from en15038 to iso 17100

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RWS Group - www.rws-group.de

TLConference 2014 WARSAW

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RWS Group - www.rws-group.de 4


Standards are the result of agreements between various participants on

the market. They do not replace any legislation, nor are they binding.

However, they do define a common standard on which agreements

can be based.

Standards can be used to define the characteristics of products or to

implement processes, for instance with the EN 15038 and ISO 17100

standards.

As a process standard, the ISO 17100 does not define the quality of the result

but creates a framework for a specific process through which it can then be

expected that the result (in this case a translation) will reach a certain quality.

In this sense, the ISO 17100 is not the standard which must or should be

applied to every translation process, but it is an option which clients and

contractors can use to agree on suitable requirements.

ISO 17100 will make it easier for clients and language service providers to

manage agreements and to compare services and prices.

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Standards are issued by standardisation organisations but creating a

standard is carried out by interested parties or working groups. These are

individuals or representatives from organisations that are interested in the

standard due to their participation on the market and their professional

expertise. The standardisation organisations support these interested parties

in the formal processes for creating a standard, especially when cooperating

with other standardisation organisations and their interested parties.

To get the support of the standardisation organisations, the interested parties

need to pay a contribution to the standardisation organisations.

If enough participants are willing to take part in a standardisation project

(and to pay) and the standardisation organisation recognises a general

interest in the project, then a committee will be set up to support the

standardisation work by the standards body.

Overall, the quality of the standards relies on the commitment, skills and

the composition of the interested parties.

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In DIN, involvement in the ISO 17100 was through the standard terminology

committee (NAT) in the NA 105-00-03 AA Translation and interpreting services

sub-committee.

Here interested parties gathered together made up of representatives from

various groups in industry, representatives from translation services and

several representatives from industry.

One setback in attracting more participants is the fee that interested parties

are obliged to pay for the services of the standard committee in supporting

the standardisation process.

But the quality of a standard strongly relies on the qualification, the motivation

and the personal goals of the interested parties in a committee.

The standardisation organisations only check the formal requirements of the

standard.

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http://www.nat.din.de/cmd?level=tpl-untergremium-home&committeeid=54739043&languageid=de&bcrumblevel=2&subcommitteeid=54779181





The EN 15038 was already an international standard of CEN. In the process

of developing an international standard, the standardisation committees from

the national standards organisations cooperate with each other until a broad

consensus has been reached. This procedure ensures that the interests of all

parties are heard and taken into account, but it also means that all parties

involved must be willing to compromise.

For ISO 17100, this has meant that global standardisation committees

have contributed their ideas and requirements to the new standard.

This procedure is very time consuming as various stages of the draft need

to be scrutinised. First, each draft is discussed in the individual national

standardisation committees and commented on. The comments of the various

standards committees are then compiled and prepared by the leading

standardisation committee, then submitted to all the standardisation

committees involved to be voted on.

This multistage process is repeatedly carried out until a consensus is

reached.

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Why the EN 15038 became the ISO 17100.

In the Vienna Agreement, the standardisation organisations agreed that

standards should only ever be issued at the highest

or most international level.

A standard which is defined for translation processes is clearly going to be

a very international standard.

The challenge of defining an international standard is formidable.

A consensus needs to be reached by all the countries involved, which

have very different requirements and expectations.

This can be a long process with a lot of discussion which necessitates the

involvement of a wide variety of professional and committed people from

each country.

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The EN 15038 was released in 2006. Standards are subject to a regular

review every 5 years. At this time, there was an initiative from the British

standards organisation, BSI, to develop an ISO standard based on EN 15038.

The first draft was practically verbatim to EN 15038.

At the same time, an interested party got together at DIN and reactivated the

former standards committee for EN 15038.

That same year, work began on the ISO 17100.

The current draft of ISO 17100 in English is the result of prolonged discussion

and voting.

