Nevada DHHS Case Study

CLIENT: Nevada Department of Health and Human Services
SERVICE: Multilingual Translation and Desktop Publishing
FORMAT: Nearly 100 PDF Files
SUBJECT MATTER: Public Health Materials and Community Outreach

THE CUSTOMER:

The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is the state agency responsible for ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of Nevada’s residents. As part of its mission to promote equitable access to health services, the department frequently engages in multilingual communication initiatives aimed at supporting diverse communities across the state.

OUR CHALLENGE:

This large-scale project involved the translation and formatting of nearly 100 digital PDF documents—most of them fillable forms used for collecting sensitive personal information from the public. The delivery window was exceptionally tight: all files had to be finalized between June 1 and June 30, with a hard, non-negotiable deadline on June 30, as mandated by the client. There was zero margin for delays or exceptions.

While some documents required translation into widely spoken languages such as Spanish, the majority needed to be localized into less common and logistically complex languages, including Marshallese, Tagalog, and Arabic. Each posed unique challenges:
• Arabic required special attention to layout and design due to its right-to-left writing direction.
• Marshallese presented an even greater challenge. Spoken primarily in the Marshall Islands and scattered diasporas, it is a language with limited linguistic resources and significant regional variation, making the recruitment of qualified translators particularly difficult.

Another key challenge was the format of the files themselves. As fillable PDFs, these documents required precise handling: form fields could only be added at the very end of the process, after passing through all linguistic and quality assurance stages. This constraint demanded careful coordination between translation, editing, design, and final QA.

THE SOLUTION:

To meet the scale and urgency of the project, we mobilized a dedicated task force:
• Four internal designers were assigned to manage layout, field integration, and RTL formatting.
• Three full-time internal QA reviewers oversaw the accuracy and consistency of content across all language versions.
• Multiple external linguistic teams handled translation and revision, chosen for their subject-matter expertise and familiarity with culturally appropriate terminology.

To ensure transparency and real-time tracking, we implemented collaborative tracking sheets, allowing all stakeholders to monitor file progress across each workflow stage.
We also developed custom glossaries and style guides, used across all language teams to guarantee uniformity in tone, terminology, and formatting.

Due to the tight timeline, we established non-negotiable internal deadlines for each phase of the workflow—translation, review, formatting, QA—ensuring consistent momentum and minimizing bottlenecks.

THE RESULT:

Thanks to meticulous planning, effective collaboration, and the commitment of all teams involved, the entire project was delivered on time and in full compliance with the client’s specifications on June 30.

This engagement demonstrated our capacity to manage multilingual, high-volume, format-sensitive projects under strict deadlines, reaffirming our position as a trusted partner for public sector clients with complex linguistic needs.

We are deeply grateful to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services for entrusting us with such a critical and complex initiative. Collaborating on projects of this magnitude is both an honor and a driving force for our team. Challenging endeavors like this one not only allow us to put our full expertise to the test—they inspire us to keep pushing boundaries, refining our processes, and striving for even greater impact through language.