Smartling's LQA Suite (Beta)

Benefits of Using LQA Suite

• allows you to perform LQA separately from your production translation environment
• offers an excellent option if you wish to conduct LQA evaluations on a set volume of content on a regular schedule (e.g., 10,000 words from each target locale, quarterly)
• helps stabilize your LQA sample and prevent ongoing production content changes from impacting content during the LQA process

If you're new to LQA, contact your Customer Success Manager for more information about how Smartling can help.

How It Works

The LQA Suite works by taking a snapshot of your translations and creating an LQA job in your dedicated LQA project. The existing content in your production project will not be affected by the creation of an LQA job. The translation snapshot created in the LQA job will reference the production project in several ways:

• Real-time access to the production project’s Linguistic Package (at the time of the snapshot): This includes the production project’s Glossary, Style Guide, and TM translations for concordance search.

• Real-time access to string-specific details such as character limits and string instructions: These will be streamed directly from the production project, so any changes to these details in the source will be visible in the LQA job.

• Real-time access to visual context in the production project: This will also be streamed directly from the production project.

The snapshot created in the LQA job will not be affected by the following actions in the production project:

• Translation edits performed after the snapshot: Any changes made to translations after the snapshot was taken will not be reflected in the LQA job.

• String exclusion or inactivation that occurs after the snapshot (e.g., production string excluded for translation or removed from the source file).

As a result of these separations, the evaluator working on the LQA job in the dedicated LQA project will experience the content under the same conditions as the production linguists, with access to the relevant linguistic assets, context, and instructions. This complete experience enables the evaluator to provide highly accurate and actionable feedback.

The LQA project does not stream Quality Check profiles from the production project(s). By default, it will use Smartling's Default Quality Check Profile for all LQA jobs. If you wish to use a different profile, please contact your Smartling Representative. 

Unlike other project types, LQA projects don't have a Linguistic Package. However, a Translation Memory will be automatically created for the project, using the same name. Any translations saved in the LQA project are stored in this separate TM. If desired, this TM can be added to the leverage configuration of your regular Linguistic Packages.

Getting Started with LQA Suite

Before you begin

1. Decide which source language you'd like to use for the LQA project.
   • If you usually use a specific flavor of English as your source locale, we recommend using this as the LQA project source locale
   • If you have existing projects with multiple English flavors (e.g., en-US and en-GB), these projects can all send content to an LQA project with any English source (en-US, en-GB, en, etc.) 
2. Ensure you have a published LQA Schema
3. Decide if you will use an existing LQA-enabled workflow or use a new workflow which can be created automatically when you create a new LQA project. This will be the default workflow for all LQA jobs. For additional info and requirements see LQA Project Workflows. 

Create a new LQA project

Follow these steps to create a dedicated LQA project.

1. From the Account Dashboard, click Create New Project
2. Select the project type LQA and click Next 
3. Enter a Project name (we recommend choosing a name that reflects that this project is to be used for LQA) 
4. Select the Source Language from the dropdown menu 
5. Select at least one Target Language
   ‣ You do not have to select all target locales, any additional target locales will be added automatically when strings are sent to the LQA project. 
6. Select the Default Workflow 
   ‣ If you have eligible LQA workflows, you will see a list of workflows to select from.
   ‣ If you need/prefer to create a new workflow click Create New Workflow and enter the new Workflow name. Select the LQA schema to use in this new workflow. 
7. Click Create Project 
   
   

Additional configuration and workflow settings

LQA Project Workflows

Once you create your LQA project, you will need to ensure your LQA workflow is configured correctly.
The LQA project must use a workflow that meets the following requirements:

• There must be a pre-processing Hold step
• There must be a Review-type step following the Translation step
• The Review-type step must have "Use this step for Linguistic Quality Assurance" enabled 

If you created a new workflow via the LQA project creation modal, the workflow will meet the necessary requirements and follow this structure: 

The "Upload" and "Import" steps are used to upload translation snapshots to the LQA job. Once strings are added to an LQA job, they will automatically pass through these steps. Users do not need to be assigned to these steps. Evaluators working in the LQA step submit strings to the Published step once they complete their evaluation, just as they would in a standard translation job. 

Additional Workflow Configuration

 You may wish to modify some step settings. You can modify the workflow in the same way you can modify any translation workflows in Smartling via the Workflow Configuration. You may wish to: 

• Enable "Users can revise content" in any LQA-enabled step (recommended)
• Enable the Round-trip feature in any LQA-enabled step (recommended)  
• Add secondary or tertiary LQA-enabled steps (for Arbitration, Rebuttal, etc.) (optional) 

If you choose to create a new LQA workflow when creating the LQA project, you will need to add workflow assignments to an agency and/or individual evaluators to the active LQA step(s). You can do this from the Teams page.

If you work with Smartling Language Services (SLS) as your LQA vendor, workflow assignments will be added and managed by SLS.