It seems likely that this draft will be released with a few minor changes as

ISO 17100 in the near future.

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The structure of ISO 17100 has changed compared to EN 15038 and

focusses more heavily on conventional translation processes.

Besides the actual standard, there are also attachments which explain certain

aspects of the standard by means of examples or graphical displays to help

visualise the processes.

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This first section on scope is often skipped over but is still important. The ISO

17100 is not the standard by which all future translation processes should be

run. Even within the standard, it can be designed flexibly enough so that

processes are in line with the respective requirements. The basis for

designing the translation processes are specifications which are agreed on

or stipulated by clients or contractors and any other additional standards or

regulations. The ISO 17100 sets minimum standards, such as the

requirement for translations to be subject to revision by a second person.

The ISO 17100 is not suitable for processes involving machine translations

or for interpreting services.

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Compared to the EN 15038, the resource requirements for translation process

are specified in more detail. In addition to the technical and organisational

resources, particular attention is paid to the qualification of translators,

reviewers and proof-readers.

A new requirement has been added regarding appropriate qualifications in the

subject area. Here the translator, proofreader and reviser all need to have

sufficient knowledge in the field of the texts to be translated to understand and

deal with any problems. This aspect of the standard has been widely and

controversially discussed whilst in development. The formulation found in the

standard does not require proven expertise in the specific subject area but is

limited to the availability of appropriate knowledge in the general subject area

and an ability to pick up detailed knowledge.

The ability to acquire the necessary detailed knowledge comes from the

requirements on the translating and technical competence together with

research competence.

To prove competence, there is also the new option of a qualification

recognised by government bodies, as at least in some countries, there is no

direct specific training for translators at university level.

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New requirements have also been added here regarding the competence of

project managers. The requirement of the standard specifically states that the

translation service provider must ensure that the project managers have the

necessary skills at hand without defining them explicitly.

This means that the translation service provider has to make sure what

competences its project managers need for the required processes and then

ensure that the project managers have and retain these skills.

This principle can also be found in other parts of the standard. On the one

hand, this ensures that the ISO 17100 is implemented properly in a range of

different situations, plus it increases the complexity and responsibility of those

involved in the process to deal with the requirements.

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The work involved in the preparation of translation projects has been

considerably extended. Here, the responsibility does not just rest with the

contractor. Organising successful translation projects needs the client and

contractor to work together. The translation service provider is responsible for

incoming requests regarding feasibility, dealing with problems and checking

the availability of resources and time.

However, all this can only be done properly if the translation service provider

has all the relevant requirements and information. For instance, it is not

sufficient to just send in a document containing PDF files which need to be

translated in the original source format using an unknown translation memory

and unverified terminology specifications.

It is equally important that all the relevant requirements are defined and

agreed on in advance, for example, the quality of the target text, the nature

and scope of quality assurance, the use of style guides, and the client's

involvement during the translation project.

Thus, the translation service provider is required to create an offer that

becomes the basis for the agreement between client and contractor. In turn,

this approach allows the client to be able to realistically compare other offers

from different providers.

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The actual implementation of the translation projects essentially corresponds

to the existing requirements of EN 15038.

The obligatory revision performed by a second person also remains in the

ISO 17100.

Performing a review remains optional.

The translation service provider has to ensure that a final verification of the

translation project is performed before it is delivered.

Revision: the translation is checked

Review: the subject matter is checked

Proofreading: the target language is checked before publishing

Verification: the process is checked in accordance with the agreement

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A new addition to the ISO 17100 is a section for following up translation

projects. This includes the requirement for feedback and dealing with it.

Feedback is used to find out the actual quality and the perceived satisfaction

of the client. It should also be passed on to the translators directly.

Feedback is also the basis for improvement processes, as it is in the ISO

9001.

Explicitly, the translation service provider is now also responsible for the

proper archiving of translation projects.

