simship.com LRC, September 22, 2004 Dr. Stephen Flinter Connect Global Solutions

Agenda simship.com TransWS – Translation Web Services OpenCMS How it all fits together Q&A

What is simship.com? ASP-type online localisation portal Means of allowing Connect clients to interact with us Also, built to allow customers to bring their own translators, and not use CGS.

simship.com Functionality Provides functions such as: –Online quotations –File management –Project tracking –Timesheet tracking –Bug & query tracking –Linguistic tools –Reporting –Document repository

Standard simship workflow Customer uploads file(s) to simship.com notification to PM Connect staff download & work on file(s) Connect staff upload prep’d file(s) to simship notification to translators Translators download & translate file(s)

Comparison simship.com All files in one place Files directly associated with project Automated alerts Automated workflow possible Traditional Files scattered on FTP servers/ inboxes No direct relationship with project No alert mechanism Automated workflow very difficult

Drawbacks of simship approach Customers still have to manually prepare and upload files Customers have to download files when they have been translated Not too bad when small number of large drops (e.g. software) Very difficult to manage with many small file drops (e.g. website)

Solution What is required is a more integrated approach Enter TransWS

TransWS Translation Web Service Aimed at defining a standard for web service interaction between customer and supplier

TransWS Operations Request quotes Submit, retrieve, suspend & cancel jobs Transfer files Manage reference files (e.g. TMs) Retrieve job information

Integration of CMS simship uses OpenCMS as a CMS that can be deployed on a customer site Plugin (simcms) that acts as a TransWS client simship.com has a TransWS end- point Hence, the CMS can communicate directly with simship.

OpenCMS Open source Content Management System Developed in Java Runs on Jakarta Tomcat Uses MySQL as its back-end repository Proprietary (non-standard) Java API Working towards JSR-170 compliance

New Workflow User creates a new page in OpenCMS for their website. Simcms plugin scans the CMS repository, and finds the new content. Pushes the content to simship.com via TransWS Polls on a regular basis to check if the page is available.

simcms At present the simcms plugin works with OpenCMS. However, it is developed using JSR- 170 interface. This means it will work (with minor modification) with just about any JSR-170 compliant CMS.

Features Select projects within OpenCMS to have translated/localised Scheduled scans of the repository for new/changed content Automatically extract new/changed content Deliver content to simship Retrieve translated content from simship Insert it into the repository Allows local admin to publish content

OpenCMS/simship Architecture

Conclusion TransWS will lead the next big productivity improvement in localisation. End-to-end automation One of the real benefits of TransWS will come in the web content space: –Many small file drops –Quick turn-around required Also useful in software continuous l10n. Combination of repository (OpenCMS) and portal (simship) very powerful.

Questions & Answers

References simship: Connect Global Solutions: OASIS: TransWS: open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=trans-ws open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=trans-ws OpenCMS: