Attachment_12_Method_of_Approach.pdf

PREPARED FOR:

Stephanie Stevens Arizona Department of Administrative Services stephanie.stevens@azdoa.gov

PREPARED BY:

Michael J. Donnelly TransPerfect mdonnelly@transperfect.com 860-803-8610

WE

KNOW

HOW

REQUEST FOR

PROPOSAL

BPM005633

October 18, 2023

Confidential Page 2 of 23 October 18, 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 METHOD OF APPROACH

1.1 On-Site Interpretation Services .............................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

2 PROVISION OF SERVCIES

Over-the-Phone Interpretation Services

Video-Remote-Interpretation Services

Court/Legal Onsite Interpretation Services

Document Translation Services

Voiceover Translation Services

3 PERSONNEL

Methodology to test and hire Qualified (Non-Certified) and Certified interpreters/translators

Determining appropriate personnel for specific requirements. Ensuring cultural sensitivity

4 PROBLEM RESOLUTION

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1 METHOD OF APPROACH

How do you plan to provide the service?

Program Management TransPerfect understands the challenges of managing a statewide language service contract. Overseeing, tracking and accounting for all these activities, is a complex operation, however, TransPerfect is the perfect partner to manage this process. Managing highly technical, complex programs with multiple stakeholders in hundreds of languages with thousands of daily requests is in our DNA. TransPerfect’s extensive program management experience will provide numerous benefits to the state of Arizona.

These include:

Relevant Capability Benefits to Arizona

Standardized and certified production processes.

Ensures product and service consistency as well as ongoing improvement.

Large scale operations and cross-trained teams. Allows for operational flexibility, redirecting manpower as needed and accommodating surge requirements

A national footprint: TransPerfect has thirty offices located throughout the United States with production hubs in each time zone.

Service redundancy that meets all coverage needs for multiple project execution, timely emergency request response, off-hour support.

Leading edge technology solutions Increases efficiencies, reduces response times and lowers cost.

Management Benefits

Program Management: The day-to-day interaction with any Arizona user procuring services under the

Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) vehicle will be managed by the Program Manager.

Three senior staff members will be dedicated to the oversight of quality, production and security for all the State’s services. This staff will work together and through their managers to ensure that all processes meet the State’s requirements related to fulfilment, performance standards, quality, and security. The key personnel and activities of each group within the PMO and their responsibilities are described below:

Program Manager: The Program Manager, Ross Abramson, TransPerfect’s current Sr. Director, will maintain full accountability for contract performance. Ross will have the authority to negotiate and make commitments on behalf of TransPerfect, and be responsible for the hiring, management and dismissal of all staff. Ross will be responsible for ensuring that all independent and subcontracting partners are properly implemented into TransPerfect’s workflow.

Deputy Program Manager: The Program Manager, Sam Kamyszew, will serve as the State’s secondary point of contact. He will serve as a liaison between the PM and the translation, interpretation and transcription managers. He will monitor of the performance on each project to ensure on time and on budget delivery. He will escalate any challenges/issues expressed by our linguists or managers to the

PM.

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Quality Control: The Director of Quality Control, Mark Peeler, will oversee the Testing, Training and

Quality teams in their work on the County contract. He will ensure that all TransPerfect processes adhere to State quality requirements. Mark will work closely with the PM to 1) clearly define the quality requirements for all State agencies and ensure all components are familiar with TransPerfect processes and operations; 2) oversee the ongoing monitoring of all operations to ensure they are meeting quality requirements; and 3) follow ongoing quality improvement steps to regularly identify any deficiencies and correct.

Recruiting: The Recruitment Manager, Meredith Mian, TransPerfect’s current Vendor Manager will be responsible for recruiting all staff, employee and freelance, to be employed on this contract. She will report directly to the Director of Operations. She will ensure that staffing levels are sufficient to ensure all fulfilment goals are met and no disruption in services occurs. The Recruitment Manager and her team will establish and maintain a relationship with translation and interpretation associations, training organizations and educational institutions to ensure a continuous pipeline of qualified linguists to service the contract. They will also interview, screen and background check all potential part time, full time and independent contractors to be used on this contract.

