergingEnd result is TMS sprawl and departments that fight changeNot enough corporate visibility

Try doing it on the cheapIf you can’t afford it, then wait till you canPulling out features and functions from the SOW will only delay deployment of a robust rolloutSchedule enhancements in phases to spread out payments

Let your IT or Security teams bully you into internal hostingBurden of proof should be on them because you already send out content for translation to external vendors, many of whom subcontractFocus their attention on value added support such as performance monitoring and CMS systems integration


Thank you for your time!

Any Questions? My Contact InformationJames Ingalsbe

[email protected] and [email protected]://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesingalsbe

what i wish i had known - sdldownloadcentercdn.sdl.com/tridion/pdf/sdl-gim-nyc-2009...i wish i had...

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