Low-cost localization workflow management
Frank Dissinger
Hi all,
I am responsible for creating documentation and managing translations in our small to medium-sized company. We typically have only a few update cycles and one or two target languages. My authoring environment consists of DITA and Oxygen XML Editor, and I use Transit NXT for translation. My source files are organized systematically in the file system, as I do not use a content or project management tool.
Currently, my workflow is highly manual and tedious. After updating the documentation, I package all DITA source files using Oxygen and import them into Transit. While automatic pre-translation usually covers about 85% of the content, checking the remaining 15% for changes – often minor changes such as tagging – is very time-consuming. Similarly, I must manually compare images to identify which have changed and then create new screenshots or edit existing ones.
Because of this, I have recently been urged to increase my efficiency and reduce the time spent on translation. I need to streamline these processes so I can focus more on my primary task – updating the documentation.
I recently discovered the AI assistance in Transit. While such AI improvements would definitely benefit the translation of new segments, they do not address my primary pain point: the translation workflow itself. I want to eliminate the need to import and process all source files every time.
I am looking for a solution that is affordable for a company of our size and can:
- Detect which source files have changed for a specific project milestone.
- Track which files have already been translated into which languages.
- Identify whether a translation is still up to date based on changes in the English source file.
- Handle this same tracking logic for images.
Essentially, I need a cost-effective way to identify and package only the files that actually require localization, rather than processing the entire project for every update.
Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Freundliche Grüße | Best regards
Frank Dissinger
Documentation Manager
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CGS ORIS GmbH
Email frank.d...@cgs-oris.com | Web www.cgs-oris.com
Address Kettelerstrasse 24 | 63512 Hainburg | Germany
Phone +49 6182 9626-0 | Fax +49 6182 9626-99
Commercial register Offenbach, HRB no. 21495
Managing directors Bernd Rückert, Christoph Thommessen, Kunio Muraji