Translation: The Translation Manager, Jacqueline Pfister, will be responsible for ensuring that all document translation projects are assigned to a qualified linguist. She will maintain visibility into all translation projects in progress and ensure each is completed on time and on budget. She will oversee a team of Team Leads and Project Managers who will work directly with linguists to make assignments and set deadlines. She will ensure that all quality steps are completed prior to the delivery of a file to the

County.

On-site Interpretation: The Interpretation Manager, Kathleen McKenna, will be responsible for ensuring that all interpretation assignments are serviced by qualified linguists. She will ensure all interpreters are properly briefed pre-assignment and receive all necessary glossaries and other support materials. Working with her team of Project Managers, she will monitor assignment fulfillment in real time to ensure interpreters arrive for appointments and are promptly replaced if they are delayed for whatever reason.

Over-the Phone & Video Remote Interpretation Services: Meghan Mackow will be responsible for ensuring that TransPerfect maintains a sufficient pool of interpreters to answer all calls from Arizona state agencies in under 30 seconds for Spanish and under a minute for all other languages. She will ensure all interpreters are properly trained before being allowed handle Arizona state calls. She will ensure our IT infrastructure is functioning properly.

Voiceover: The Multimedia Project Manager, Jennifer Hernandez, will be responsible for ensuring that all subtitling, captioning, voice over projects are assigned to qualified linguists. She will maintain visibility into all projects in progress and ensure each is completed on time and on budget. She will oversee Team Leads and Project Managers who will work directly with linguists to make assignments and set deadlines. She will ensure that all quality steps are completed prior to the delivery of a file to the

County.

What are your processes for providing these services?

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TransPerfect leverages our proprietary technologies to streamline the project request, execution and delivery process. Section 2 Provision of Services below describes our process for receiving and fulfilling requests.

Each service line follows rigorous processes for the identification, qualification, and ongoing monitoring of all linguists assigned to any project. These processes are outlined in Section 3 – Personnel. It is important to note that all processes described in this section are certified to the appropriate ISO

Standards and are audited annually to maintain these certifications.

1. Overall Organizational Structure and Document Translation: ISO 9001:2015; ISO 17100:2015

2. AI Enabled Translation Services: ISO 18587

3. Interpretation Services including on-site, scheduled and on-demand remote: ISO 18841:2018

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2 PROVISION OF SERVCIES

Onsite Interpretation Services

The time it takes from receiving an interpretation request to reserving an interpreter is difficult to predict. In general we ask for ask 48 hours notice in order to place an interpretation assignment.

To meet all agency on-site and scheduled remote interpretation needs, agency users can submit requests in one of two ways:

1. Via a dedicated email account. All State agencies will have a dedicated account and users will submit all requests via email using a standardized template. Confirmation of assignment receipt, confirmation of interpreter assignment, status updates, etc., will all be handled via email or phone, but not automatically as described below. Therefore, estimate and additional thirty minutes to one hour if not using the automated InterAct system to receive notifications.

2. Directly via our proprietary scheduling tool InterAct. InterAct will provide State staff and our

Interpretation teams full visibility into the status of each interpretation assignment and, by submitting requests through InterAct, the “middleman” (account manager) does not have to receive the request and pass it on so everything moves faster. Through the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, requests for interpretation services are broadcast to qualified interpreters that match the requirements of the assignment and are located in close proximity to the assignment. The broadcast function greatly reduces the time it takes to fill requests for interpretation as it eliminates the need for our Interpretation teams to manually call or email each interpreter. This allows our Interpretation teams to focus on time sensitive and hard to fill appointments.

The State agency user can also request a preferred linguist who will be prioritized to receive the assignment before any other interpreter. TransPerfect staff understands that every effort should be made to work with any preferred interpreter to ensure continuity and quality of service. With this same end in mind, InterAct automatically prioritizes interpreters who have successfully worked with the agency before, giving increased prioritization to those who have received client/end user kudos and positive feedback.

InterAct has proven beneficial to our interpreters. Requests are sent directly to their phones, via a mobile app. They can review all details of assignments within their geographic area and decide whether or not they can fulfill the request. If they accept, they immediately receive confirmation, a calendar update and all relevant order details. This has allowed our interpreters to easily track their activity and plan weekly/monthly schedules.

Implementing InterAct has also resulted in positive outcomes on the client side. Client Project

Management teams have seen a 35% reduction in time spent in submitting appointments and monitoring interpreter assignments. It has removed the requirement to build large excel spreadsheets to track all orders. Upon contract award, TransPerfect can make InterAct available to all State agency users based on the County’s guidance and needs.

