XTRF Translation Management System – its benefits for translators, translation companies and end clients

Nowadays, more and more translation and localization companies start using XTRF. Alba Longa is not an exception. If you are looking for a language service provider and you see this abbreviation among many other abbreviations used by translation professionals, at first you might feel confused. This is exactly why we are publishing this post! We do our best to inform our clients about the technologies we use in order to optimize the translation and business processes. We believe this openness helps our clients to learn more about our work and thus creates trust.

What is XTRF?

It’s an innovative cloud-based process management platform for translation companies and translation departments. It includes project, customer, and subcontractor management, invoicing and billing, quality management and other aspects of our work. So it’s really a very useful tool that gives a lot of benefits for translators, translator companies as well as end clients. The system was launched in 2004 and has since become one of the most popular solutions in the translation market.

Benefits of XTRF for translation companies:

1. XTRF takes care of practically all business processes, including such key functions as:
• Remote access to the company office
• Automatic document flow
• Automatic project workflow
• Automation of all repeated work
• Projected cash flow analysis
• Financial analysis
• Price offer generation and management
• Email sending module
• Automatic creation of project orders
• ISO 9001 audit preparation facilitating module
• Subcontractor management
• Complaint management
• Invoice management
Thus XTRF makes the life of translation companies easier and helps us to work and communicate with clients and subcontractors better.

2. Besides, the system helps to eliminate delays and to make sure that no projects, even the smallest ones, are forgotten, and the deadlines are met at all times.

3. Automation of routine business processes helps translation companies to keep their costs low, which is definitely good for clients, too.

4. The system also helps with the QA and ensures consistent result that is certainly appreciated by end clients.

Benefits of XTRF for end clients:

1. XTRF includes a portal for all customers. There you can see the information about your project (status, due date, financial information) and thus you can monitor the work process. After the translation is finished the system sends you a notification, which means that you can download your finished project from your account in XTRF.

2. XTRF works in 20 different languages, so it is very easy to use.

Benefits of XTRF for translators:

1. The system also provides access for all subcontractors, including translators, editors and DTP specialists. There they can see the information about their projects, invoices, payments etc. So it takes care of all aspects of business for translators, too. Translators also can edit their account info (rates, availability etc.) and the system will consider the changes.

2. XTRF is integrated with CAT tools used by many translators in their work, including MemoQ, XTM, Trados, SDLX, Logoport, and Déjà Vu, thus helping to achieve consistent quality of work enjoyed by end clients.

Just a little note about CAT tools: CAT is an abbreviation for Computer-Assisted Translation. CAT tools have nothing to do with machine translation. They are used to streamline the translation process and improve the quality of work by giving access to terminology databases, helping to work with different file formats, making sure the translator uses the same equivalents for terms that repeat throughout the documents. You can read more about CAT tools here.

More information about XTRF:
• XTRF blog and news
• XTRF official website
• Wikipedia article about XTRF