Softengi: International Market Success Without Troubles – Step Forward In the Translation of Applications

Softengi LLC, Kyiv, Ukraine,
Thursday, August 28, 2014

Published by U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC),
Washington, D.C., Thursday, August 28, 2014

Many CEOs or Business Development Managers dreamand start making first steps in the launch of their successful and popularapplication/product into international market. At this stage the company facesthe first “veritas” – if localization was not planned at the initial stage ofapplication development, the translation of mature and already popular product couldbecome a complicated and expensive experience. Softengi, as a softwaredeveloper, has already faced this inability to translate and localize enterpriseapplication without wasting tens of years and millions of dollars. How one maylocalize millions of code lines without wasting millions of working-hours?

Why Localization is needed? Our story

Localizationis the process of adapting internationalized software for a specific region or language by adding locale-specific components and translatingtext. Back in 2010 the U.S.customer of Softengi, has initiated a project to localize its product to enterthe markets of other countries. In a nutshell, the application was:

·        Applicationdevelopment since 2001

·        Around 2mln of code lines

·        Around 800screen forms

And the task ofSoftengi was to localize this monster. Namely, the goal was to find all thecode lines in all the application files and localize them.

In 2010, Softengi’slocalization team has started the work without giving it a second thought,simply using the standard localization process recognized in the whole world -dividing code between the developers and using manual take out of text in aseparate file. So the work process was looking like this:

1.      Developeropens each application file

2.      Sees sometext in quotation marks

3.      Considersif this text is displayed at user interface

4.      If yes,copies the code line

5.      Opens resourcefile and inserts code line

After working by theabove mentioned process for 2 years,the customer simply did not dare to launch localized in this way applicationbecause, in spite of such investments, it was still not clear how much is leftto do. Summarizing the use of manual approach the team has got suchdisappointing results:

·        Localization period – 2 years (with initially 1year estimated)

·        Big testing volumes

·        Localized version launch postponed forundefined period of time

·        None of application modules was fully localized

Development of Localization Studio

A year later, thecustomer again has made ​​the request for localization, and the team has cometo the conclusion that the localization process needs to be automated. Afterchecking the market and not finding any suitable applications for this purpose,the localization team has developed own Localization Studio (LocStudio) application,which works as follows:

1.      All projectfiles are loaded into LocStudio

2.      LocStudioanalyzes all files and finds literals (literal is a line with text in quotationmarks)

3.      With thehelp of pre-defined settings, LocStudio filters literals (for example, onlynames of columns, id of control buttons etc.)

4.      In theresulted file there are only those literals, which needed to be localized. In the end, the team knows the exact volumeof localization work to be done.

5.      The workis distributed between junior-developers, who in one click take out allliterals in resource file

6.      All valuesare exported in Excel, translated and loaded back to LocStudio as text inparallel columns

In the end thedeveloper had a new resource file, for example, for German language, whichcould be loaded into the application and easily used.

Through the use ofLocalization Studio application, which is an implementation of automatedapproach to localization, the team has managed to make a successfullocalization project for customer’s product. In total localization timecomposed 6 months instead of 1 year estimated with standard approach, which notonly facilitated the launch of product in the international market, but also threetimes decreased the overall expenses for the customer. 

Written by Victor Bezhenar, LocServ ProjectManager

LocServ:

LocServ is a “startup",born in Softengi, providing a set of localization services, such aslocalization of software, testing, internationalization of software products aswell as consulting services for localization. After facing a challenginglocalization of monster-applications, the team has developed and released a betaversion of own Localization Studio 1.01 BETA, available for free download at http://loc-serv.com/ 

AboutSoftengi:

Softengi provides IT outsourcing servicessince 1995. Every day more than 150 IT professionals in the offices in Ukraine,the U.S. and Switzerland realize business expectations of the customersworldwide. The company is a member of the Intecracy Group internationalIT-consortium, Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and The 2014 Global Outsourcing100 ranked outsourcer (Rising Star #5) by IAOP. 

Softengi offers outsourcing softwaredevelopment services, development teams establishment, IT business processesoutsourcing, IT consulting, development of business solutions (based onMicrosoft SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics). Among Softengi customers thereare world-known companies such as Enviance Inc. (provides services forMcDonalds, DuPont, Walmart, Chevron and FujiFilm), Ingersoll-Rand, Boeing,Peterbilt Inc., JSC Bank of Georgia, Mettler Toledo, IMPAQ, IKEA, UniCredit,Zeppelin and other customers in the U.S. , Western Europe and CIS.

Source: www.softengi.com