And finally, the ISO 17100 now also states that data protection requirements

must be adhered to. Here it should be mentioned that these aspects were

included in the draft before the current discussion arose on systematic spying.

Translations are confidential and often involve very sensitive information from

the client.

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In addition to some extensions and clarifications in the new ISO 17100, the

standard particularly reinforces the requirements for client and contractor to

design the translation processes through more detailed specifications and

agreements. This will result in clients having to deal with the issue of

translations more intensively themselves.

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The ISO 17100 standard is a process that should be the basis for agreements

between the client and contractor. Consequently, both sides will need to put

far more emphasis on the preparation of translation projects.

Flat-rate offers or framework agreements without any reference to the actual

translation projects result in translation projects which do not conform to the

standard.

This can also be seen in terms of internal quality management requirements

at the client.

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Proof of official qualification (3-level)

Either a university degree or training with two years professional experience or

five years professional experience

Additional proof

Translation competence / linguistic and textual competence in source and target languages

/ research competence / cultural competence / technical competence and area of expertise

Further contractual agreements

Cooperation agreement / freelancer agreement / declaration of confidentiality / agreed

security guidelines, etc.

Mutual obligations

The freelancer should inform the translation service provider of any new skills and

equipment without having to be asked so that his profile is kept up-to-date and loss of any

possible assignments from “job profiling” can be avoided. In turn, the translation service

provider must find out and update current qualifications at regular intervals, as described in

their processes. This is especially relevant in cases where “technological security”

requirements from other standards (e.g. ISO27001 ) and legal guidelines apply to

translation orders commissioned from “sensitive” areas.

Particularly interesting for both sides is the extended requirement for feedback and

improvement processes regarding the freelancer/cooperation partners. This means that in

future all translations will also be subject to a performance evaluation within the defined QA

loop. This could sometimes be automated (for example using ErrorSpy). A higher frequency

of full evaluations will also be necessary. In future, the translator will receive quality

feedback for each job. The translation service provider and freelancers can then derive any

improvements from this continuous "QS curve" if necessary. Freelancers benefit here from

having more proof of the quantity and quality of their work for any new clients

(provided they are able to maintain the required standard).

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As in the EN 15038, the ISO 17100 also provides translation service providers

with the opportunity to submit a declaration of conformity.

DIN Certco is offering the so-called registration once again. This corresponds

to a declaration of conformity. It should be noted here that there is no external

review carried out by DIN Certco but anyone that pays the registration fee will

be entered into the database and is then permitted to use the logo and the

registration number. Although this procedure has already been the cause of

some confusion with the EN 15038, DIN Certco is sticking to it for economic

reasons.

However, there will also be regular certifications by accredited certifiers for the

ISO 17100. An external review of the translation service will be carried out by

the certifier in line with internationally recognised standards. We anticipate

that all certifiers will also offer the option of

transferring EN 15038 certificates to ISO 17100.

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The question as to whether a freelance translator can be certified according to

ISO 17100 keeps coming up.

The answer is quite clear. Freelance translators are self-employed. If they

want to provide translations according to ISO 17100 and want to become

certified, their work must be subject to a revision by a second person. It could

be that a reviewer is commissioned to do this.

The standard itself does not stipulate the size of a translation service

provider, instead it focuses exclusively on the implementation of certain

processes.

In addition, one of the criticisms of the ISO 17100 is that it would penalise

freelance translators as, supposedly, they would not be in a position to accept

work from direct customers once the standard is introduced. There is nothing

to worry about here. Firstly, every freelance translator has the opportunity to

work in line with ISO 17100. Secondly, the standard is not a mandatory set of

rules for clients who will only be allowed to give contracts to certified

translation service providers. In particular, major clients with their own

resources in the translation sector will also work directly with qualified

translators in future, thereby assuming the position of the translation service

provider itself.

However, we can assume that opportunities for translators with insufficient

qualifications will continue to decline.

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from en15038 to iso 17100

Business

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