PROJECT SUMMARY
Client: Sorenson
Service: Translation Project (Spanish)
Format: Multimedia content
Subject Matter: eLearning
Volume: 40 eLearning courses
Sorenson is not just one of our best clients, but one we deeply admire. The reason? Their mission is to help all deaf and hard-of-hearing peoplecommunicate. We have been working alongside Sorenson for quitesome time now, but we were mostly involved in simple projects. However, at Idea Translations, we are passionate about embarking onchallenging tasks. Sorenson approached us with an exciting new project: The launch of their service center in Puerto Rico, a project whichinvolved more than 30 eLearning courses!
Our work consisted of the translation, voiceover and design of each ofthese courses into Spanish.
However, we were met by several challenges. The first, and mostimportant one, was to “meet in the middle” with the client about theirexpectations in terms of deadlines. On the one hand, we had a deadlineby which the client needed to have these courses ready. On the otherhand, we needed to be sensitive about the time required to carry outsuch a project achieving optimal quality results (taking into account thateLearning courses are quite time-consuming for optimal results and thatthey were intended for sign language interpreters).
Nonetheless, we were able to overcome this first challenge thanks to thequick response of our PM Team, who swiftly organized the workloadand, alongside the QA and DTP Teams, were able to move forward withthese nearly 40 courses.
Once the project was underway, we faced a second challenge: how to achieveconsistency regarding the instructions, and how to remain consistentthroughout all courses. Considering that the project included many individualcourses, multiple people were involved in their development. We receivedrequests from several team members with sometimes opposing instructions,which posed a problem for project homogeneity in general and, consequently,slowed the process down.
At last, after several meetings with the client, we managed to outline generalparameters that applied to all courses and to the project as a whole, allowing usto move forward. For a better organization, we created a glossary and a deadlinespreadsheet that was shared with the client. These allowed us to speed uprevisions, approve or suggest modifications in dierent project stages,implement suggested changes and keep moving forward in the process.
However, all these unforeseen events and challenges delayed the workflow. Thedeadline was ever-approaching and, given the status of the project, it seemed asif it was going to be very tough to meet it. But nothing has ever stopped us. Wecame even closer as a team, we recruited internal and external collaborators andwe started our engines and moved forward, with more energy and motivationthan ever before, thus managing to complete the project just in time.
The satisfaction upon completion was immense. The success was not only interms of deadlines, but also in the quality obtained. Our Sorenson partners weresatisfied and all set to train their team in Puerto Rico, to fulfill their valuablemission of helping deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.
This was a great new challenge for the entire team at Idea Translations. Onceagain, we were able to overcome our obstacles by learning, growing andbecoming stronger along the way.