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Due Dates

Overview

You use due dates to manage SLAs and ensure clients receive their content when they need it. They also power many of the intelligent workflow features we provide in our workflows. Setting phase due dates manually takes time, especially when managing a large number of documents. To alleviate this burden, we provide automated provided a way to automate due dates that can be configured in the Setup phase of the workflow. The Configure the Due Dates tab can be configured on a Workflow in Project Resources and the Workflow that is actually stamped on the projectat any point to begin automation. 

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Automated Due Dates Overview

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 Components of due date configurations

• Target Configurations - Use the default settings to keep all due dates standard, or configure specific due date settings for specific a target or group of targets. Weekend settings - If you want linguists to be extra time for the weekend, you can set a weekend start, end, and the timezone those settings should be based on

• Project Type – The automation methods will behave differently depending on the type of project you select. You can choose different automation methods for each project type within the same target configuration.

• Automation Method - Choose how you want to set your due dates. Your options are Manual, Fixed Hours, and Percentage Based. 

• Due Date Settings - This  This section varies based on which automation method you use but generally it is where choose, but you set up how much time should be allotted to each phaseyour phases get. It can also determine the target and document due dates. 

Automation Method - Fixed Hours

You should use the Fixed Hours method when there are fixed SLAs between the client and LSP. In this method, the user who is uploading content does not need to set a due date when they upload content. The due date will simply be set based on the duration of the phase due dates. 

Choose at which point in the workflow you want due dates to be set (Set Due Dates When). You can choose to have targets set as soon as the target is created or when a specific phase of the workflow completes.

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Target Configs

• Durations - Duration refers to the amount of time you give to the phase and target. We calculate the due date by adding your duration hours from the condition.

• Weekend settings - If you want to give linguists extra time for the weekend, you can configure the start and end of the weekend and the timezone.  

Target Configurations

A Target Configuration should include targets that can share the same weekend settings and due date configurations. You can specify configurations for all the target languages you have set up under the choose targets selected in the Document Tab of your workflow. When the workflow is setting sets due dates for a target, it will look to see if the created target has settings under a Target ConfigConfiguration. If it finds a matching Target ConfigConfiguration, it will use those settings, if not . If it doesn't find a matching target configuration, it will use the Default Settings. You must have default settings set up Default Settings configured to ensure that any unmatched targets will have due date settings configurations to fall back on. Please note that you can only configure due date durations and weekends settings per target/group of targets. The chosen Automation Method is fixed for all Target Configscan be different for each Target Configurations. Image Removed

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To set

Setting up a Target

Configuration

1. First,

   completely set up

   configure your Default

   configuration (Default

   Settings

   )

   . 

   1. To create a new Target

   Config

   1. Configuration,

   you can

   1. select the plus button next to the Target

   Configs

   1. Configurations header, or you can copy an existing Target

   Config.  InfoIf the plus button is disabled, that means that you have assigned all targets from the Document Tab to Target Configs.

   1. Configuration. The plus will be disabled when you have added all the targets in the document tab. 

   2. Choose which targets should belong to

   this config

   1. the configuration using the Targets drop-down. 

   2. Fill out the remaining due date settings.

Target

Configuration Actions

To open the available actions of a Target

Config simply

Configuration, select the 'more' icon at the end of the row.
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1. Copy Group - Creates a new Target

Config

2. Configuration with

all

3. the same settings as the

copied Target Config with the exception of the specified

4. original Target Configuration except for the chosen targets. 

5. Rename Group - Create a custom name for the

config

6. configuration.

When you are done, select the save icon

7. Save when you finish. 

8. Delete Group - Remove a Target

Config. 

Weekend Settings

For both fixed hour and percentage-based Automation Methods, we allow you to set up weekends for your linguists so that automated due dates consider their work/life balance.

Fixed Hours Automation Method

1. Configuration.

Fixed Hours Automation

You should use the Fixed Hours method when there are set SLAs with the LSP or Linguists. In this method, the end-user does not need to provide a due date when they upload content. The system will set the due date automatically based on the duration of the phase due dates. 

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1. Set up Target Configurations as necessary.  

2. Set up your Weekend Settings.

3. Under the Phase Due Dates section, you will choose to adjust the phase duration based on source or weighted word count and a minimum duration.  

   1. First, choose the condition that will trigger setting the due date.

      1. You can choose between Target Creation or Leverage Completes. 

         1. You cannot choose your conditions if working under Scoped Projects since due dates can’t be set before the project is approved.

      2. You cannot select Leverage Completes before the first leverage phase in the workflow. 

      3.  After you select Leverage Completes all phases after that point will also use that condition. 

      4. When you set your phase's condition to Leverage Completes you can choose to adjust phase duration based on Source Word Count or Weighted Word Count.

      5. If you use Leverage Completes as a condition, phases, targets, and documents will not receive a due date until leverage completes. They will display pending in the due date field and will not appear in the Exceptions Dashboard. 

   2. Set the phase to add x hours every y source/weighted words with a minimum duration of z. For example, if your setting for the phase is to add 1 hour every 200 words with a minimum duration of 6 hours:

      1. Source word count equals 400 words – the phase duration will equal 6 hours since 2 hours is less than the minimum duration. 

      2. Source word count equals 1,600 words – the phase duration will equal 8 hours since you added 1 hour every 200 words, and the result was more significant than the minimum duration. 

4. Set the hours and source words to 0 if you do not want to adjust the phase duration based on word count.

   1. You can set your duration in 15-minute increments (EX: 1.25 hours).

   2. The system sets due dates for all phases, targets, and documents when the workflow meets the final condition. 

   3. The target due date equals the final phase's due date. The document due date will be set based on the target due date furthest in the future. 

   4. Automated due dates will replace manually set due dates. However, you can manually adjust due dates after the system automates them if necessary. 

   5. Save your settings.

Percentage Based Automation

Use the Percentage Based automation method when you don't have fixed SLAs with your client or linguists or if content managers need the freedom to request different due dates each time they upload content. This method works best if you request a due date upon upload. 

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1. Set up Target Configurations as necessary.  

2. Set up your Weekend Settings.

3. Pre-approval due dates – This only applies to scoped projects.

   1. The leverage phase and any phases before it will appear here. These are fixed hour due dates.

4. Duration Limits are used as contingencies when a due date is set too low or when the user doesn't request a due date. 

   1. Minimum – If a user requests a due date lower than the minimum, the system adjusts the target due date.  

      1. The document due date will equal the target due date set farthest into the future.

   2. The system uses the default duration if the content manager doesn't specify a due date when they upload content. 

5. Post-Approval due dates – These are all the phases after leverage. This only appears under scoped projects.

6. Under Phase Due Dates, give each phase the percentage of the total duration you want them to have. 

7. Save your work.

Weekend Settings

You can set up weekends for fixed hour and percentage-based Automation Methods.

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1. Select the checkbox next to the Weekend Settings header.

   1. Set up the weekend start day and time. 

   2. Set up the weekend end day and time. 

   3. Choose which Time Zone you want to base the time and day on. If you use linguists living in their native country, you can choose a time zone that corresponds to their work schedule rather than the end-user uploading content. 

Fixed Hours Automation Weekend Examples

Weekend awareness will increase the amount of time that a linguist has to complete a task. If they

have 36 hours to complete a phase, but

their due date

initially falls after the weekend start time,

the

system will add hours to their due date. 

Percentage Based

Weekend Examples

Weekend awareness will decrease the amount of time a linguist has to complete a task.

The total number of working hours

decreases if the client sets a due date two weeks from

when they uploaded the content since the system will subtract two weekends from the duration. 

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Choose which Time Zone you want the time and day to follow.