The InterAct user dashboard will include the following functionality:

Provide confirmation a request was received immediately upon submission.

Confirm an Interpreter is scheduled to attend event, via email and calendar view, as soon as the information becomes available.

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Provide Interpreter’s name and contact details upon assignment acceptance visible via the dashboard.

Immediately notify the State agency of cancellation or inability of Interpreter to attend event and inform the County user when a replacement has been identified.

Calendar view ensuring TransPerfect personnel are available at times during the work week when meetings are being held, or when requested by the designated agency representative.

Allow the TransPerfect Interpretation team the ability to fill assignments requested with less than

48 hours’ notice.

Provides interpreters with GPS and other travel guidance to ensure they arrive on site a minimum of 15 minutes prior, but no more than 30 minutes prior, to commencement of the assignment. If the interpreter cannot appear or is delayed, a notification will be sent to the designated agency representative immediately and the Interpretation team will begin locating a replacement if necessary.

All assignments in InterAct include event details such as the name and contact information of the

Arizona agency on-site representative. All interpreters will notify the agency representative upon arrival.

All interpreters will commit to fulfill the entire length of the assignment and a team of interpreters will be assigned for any events that warrant it due to length or complexity.

Ensure all information confidentiality and security is maintained through rigorous security access protocols and encryption methods.

SCHEDULED REMOTE INTERPRETATION

All scheduled requests for remote simultaneous, consecutive, or ASL interpretation services will similarly use the InterAct scheduling system, which allows the user to identify the type of interpretation event they are scheduling for (remote or on-site). For these schedule services, rather than a physical location, the end user will submit a link to the platform to be use during the event, such as an MS Teams invite, a Zoom invite, etc.

All interpreters assigned to State agency scheduled remote interpretation appointments will have undergone a rigorous internet and equipment check to ensure a stable connection with no dropped images or sound. Further, they will have demonstrated proficiency in the use of common interpretation software platforms allowing them to navigate multiple language channels, breakout rooms, etc. If the agency user is unfamiliar with such technology, especially for larger events where simultaneous interpretation in multiple languages is required, TransPerfect can provide the necessary platform and agency user training to ensure the event goes smoothly.

Over-the-Phone Interpretation Services

Upon award state’s agencies will receive a dedicated 1-800 number. Each account can be customized to meet the requirements of each agencies but in general each division within an agency will be assigned

Confidential Page 8 of 23 October 18, 2023 an account number and then each individual state user will be assigned a PIN. When an agency has a requirement, they would just follow the 5 simple steps below:

Flowchart:

Step 1: 3-5 seconds

Step 2: 3-5 seconds

Step 3: 3-5 seconds

Step 4: 3-5 seconds

Step 5: Spanish 7-10 seconds, all other languages 10-45 seconds

We provide all clients with a management portal with full reporting capabilities that includes: system-level reports, organization reports, amount and type of service requests (identified by department or client ID), length of each call, length of call monthly average, response-time analysis, average connection time, time of day per call, dropped calls, and volume trend analysis.

Video-Remote-Interpretation Services

On Demand Video Remote Interpreting TransPerfect is currently transitioning to a new video remote interpreting platform with estimated completion in August of 2023. This service will be run by the TransPerfect Connect division headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona with additional contact centers in El Paso, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. All features of this new platform will be available to review in August of 2023.

Court/Legal Onsite Interpretation Services

The time it takes from receiving an interpretation request to reserving an interpreter is difficult to predict. In general we ask for ask 48 hours notice in order to place an interpretation assignment.

To meet all agency on-site and scheduled remote interpretation needs, agency users can submit requests in one of two ways:

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1. Via a dedicated email account. All State agencies will have a dedicated account and users will submit all requests via email using a standardized template. Confirmation of assignment receipt, confirmation of interpreter assignment, status updates, etc., will all be handled via email or phone, but not automatically as described below. Therefore, estimate and additional thirty minutes to one hour if not using the automated InetrAct system to receive notifications.

