Translation Workflow States

The translation process, described in Translation Configuration Process, relies on the state of objects and dynamic documents to determine the workflow actions to be triggered. Understanding how lifecycle states are used in the translation process is key to understanding translation workflow actions. Translation workflow interprets the lifecycle states of objects and dynamic documents within a publication structure or information structure as follows:

1. The value for the Preparation State preference needs to be assigned to the source documents approved for translation. This is a manual step. By default, this is the RELEASED state.

2. When a source document is ready for translation, the user launches Create Translation Package to choose the target translation packages. All source document languages represented in the service structure are displayed in the dialog box, and the user chooses from the available target languages.

3. In the Create Translation Package dialog box, the user can choose whether to send all content that is already approved or to wait until all content is approved.

If the user chooses Content already approved, all objects set to the value of the Preparation State are gathered and the translation package is created.

If the user chooses Wait for all content to be approved, then all the service structure objects are gathered, but the translation process waits for the remaining objects to be set to the value of the Preparation State. The translation process periodically checks the state of each remaining object to determine if it’s set to the value of the Preparation State. After all of the objects reach the Preparation State, the translation package is created.

4. During the gathering process, target translation objects are created and their state is set to the value of the In Translation State preference. This step happens automatically. By default, this is the INWORK state. The target document content is still in the source language at this stage because it hasn’t been translated yet. The translation process baselines the objects and creates the translation packages.

5. When translated documents are returned from the vendor and placed in the External Import Folder preference location, the Import Translation Process imports and checks in the translations. The object versions are iterated upon check-in, and their state is set to the value of the Translated State preference. By default, this is the RELEASED state. This is also an automated step.

6. After objects are translated, returned and checked in, they will need to be reviewed for changes or corrections. If so, the document may undergo more iterations or revisions. Each iterated or revised target document always remains linked from the source document. However, each target language will maintain its own version stream of iterations and revisions. That means that it is possible one target language translated object may be at a different iteration or revision version than another produced from the same source.

The latest version of a target language document will be used for publishing. This includes using the initial target object that has the same content as the source document before translation if no translated documents have been checked in. This approach provides a way to include the source document as a fallback if a translated document is not available.

If a quotation package is created, no target translated objects or baselines are created, and nothing will be checked in from the vendor.