Wednesday, March 1, 2000
Computer Associates, world leader in mission-critical business software, and Rubric, a leading provider of localization services to information technology firms, offer advice regarding how to streamline the localization process in the March 2000 issue of Software Business magazine. The article "Streamline the Localization Process" explains the importance of a process-driven approach to localization, outlines a preventative strategy for averting problems, and defines the QA integration necessary for a successful process. The article is co-written by representatives of CA and Rubric.
"Your approach to localization affects the speed, efficiency, quality and sustainability of your international product development," the article states. "Implementing a process-driven methodology to localization provides many benefits, such as shortened time-to-market, higher quality, reduced costs and increased ROI.
The Preventative Strategy section starts out: "A critical aspect of process streamlining is 'Preventative Strategy'. The underlying principle is that proactively taking measures to prevent problems is more time- and cost-effective than dealing with problems reactively.
"To streamline your localization process, start by working with the original development and documentation teams. If everyone, not just the localization manager, understands the impact of localization, the product can be developed properly with localization in mind. Integrating localization requirements into your core code and documentation development greatly expedites the localization process by eliminating the need for wasteful rework. As a result, it frees up your valuable resources to focus on core development." Intake management, localization kit construction and localization-readiness verification are some of the issues addressed in this section.
The QA Integration section starts out: "Quality needs to be built into the localized product from the start in order to ensure a smooth-running localization process with minimal or no surprises. This means that instead of bolting on a single, independent quality assurance (QA) stage at the end of the localization process, it is critical to integrate QA into every component of the process.
"The QA steps that need to be integrated include:
- Linguistic
- Technical
- Visual
- Functional"
A localization process development checklist is also included with the article.
Copies of Software Business can be obtained through Webcom Communications Corp. at http://www.infowebcom.com/software/sb.htm. Software Business - The Magazine of the Software Industry - is a business magazine serving the software publishing industry. Its readership consists of executives and managers of software companies. They are responsible for corporate strategy, product development, marketing and sales, distribution, technical and customer support, finance, administration, training, localization, manufacturing and fulfillment.
Computer Associates is a world leader in mission critical business computing, providing software, support and integration services in more than 100 countries around the world. Revenue for fiscal 1999 exceeded $5 billion. CA received Fortune Magazine's second highest ranking for the most admired software companies, according to the March 7, 2000 edition. The company can be reached at http://www.ca.com or Tel. (+1) 516 DIAL CAI (342-5224).
About Rubric
Rubric assures a better localization experience. Specializing in globalization services for the high technology industry, Rubric brings flexibility, on-demand scalability, and integrity to guarantee localization success. Rubric's refined processes adapt to the high tech sector's need for proactive localization planning, anticipation of dynamically changing requirements, and agile response capabilities. For more information, visit www.rubric.com.