2. Directly via our proprietary scheduling tool InterAct. InterAct will provide State staff and our

Interpretation teams full visibility into the status of each interpretation assignment and, by submitting requests through InterAct, the “middleman” (account manager) does not have to receive the request and pass it on so everything moves faster. Through the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, requests for interpretation services are broadcast to qualified interpreters that match the requirements of the assignment and are located in close proximity to the assignment. The broadcast function greatly reduces the time it takes to fill requests for interpretation as it eliminates the need for our Interpretation teams to manually call or email each interpreter. This allows our Interpretation teams to focus on time sensitive and hard to fill appointments.

The State agency user can also request a preferred linguist who will be prioritized to receive the assignment before any other interpreter. TransPerfect staff understands that every effort should be made to work with any preferred interpreter to ensure continuity and quality of service. With this same end in mind, InterAct automatically prioritizes interpreters who have successfully worked with the agency before, giving increased prioritization to those who have received client/end user kudos and positive feedback.

InterAct has proven beneficial to our interpreters. Requests are sent directly to their phones, via a mobile app. They can review all details of assignments within their geographic area and decide whether or not they can fulfill the request. If they accept, they immediately receive confirmation, a calendar update and all relevant order details. This has allowed our interpreters to easily track their activity and plan weekly/monthly schedules.

Implementing InterAct has also resulted in positive outcomes on the client side. Client Project

Management teams have seen a 35% reduction in time spent in submitting appointments and monitoring interpreter assignments. It has removed the requirement to build large excel spreadsheets to track all orders. Upon contract award, TransPerfect can make InterAct available to all State agency users based on the County’s guidance and needs.

The InterAct user dashboard will include the following functionality:

Provide confirmation a request was received immediately upon submission.

Confirm an Interpreter is scheduled to attend event, via email and calendar view, as soon as the information becomes available.

Provide Interpreter’s name and contact details upon assignment acceptance visible via the dashboard.

Immediately notify the State agency of cancellation or inability of Interpreter to attend event and inform the County user when a replacement has been identified.

Calendar view ensuring TransPerfect personnel are available at times during the work week when meetings are being held, or when requested by the designated agency representative.

Allow the TransPerfect Interpretation team the ability to fill assignments requested with less than

48 hours’ notice.

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Provides interpreters with GPS and other travel guidance to ensure they arrive on site a minimum of 15 minutes prior, but no more than 30 minutes prior, to commencement of the assignment. If the interpreter cannot appear or is delayed, a notification will be sent to the designated agency representative immediately and the Interpretation team will begin locating a replacement if necessary.

All assignments in InterAct include event details such as the name and contact information of the

AZ agency on-site representative. All interpreters will notify the agency representative upon arrival.

All interpreters will commit to fulfill the entire length of the assignment and a team of interpreters will be assigned for any events that warrant it due to length or complexity.

Ensure all information confidentiality and security is maintained through rigorous security access protocols and encryption methods.

NOTE: All confirmations of appointments, notification of delays, cancellations, etc., described above will be done via email if the Arizona agency chooses to not purchase InterAct. Similarly, all interpreter background information and recordkeeping can be requested via phone or email. However, given the manual nature of the communication, it will take slightly more time to process and deliver.

Also note, the InterAct scheduling system can work as a joint-use platform for all the language service vendors working under this contract.

Document Translation Services

TransPerfect has machine translation capabilities but we typically don’t utilize machine translation for public sector clients unless that service is explicitly requested by the client. We do utilize translation memory in our standard translation process. It is important to note that translation memory is not the same as machine translation—at TransPerfect, all translations are performed by expert human translators. Translation memory is a technology that allows content segments that have been previously translated, edited, and proofread by qualified human linguists to be stored and leveraged for all future projects. The reuse of previously translated segments results in lower costs, faster turnaround times, and improved consistency across all content.

Providing translation that is culturally and linguistically nuanced starts with the selection of the linguists. Prior to being authorized to perform services for TransPerfect, a linguist must pass the

TransPerfect Linguist Certification program outlined below in section 1.4. Once the appropriate linguist/s is selected, every non-rush translation project will adhere to the process described below.

TransPerfect’s quality management system – certified to both ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 17100:2015 – dictates best-practice procedures throughout the translation process. TransPerfect utilizes a three-step process for all translation projects intended for distribution to ensure the integrity, accuracy, and overall quality of our work product. Each document passes through a translator, editor, and proofreader before being returned to the client. In cases where the scope of the source document or the speed of the turnaround time necessitates that multiple translators be used on a given project, we will always prepare a glossary of terms as a standard reference throughout the project. Additionally, once the separate portions of the translations are completed, the dedicated editor will review all of the text for consistency

Confidential Page 11 of 23 October 18, 2023 in language and formatting. Any inconsistencies will be addressed and resolved. Finally, the project’s proofreader will review the entire document once more to ensure consistency and accuracy.

Glossaries:

Glossary creation is a key element in providing professional, high-quality, and consistent multilingual content and TransPerfect always creates and maintains a glossary of approved terminology for each client. We will begin by reviewing a State agency’s content and existing collateral, as well as content from previous translation efforts. We will then extract any agency-specific terminology, along with any frequently occurring text segments. This information will be used to create a master source-language glossary. This glossary will then be submitted to the agency for revisions, additions, deletions, and final sign-off.

Once the master glossary is finalized, TransPerfect will create glossaries for each target language using a combination of previously translated content (assuming it is correct and up-to-date), online data dictionaries, relevant reference material, and information gathered from the agency. Once again, when the language versions of the glossary are complete, they will be submitted the agency’s reviewers for revisions, additions, deletions, and final sign-off.

TransPort Portal:

TransPerfect currently services all high volume contracts using TransPerfect’s GlobalLink TransPort solution. This allows our clients to initiate web-based requests with minimal to no training. We recommend that State agency’s consider using TransPort to submit all document translation, media and transcription requests to realize TransPort’s benefits. The screenshots below depict a standard client workflow when submitting a translation request:

How to Request a Quote

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Uploading Files

Project Details

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Reviewing Quote

Tracking Project Status

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Notification of Project Completion

Retrieval of Completed Files

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Ability to Customized View by User

Further Customization

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Exhibit 1.10 Document Translation Internal Workflow

Steps:

1. Job is received from TransPort after quoting/approval process

2. Files, instructions, materials are all reviewed to ensure full understanding of project scope

3. Documents are pre-flighted and prepared for the translation process

a. At this point – questions are sent back to client for anything that has not been clearly addressed or confirmed regarding files or reference material

4. Documents are run against the specific TM, containing all previous translation work done under those specific languages to ensure consistency

5. Project management team chooses an appropriate linguistic team from our database of vendors vetted specifically for the requesting agency’s projects – choice is made based on language, vendor quality scores, and subject matter of those specific documents

6. Relevant glossaries are shared with the selected linguists

7. Project management team oversees the full life-cycle of the document translation, proofreading, and quality assurance steps, ensuring that these are all done within the given timeline and budget

8. Project management team reviews the final file, checking that all instructions have been followed, quality steps have taken place, and the deliverable meets all requirements specified by the client

9. Documents are packaged and uploaded back to TransPort for delivery to the requestor.

Multilingual Graphic Support:

TransPerfect has an in-house desktop publishing department that can work on a Mac or PC platform.

Our design and DTP experts have experience in Quark, Illustrator, PageMaker, FrameMaker, Photoshop, and Word. We are able to typeset in virtually any application a client requests, including, but not limited to, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher, FreeHand, Corel, Interleaf, InDesign, and Visio.

TransPerfect also has experts in Acrobat and can create PDFs to a client's specifications. We can typeset in most languages, including all Romance languages, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Laotian, Vietnamese, Cyrillic languages, Central European languages, and others. We frequently introduce new technologies to meet specific client demands and can transfer information amongst different software products provided that they are technologically compatible. In addition to

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TransPerfect’s extensive desktop-publishing capabilities, our clients often look to us for design guidance.

TransPerfect can work with virtually any format, platform, or program, creating a custom solution based on Arizona’s content format and individual requirements. Below are a few of the technologies we currently utilize in meeting the varied needs of our clients:

Multimedia and Graphics: JPEG, GIF, PNG, PSD (Photoshop), EPS (Illustrator), SVG, and

Flash

Desktop Publishing and Typesetting: Quark (qxp, qxd), FrameMaker (fm, mif), PageMaker

(pm), InDesign (indd), Illustrator, Photoshop, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher, FreeHand, Corel, Interleaf, and Visio

Website Formats: HTML, ASP, JSP, XML (including XLIFF and XBRL, etc.), .NET, JHTML, JS, CFM (ColdFusion), Adobe Flex, and Lotus Domino

