Automated Sampling for LQA Suite

This feature allows you to define a set of criteria, called a sampling rule, to determine which content should be selected for LQA. You can schedule the rule to run automatically at your preferred frequency or trigger it manually as needed. Based on this rule, Smartling will generate a sample and send it to your LQA project in the form of an LQA job. 

The automated sampling feature helps automate your LQA process, ensuring that assessments are conducted regularly without the need for manual sample selection. Whether scheduled or on-demand, sampling rules offer a flexible and efficient way to maintain consistent translation quality. 

This feature is part of Smartling’s LQA Suite. To use it, your account must have the LQA Suite enabled and at least one active LQA project. For more information, please refer to our documentation.

Watch a video walkthrough of this feature here. 

How to create a sampling rule 

1. From your Account Settings > select Linguistic Quality Assurance.
2. Click on the Sampling Rules tab.
3. Click the button Create Rule. If sampling rules have already been created you will see them listed, click Create Rule at the top right to create a new rule.
4. Complete the following fields to configure the sampling rule:
   • Rule Name: Enter a name for the sampling rule. LQA jobs created with this sampling rule will be named using the format: [Rule Name + timestamp in UTC] e.g., "Marketing Content 2025-06-25 00:30 UTC." LQA jobs are authorized automatically once created. You can navigate to any job and cancel it if needed.
   • Production Project: Select the production project from which you want the sampling rule to pull translations.
     • To sample from a production project, you must have an LQA project with the same source language. The specific locales do not need to match, only the base language. For example, if your LQA project's source locale is en-US, you can select a production project with any en source locale (e.g., en-GB, en-CA, etc.).
   • Target locale(s): The target locales to include in the sampling. 

   • Sample source word count per locale: Enter the number of source words to include in the sample for each locale. We recommend a minimum of 1,000 source words per locale. This setting defines the minimum threshold. Smartling will sample enough strings to meet this requirement, therefore the exact number of words in the sample may vary.

     If the sampling rule doesn’t find enough matching strings that meet the criteria, it will still add any available strings to the LQA job, which will be authorized automatically. You can navigate to the job and cancel it if needed.

   • Minimum word count per string (optional)
   • Max word count per string (optional)

   • Translations must have been published in the previous: Select the time frame during which sampled translations must have been published. For a string to be eligible for sampling, it must have a published or pre-published event in its history and must be active. The string does not need to have a current status of “Published” to be eligible.

     "Previous week" refers to the last 7 days. "Previous complete week" is from Monday to Sunday of the prior week. "Previous month" covers about 31 days; for instance, if the rule runs on June 25, it looks at May 25 to June 25. "Previous complete month" refers to the entire month; for example, if it runs on June 25, it covers from May 1 to May 31.

   • Recurrence: Select how often you want the sampling rule to run. If you prefer to run the sampling rule manually, select "Not scheduled (on demand)".
5. Click Create Rule or Create and Run Rule to create the rule and have it run immediately. 

Once the rule is created, it will run automatically according to the configured schedule or manually on demand. When the rule runs, it will batch the sampled strings into an LQA job, which will be authorized automatically. You can navigate to the job and cancel it if needed. 

Sampling rules page layout 

The sampling rules page contains the following columns: 

• Name: The name of the sampling rule.
• Production Project: The production project from which translations are sampled.
• LQA Project: The LQA project where the sampled content will be batched into an LQA job.
• Frequency: The schedule on which the rule runs. “Not scheduled” means the rule does not run automatically and must be run manually (if the rule is enabled).
• Last Run: The last time the sampling rule was executed, either automatically or manually.
• Status: Indicates whether the scheduled rule is enabled or disabled. Rules with a schedule must be enabled to run.
• Actions: The ellipsis menu (•••) allows you to edit, copy, delete, or enable/disable (if it has a schedule). 

Sampling rule actions

Click on the ellipsis menu (•••) next to a sampling rule to edit, enable/disable, or delete the rule. Only rules with a schedule (i.e., not configured to run on demand) can be enabled or disabled.