following on this morning's discussion about Language Services,
please be so kind to consider the following suggested text for
recommendations, in addition to the recommendations which have
already been suggested.
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Whilst it is recognised that there has been a significant
improvement in the Language Services Department, the Translation
Services component should evolve to be able to sustain a significant
increase in activity. This shift from a craft-based ad-hoc
supply/demand to a continuous industrial pipeline of documents
involves:
the ability to accurately predict the time to translate a
document at any time around the year, based on the knowledge of
historical periodic activity (past ICANN meeting cycles, peak
periods, holidays etc.);
the ability to predict peaks of activity pro-actively and
dynamically modulating capacity to supplement permanent staff
using a pool of additional freelance translators on demand to
smooth out peak delays;
the ability for clients (SO/ACs etc.) to automatically track
the status of their translation request (use of a CRM system)
the ability to automatically compile metrics on document
translation timeliness
the implementation of a feedback path from the community to
improve Language Services with native speaker input
the implementation of best practice documentation to harmonize
translation quality and accuracy between experienced permanent
and new or freelance translators
benchmarking of procedures with similar international
organisations, the most significant being the United Nations
Language and Interpretation Services