Engineering/CAD/CAM: AutoCAD (dwg, dxf)

XML Content Authoring: AuthorIT, XMetaL, XMLSpy

Help: WinHelp (.rtf), HTML help (.html, .hpj), RoboHelp, MadCad Flare

Software Development Environments: Visual Studio, Eclipse

Content Management Systems/ERP Technologies: Interwoven TeamSite, Documentum, Vignette, Percussion Rhythmyx, Ektron CMS, SAP, SharePoint, Microsoft CMS, RedDot CMS, EPiServer, FatWire, and Alfresco

Database Technologies: Oracle, MS SQL Server, MySQL (all versions), IBM DB/2, TransSQL, PostgreSQL, MS Access, and any other database system that offers a JDBC connection

GMS: GlobalLink®, Idiom WorldServer

Audio Recording: WAV, mp3, AIFF, VOX, WMA, AU, and ATRAC

Operating Systems: Windows (2000, XP, Vista, etc.), Mac OS, Linux/Solaris

Programming Languages: VB, VB.net, C#, Java, Symbian, C++

Resource Formats: Windows Resource files (.rc, .resx), Java Properties files (.properties), .po files

We do ask our clients to provide us with the source files for graphics, images, and .pdf files (where available) as this facilitates a smooth and efficient—and thus less costly—localization process.

Voiceover Translation Services

TransPerfect offers a full range of multimedia solutions that combine our worldwide language resources with our technology solutions and project management expertise to support our client’s messaging in over

170 languages. TransPerfect utilizes our Media Next platform to perform Voiceover services in.

Audio Production Services

Script Development / Adaptation - The process of multilingual audio production begins with script development and adaptation. All audio text is transcribed from the source language storyboards/narration/voiceovers/sound bites, and compiled into a studio-ready script. Once the

County approves the script, it will be translated edited and proofread by our professional linguists.

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Due to the natural word count expansion and contraction rates when translating into other languages, the script might need to be adapted for timing purposes.

Voice talent - The professional voice talent(s) will be native-speakers of the respective target languages and will have extensive experience in performing professional voice-over services.

Based on the characteristics of each role in the recordings (gender, age, etc.) TransPerfect will screen potential candidates and supply samples of professional voice talent for each target language. Once the user selects the voice talent, our audio team will book the talent for all recording sessions.

Bilingual Supervision - TransPerfect will appoint one bilingual supervisor per language to ensure accurate interpretation and expression of the text, provide cultural expertise, and direct the talent accordingly. Bilingual supervisors are professional studio staff and native speakers of the target language. They attend all recording sessions to coach and guide the voice talent and ensure continuity across all voice tracks and characters.

Recording Studio - TransPerfect will supply a professional studio engineer in its onsite recording studio to manage the recording and editing of the translated script. Recording studio costs cover the estimated number of hours associated with recording, mixing, sound engineering, editing, and video synchronization, as well as selecting, assembling, documenting, and backing-up the final output for each language version.

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3 PERSONNEL

Methodology to test and hire Qualified (Non-Certified) and Certified interpreters/translators

TransPerfect is dedicated to providing the highest quality translation services, which begins with the selection of our most valuable resources—our linguists. In order to ensure that the most qualified linguists are working on each and every project, we created the TransPerfect Linguist Certification

(TLC) program, which has since become the industry standard for linguist certification. This program is designed to serve the interests of clients with specialized needs for translation. Before a project is assigned to a particular translator, they will have qualified to work within specific subject areas by taking one or more of over 80 subject-specific tests. This helps us ensure that projects are assigned to linguists with in-depth knowledge of the industry or field.

TransPerfect’s linguists must meet or exceed the following requirements, which are verified by our linguistic resources coordinator as part of the initial screening:

Candidate must be a native speaker of the target language

Candidate must provide proof of educational background and experience through either a) five years of experience in translation or b) an advanced degree and two years of professional experience in translation

Candidate must document translation or interpretation experience in their area of specialization

Candidate must provide three references, at least one of which must be from an end client

Candidate must document a recognized graduate certificate in translation from an institution of higher learning

Candidate must document a certificate of competence in translation awarded by an appropriate government body

Once these prerequisites are met, each candidate undergoes a series of assessments intended to measure their degree of professionalism, comprehension of ethics, and proficiency in translation or interpretation in specific languages and fields. Having passed the initial screening and performance assessments, linguists are invited to partake in TransPerfect’s continuing education offerings, including regular trainings and webinars.

The benefits of this program include:

Validation of linguists' qualifications from a reliable and accountable source

Continuous assessment and enhancement of translators' linguistic competence

Assurance of linguists' understanding of professional ethics, protocols, and specialized terminology for a variety of fields

Minimization of liability by ensuring the highest quality of linguistic resources

Recognized as one of the industry's most selective and respected certifications, the TLC program currently holds a 12% pass rate for linguistic experts and a 6% pass rate for highly technical specialists.

As part of our quality assurance process, all of our linguists are audited on the quality of their translations and feedback is regularly assessed to maintain the highest-caliber talent at all times.

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For voice talents, prospective candidates are vetted for their experience and asked to provide representative voice samples. These samples are reviewed by expert native speaker reviewers to assess their voice to confirm they are a native speaker, any accents or dialects, voice qualities such as pitch and projection, possible voice playing age and the types of projects they would be suitable for e.g.

commercials, e-learning, podcasts, audiobooks etc. Once approved, their home studio is approved by our internal audio engineering team. They are then provided information about our processes before working on an assignment and made available to our Project Management teams.

Over-the-phone interpreter recruitment

The TransPerfect Selection and Training Process is a specifically designed program that serves to enhance the skills of our interpreters in fulfilling the needs of our clients, thus providing an unparalleled customer service experience. We follow a strident selection and training process of which includes:

Validation of linguists’ qualifications

Continuous assessment and enhancement of interpreter linguistic competence

Assurance of linguists’ understanding of professional ethics, protocols, and specialized terminology for variety of fields

Minimization of liability by ensuring the highest quality of linguistic resources

Candidate Assessment

The candidates whose educational background and experience meets TransPerfect standards undergo two rounds of interviews and are reference checked to determine their compatibility with the company.

1. Preliminary phone interview

This portion of the interview process allows the hiring supervisor to become acquainted with the potential interpreter/translator and verify the candidates’ competencies including the ability to communicate effectively in English.

2. Interpretation Assessment

The interview also includes oral proficiency testing in both English and the target language. This process permits TransPerfect to select the best candidates and place these candidates into appropriate training tracks within the company. If the candidate meets the criteria, they move on to the final portion of the interview: the consecutive interpretation assessment.

TransPerfect’s consecutive interpretation test, which is designed to test the clarity, customer service, accuracy, respect, integrity and professionalism of the interpreter, is the last and most challenging step of the evaluation. All areas tested are bi-directional, going between English and the target language. The objective of this assessment is to disqualify candidates whose skills do not meet TransPerfect's standards of industry excellence and place viable candidates into one of the three qualification levels (novice, intermediate, and advanced). This rating system allows TransPerfect to:

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Mentor interpreters with diverse skill sets and levels of experience into well-rounded workers with an increasing degree of excellence

Develop specialized interpreters in key areas such as medical, legal, or technical interpreting

Continuously raise professional development standards of the entire TransPerfect interpreting staff

Keep a record of all assessments, which can be made available for medical providers during audits

Determining appropriate personnel for specific requirements. Ensuring cultural sensitivity

For any project type, regardless of size or service, special steps are taken to determine if any specific knowledge of language or culture is required to perform the work correctly. The steps may be automated, as in completing an online request for document translation, or they may be part of completing a request for services form done jointly between the Account Manager and the client. In both cases, any requirements for personnel with specific knowledge, skill and abilities will be seen by the production hubs before staffing the project. They will then only select linguists from TransPerfect’s

ProjectV database who have been identified as having the required knowledge and familiarity with a specific culture, dialect, etc. If the required criteria is not one listed in ProjectV, the production team will ask all linguists about the knowledge and familiarity on certain topics and their comfort with working with members of specific communities.

For example, a request could be made for an interpreter to interpret at an asylum hearing. The applicant may be a woman and the justification for application may be based on being a member of the LGBTQ community, which is regularly persecuted in their country of origin. The requestor could ask for a female interpreter familiar with these topics, so when the production team sources a linguist they will be sure to only look for females and also include the LGBTQ familiarity and comfort criteria as part of the interview and background review process.

By including these types of criteria in all project requests, we ensure that the right resource is matched with each project and issues of unfamiliarity with linguistic and cultural nuances are not an issue.

