SecureTrans: the Guide
for Clients
This guide explains in detail and step by step how to use SecureTrans to manage a job with translators from start to finish.
1. Initiating Contact
The first step to create a SecureTrans job is to search for translators using our APC,
and contact a translator by sending him an e-mail, or chatting with him (if he's online).
In both cases, a SecureTrans job will be created, and you will get a link to access it. You can also
access all your jobs by going to SecureTrans, in the big blue bar on the top of the site.
2. General Job details
The first section in SecureTrans is the Job Summary, where you have the basic details of the Job.
You might want to change the title, to make the job easier to recognize when you have a long list of jobs.
Also, here you have the possibility of adding notes for the translators to see, with any kind of indications you
might need to send their way.
Non-Disclosure Agreements
If you require translators to sign an NDA before they can see the details of the job, please upload your
NDA here. If you do so, translators will not be able to see anything below this section until they upload the signed NDA and
you approve it.
Once translators upload their signed NDAs, you will see them listed here, and will
have the option of approving or rejecting them, thus allowing or forbidding them access to the rest of the
job details.
Reference Material
You can also add Reference Material documents (glossaries, for example) for the translators to take into account
during the job.
You can also add notes to the Reference Materials that you add,
in case it is necessary to give indications about them to translators.
Note that if Reference Materials are added to a Job, they will be taken into account should a Court Case
get initiated.
3. Purchase Order
On a given job, you can request the same documents to be translated into several language pairs,
which will be handled separately. Each of these "sub-jobs" is called a Purchase Order.
You can add a new Purchase Order to the job by clicking on the "Add another Language Pair" button,
and once you have more than one, you can switch between them by using the tabs on the left.
In this section you will see and edit the main information for the Purchase Order.
With the drop-down list at the top left you will be able to see the details and quotes
of all the translators you contacted for the job. The links at the top-right will allow you to e-mail him or
initiate a chat, and also see the MessageBoard, which shows a log of all the conversations you held.
Right below that, on the right, you will get an indication of what step the job is in, and if you feel lost, you
can always click on "What should I do now?", and see what's going on.
Files to Translate & Word Counts
In this step, you must upload all the files that need to be translated. These will appear on the left, together
with the Word Count that the system obtained automatically.
If the system is unable to get the word count, or you know the word count it is showing is incorrect, you can change
it by clicking on the "Edit Count" button. This will show you a text field for each file you uploaded,
in which you must enter the correct word count, and press "Save" when you are done.
If you don't know the correct word count, don't worry, the translator will have a chance to modify it himself
when entering his quote.
You may notice that some files have a small blue arrow to the left.
This will show if it is a Zip file, which contains other files inside. In this case, you cannot edit
the Word Count of the Zip file directly. You must expand it (by clicking on the icon, or the arrow) to view the
files inside, and edit the word counts of the files in the Zip file.
Deadline
The deadline for the job will initially be the one you entered in your search. You can modify it, however, using
the "Edit" button that shows next to it.
Please note that this deadline will be used if it gives the translator enough time to do the job (according to
the needed time they will specify when entering their quote). If the translator needs more time the deadline will
be adjusted accordingly, so you should check it before choosing the translator for the job, to make sure it
fits your needs. To make it easier to recognize, when the deadline you entered does not provide enough time
for the translator, the adjusted deadline will show in red.
4. Status Reports
For long jobs, you have the option of requesting the translator to upload status reports to show his progress
on the work. You can only do this in jobs that are longer than 48 hs, and you must do it before submitting the job
to translators.
The number of status reports you can request will depend on the length of the job.
The longer a job, the more status reports you can request.
In order to request status reports, you must expand the "Status Reports" section,
select how many reports you want, and press the Save button.
The actual dates and progress for these reports will be set once the job is paid for, and the actual deadline
is defined. They are calculated by distributing them evenly over the duration of the job.
When these calculated dates are reached, the translator will have to report his progress
by either uploading his work in progress, or entering notes to explain how the job is advancing.
If a work in progress file is uploaded, the system will automatically count the words in it,
compare it with the expected progress, and show all the information in either red or green, according to whether
the objective was reached.
If the translator entered notes for the status report, a red notes icon will appear as shown in the picture which,
when clicked, will displayed those notes.
5. Submitting to translators
In order to conduct a fair bidding, once translators are allowed to review the job and enter quotes, its details
cannot be changed. For this reason, you must explicitly indicate that you are done modifying details, by pressing the
"Submit to Translators" button.
Please note that, as mentioned before, once you submit the job to translators you will not be able to change the
deadline, add new files, modify Reference Materials, or request an NDA to be signed.
If you later find out that you need to add another file for the translator to work on, you can send it to him
through an e-mail in the Message Board (with an attachment), and negotiate the possible increase in price and
time with him.
6. Choosing a Translator
Once you have submitted the job to translators, you have to wait until they enter their quotes.
Again, you can use the drop-down on the top-left to choose whose quote to see.
You will notice that the column on the right is now enabled, and shows the word counts and quote entered by
the translator, together with his rate, and any extra charges that might have been added. The translator can also enter
notes attached to his quote, in which case a red note sign will appear, which you should click to read his comments.
If at any time you need to contact other translators for any reason, you can use the "I want to see
more translators" link to go back to the search results you originally received. You can also modify
the search parameters to filter translators differently, by clicking on "Modify my search" while viewing
the search results.
Once you have decided whom to grant the job to, select them on the drop-down, and press
the "Offer job to this Translator" button on the bottom.
7. Escrowing Funds for the Job
The last step to have the translator start working on your job is to escrow the money for the job.
To do this, simply click on the "Pay for PO" button on the bottom right, and choose your payment method
on the following screen.
Please note that the translator will not begin working until the funds for the job have been
cleared in our account. For this reason, if
your job is on a tight deadline, we do not recommend you to choose Wire Transfers or Checks as a payment method, since
both can take some days to clear.
If you will hire jobs regularly on the site, and you prefer payments with Checks or Wire transfers, you might want to
add some pre-paid credits to your account, in order to be able to pay instantly for future jobs.
8. Completed job
Once you have escrowed the funds for the job, the translator will begin working and once it is done, he/she will upload the
completed work to the site.
Once this happens, you will get an e-mail, and this section will appear.
You must now download the submitted file and review it. If everything is correct, you should Approve the Job
in order for funds to be released to the translator.
If there is some problem, however, you should address it with the translator, and in case an agreement can not be
reached, you should start a Court Case. Please note that you have 7 days to start a court case after the translator submits
the final work. After that, funds will be automatically released to him.
9. Rating the Translator
After approving the job, the only thing left to do is give a rating to the Translator.
You must select two scores from 1 to 10 that you feel represent your satisfaction regarding his
accuracy and his punctuality,
and also enter a text feedback for the rest of the community to know what to expect from him.
If you don't rate the translator within 2 weeks of approving the Job, an automatic
rating of 10 will be set, assuming there were no problems in the course of the job.
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