How to Create an LQA Job

Once the project and workflow configuration is complete, you can begin sending translations to your dedicated LQA project. To create an LQA job:

1. Navigate to any strings in a production project with an eligible source locale 
   ‣ e.g., If the LQA project uses an English source language, you cannot submit French-source material for LQA in the same project. You can configure multiple LQA projects with different source languages as needed, by following the steps outlined above. 
2. Select the string(s) you would like to submit for LQA 
3. Click Actions menu > Submit for LQA 
   
   
4. Choose to add strings to a new LQA job or add to an existing LQA job 
   
   
5. Enter the Job name if creating a new job 
6. Click Submit 

The content will be added to the LQA job where it will be authorized automatically. Once the job is created, you can add assignments and monitor progress as you would with a regular translation job.

When a new LQA job is created, the content migration process may take a few moments, depending on the size of the submission. You may notice the job transition from an "empty" state to "Awaiting Authorization," followed by three workflow steps: Upload, Processing, and Import. Please do not attempt to manually authorize an LQA job or intervene with the content during the migration process. 

Content Management in an LQA Project 

Managing content in a LQA project is very similar to managing content in a production project. Some minor differences include: 

1. Strings cannot be moved between jobs. 
2. New translation requests cannot be created.
3. The CAT Tool cannot be accessed via the Strings View 
   ‣ If LQA is performed by an Account Owner or Project Manager, they must open a job from the Languages tab within the Job Details page 
   

LQA Project Files and Strings

When production strings are submitted for LQA, LQA Suite takes a snapshot of the current saved translations and sends them to the LQA job. These translations are bundled into an XLIFF file (regardless of the original file format in the production project), which is added to the LQA job. The file in the production project will remain unchanged.

Strings in LQA jobs have a string variant that references the production projectUid and production string hashcode. Strings in LQA jobs are unique and separate from production project strings, each with its own separate string history. Strings in LQA jobs will show “translated by Smartling LQA” in their string history, indicating when the translation snapshot was imported into the dedicated LQA job from the production project.

Troubleshooting LQA Jobs

In some cases, you may see a string which appears to be stuck in the LQA job. This can occur when the production translation is "empty," typically if the translation is a whitespace character with no text. 

First, validate the issue by checking the LQA string's variant. (Variant: production projectUid - production string hashcode). Use these details to locate the production string and check if it is indeed "empty." Then, follow one of these options: 

1. Move the stuck string into the "Import" or inactive translation step of the LQA workflow. Manually enter the "translation." Submit the translation to the next workflow step (LQA). 
2. Exclude the "empty" translation from the LQA job. 

LQA Modified Translations Tab

As reviewers complete their LQA assessments, they can make edits to the translations they evaluate. By default, these edits are not automatically propagated back to the production project strings when the edits are saved. However, with LQA Suite's translation Round-trip feature, you can allow reviewers the ability to push edited translations back to the production project. Alternatively, Account Owners and Project Managers can use the LQA Modified Translations tab to send edited translations back to the production strings in bulk. This tab allows users to view the status of translations and compare the production translations with those in the LQA project. 


If an LQA modified translation does not match the production translation, you can update the production translation by: 

1. Select the string(s) you wish to update (you can use the filters and select multiple strings in bulk) 
2. Go to the Actions menu 
3. Click Save & Update 
   
   

Once the update is complete, a checkmark will appear under the LQA modified translation, indicating that the translation has been propagated to the original production string. This means the current production translation has been overwritten with the LQA-modified translation. The relevant translation memory unit (TU) will also be updated in the production TM. 

 

What It Looks Like for LQA Evaluators

Since the LQA job is structured similarly to a typical translation job, the evaluator’s experience working in the CAT tool in an LQA job will be nearly identical to that of a production translation job. Evaluators will have access to the relevant information used during the original production translation process including:

• Glossary, Style Guide, and TM translations for concordance search
• String character limits and string instructions*
• Visual context*

*updates in real-time if changes are made to the production string 

There are some minor differences when working in an LQA job: 

• The History panel will not include actions from the production project.
• The Language Resources panel will not include TM matches. 
  ‣  However, the Search TM tab will reference the production project's leverage configuration, providing the same Search TM experience as the production job. 
  
• The Issues panel will not show issues attached to the translation in the production project.
• The Glossary tab is not supported unless the source locale of the production project matches the source locale in the LQA project. 
  ‣  However, glossary terms will be highlighted in the source strings. 
  

Linguists perform their LQA evaluation in the CAT tool, following the standard process outlined here. 

Reporting 

Once evaluation is complete, you can view LQA errors and scoring in the available reports under the Reports section in the top menu bar. The LQA Dashboard provides an overview of the translation quality of strings evaluated under LQA. Any LQA work completed in LQA Suite will be included in the relevant LQA reports and will be listed under the relevant LQA project where the evaluation was completed. 

Have questions? Check out the LQA Suite FAQ page.