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4 PROBLEM RESOLUTION

TransPerfect has achieved ISO 18841:2018 certification for all interpretation services. This standard signifies that TransPerfect’s processes and workflows meet the requirements to guarantee high-quality interpretation services for clients. This dedication to quality is passed on to our clients at every step of our processes. As such, we take the monitoring of our services and continuous improvement very seriously. Regular auditing and evaluation of our linguists is essential, but it is only the first step. At the conclusion of each assignment, we undergo a thorough evaluation of the project management, the linguists and concluding with client billing. As part of this process, we solicit client feedback directly by asking our clients to assess TransPerfect according to the following criteria:

Quality of final deliverable: (E: Excellent / G: Good / S: Satisfactory / U: Unsatisfactory)

Ability to meet deadline: (E: Excellent / G: Good / S: Satisfactory / U: Unsatisfactory)

If you were to have additional language services needs, would you use TransPerfect again?

This feedback can either be submitted directly in InterAct at the conclusion of any assignment or via email. Information is analyzed to identify trends in the performance of the quality system in order to determine its overall effectiveness and to identify opportunities for improvement. The quality assurance director is responsible for conducting and coordinating the analysis of data and for reporting results to top management through management reviews. All findings are reported to the client at monthly meetings

Data analyzed includes but is not limited to:

QTB (Quality, Timeliness, and Billing) data (tracked by the QA Department in monthly, quarterly, yearly, and department-based spreadsheets)

Quality scores for quality managers and linguists (tracked in the Linguist Control Database for

Linguists and by the QA Department in monthly, quarterly, yearly, and department-based spreadsheets for quality managers)

Positive Feedback Forms (PFFs)

Corrective/Preventive Action Forms (CAFs)

Service and quality control questionnaires

Annual client satisfaction surveys

Training completeness/effectiveness data

Internal audit reports

External audit reports

Specific to linguists, quality performance objectives and the consequences of not meeting those objectives are described below in detail. The Supplier Control Database (SCD) is the primary means by which the performance of external linguists is monitored. Within the database, a running average of quality scores is kept for each linguist (supplier). The SCD also contains a list of CAFs per supplier, as well as the number of jobs performed for TransPerfect.

If a supplier’s quality score falls below a certain point, that supplier is marked as restricted in the

Supplier Control Database and added to a separate restricted linguist list, never to be used again.

Additionally, suppliers may be restricted for reasons other than low quality scores (severity of CAFs, unprofessional behavior, etc.). Suppliers that have been completely restricted cannot be un-restricted.

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There are strict penalties for any project manager (PM) who improperly places a project with a restricted linguist.

The first offense results in a CAF and a verbal warning for the PM.

The second offense will result in two CAFs and a written warning for the PM.

The third offense will result in termination.

The performance of full-time production employees is reviewed on an ongoing basis through performance scores, CAFs, and PFFs. The quality performance objectives against which all employees are assessed are set during annual performance reviews.

Problem Resolution

TransPerfect’s service-level performance standards can be defined as mandatory, strict conformance to specific client instructions and expectations. Any evidence of non-conformance, even with a single instruction, is considered unacceptable in terms of TransPerfect’s rigid quality standards. The County will benefit by having instructions implemented within a system of continuous quality improvement efforts through the exchange of information and feedback for each assignment.

Any issue that arises during the assignment should be reported to your account or project manager for investigation. In accordance with our ISO 9001:2008 certified quality management system, the

TransPerfect account manager is required to fill out a Corrective Action Form (CAF). Corrective Action

Forms are used to report quality problems that need to be escalated. The resulting report is logged into the Supplier Control Database by the quality director, who will escalate the issue to the appropriate department manager. This individual, in conjunction with the quality director, will review the issue, identify the action required to resolve the complaint, and implement the resolution process from start to finish.

Response time to project-related inquiries is guaranteed within one hour of contact. The timeline to correct any errors introduced by TransPerfect will be communicated to the user immediately upon conclusion of a thorough assessment of the assignment and the specific complaint. TransPerfect will make every effort in good faith to work within Santa Clara County’s required timeline to correct any problem.

In the event that an issue cannot be resolved at the account management level, the director of business development or regional director that supervises the account will be brought into the resolution process to ensure a solution or conclusion is reached in a timely fashion.