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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. Setting phase due dates manually takes time, especially when managing a large number of documents. To alleviate this burden, we provide provided a way to automate due dates in the Setup phase of the workflow. The Configure the Due Dates tab can be configured before and after they are stamped on a projectat any point to begin automation. 

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 Components of due date configurations

• Target

  Configs

  Configurations - Use the default settings to keep all due dates standard, or configure specific due date settings for a

  specific

  target or group of targets. 

• 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 to be set. 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 phase

  your phases get. It can also determine the target and document due dates. 

• Durations - Duration refers to the amount of time

  that is given

  you give to the phase

  or

  and target.

  The

  We calculate the due date

  is calculated

  by adding your duration hours

  to point in time the due date should be set

  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 choose targets selected in the Document Tab of your workflow. When the workflow sets due dates for a target, it will see if the created target has settings under a Target Configuration. If it finds a matching Target Configuration, it will use those settings

. If it doesn't find a matching target configuration, it will use the Default Settings. You must have Default Settings configured to ensure that unmatched targets will have configurations to fall back on. The Automation Method can be different for each Target Configurations. 

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Setting up a Target Configuration

1. First, configure your Default Settings. 

   1. To create a new Target Configuration, select the plus button next to the Target Configurations header, or you can copy an existing Target Configuration. The plus will be disabled when you have added all the targets in the document tab. 

   2. Choose which targets should belong to the configuration using the Targets drop-down. 

   3. Fill out the remaining due date settings.

Target Configuration Actions

To open the available actions of a Target Configuration, select the 'more' icon at the end of the row.
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1. Copy Group - Creates a new Target Configuration with the same settings as the original Target Configuration except for the chosen targets. 

2. Rename Group - Create a custom name for the configuration. Save when you finish. 

3. Delete Group - Remove a Target 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 set provide a due date when they upload content. The system will set the due date will be set automatically based on the duration of the phase due dates. 

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1. Set up Target

   Configs

   Configurations as necessary.  

2. Set up your Weekend Settings.

3. Under the Phase Due Dates section, you will

   set how

   choose to adjust the phase duration

   should be adjusted

   based on source or weighted word count and a minimum duration.  

   1. First

      set

      , choose the condition that will

      determine when

      trigger setting the due date

      will be set

      .

      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

         be forced into

         also use that condition. 

      4. When you set your phase's condition

         is set

         to Leverage Completes you

         will be able to

         can choose to

         key off of

         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

         that condition is met

         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.

        InfoFor

       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

      1. – the phase duration will equal 6 hours since 2 hours is less than the minimum duration. 

      2. Source word count equals 1,600 words

      ,

      1. – the phase duration will equal 8 hours since you added 1 hour every 200 words, and the result was

      greater

      1. more significant than the minimum duration. 

      If

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

   then leave the hours and source words equal to 0

   .

   This is useful for system phases and phases that are not affected by word count (such as client approval).Durations can be set

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

   2. Due dates are set

      The system sets due dates for all phases, targets, and documents when the

      target is created. The due date of the second phase is not set when the second phase starts. The duration of the second phase adds its duration to the due date of the first phase. That way if the first phase is completed late, the assignee of the second phase still needs to attempt to deliver by their due date. This prevents the due date of the target from continually being pushed back.
      
   The target due date is set by adding the total duration of the phases.
   If you have multiple target configurations with different time settings, the

   1. workflow meets the final condition. 

   2. The target due date equals the final phase's due date. The document due date will be set

   to equal

   1. based on the target due date

   set farthest into

   1. furthest in the future. 

   2. Automated due dates will replace

   any

   1. manually set due dates

   that were set manually

   1. . However, you can manually adjust

   automated

   1. due dates after

   they are set

   1. the system automates them if necessary. 

   2. 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 is requested upon upload. Image Removed

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1. Set up Target

   Configs

   Configurations as necessary.  

2. Set up your Weekend Settings

   .
   Target

   .

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

   and when

   or when the user doesn't request a due date

   is not set at all

   . 

   1. Set the minimum target duration.

      Minimum – If a user

      sets

      requests a due date

      that is fewer hours

      lower than the minimum,

      then

      the system adjusts the target due date

      will be adjusted accordingly and phase due dates will be given their allotted time. 

      .  

      1. The

         target and

         document due

         dates will be adjusted if their due dates are below the minimum. The document due

         date will equal the target due date set farthest into the future.

   2. The system uses the default duration

      is used

      if the content manager

      forgets to

      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

   set the percentage

   , give each phase the percentage of the

   duration that should be given to each phase

   total duration you want them to have. 

7. Save your work.

Target Configs

A Target Config should include targets that will share the same weekend settings and due date configurations. You can specify configurations for the target languages you have set under the Document Tab of your workflow. When the workflow is setting due dates for a target it will look to see if the created target has settings under a Target Config. If it finds a matching Target Config, it will use those settings, if not it will use the Default Settings. You must have Default Settings configured to ensure that unmatched targets will have configurations to fall back on. The Automation Method can be different for each Target Configs. 

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To set up a Target Config:

To create a new Target Config, select the plus button next to the Target Configs header or you can copy an existing Target Config. 

Target Config Actions:

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1. Copy Group - Creates a new Target Config with the same settings as the original Target Config with the exception of the chosen targets. 
2. Rename Group - Create a custom name for the config. When you are done, select the save icon. 
3. Delete Group - Remove a Target Config. 

Weekend Settings

Weekend Settings

You can set up weekends for fixed hour and percentage-based Automation Methods, we allow you to set up weekends for your linguists so that automated due dates consider the work/life balance of your linguists.Image Removed

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1. Set

   Select the checkbox next to the Weekend Settings header

   to TRUE

   .

   
    

   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

   to be based

   1. on.

     TipIf you are using linguists who are

   1.  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.