1. science
2. social science
3. linguistics
4. translation

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1 Overcoming Cultural Barriers
2 Translation Pays
3 Outsource or In-house Translation?
4 There is more to it than just Translation
5 Quality Counts
6 Interpreters Help Make Rollouts a Success
7 Getting Training Right
8 Managing Multilingual Rollout Communication
9 Testing and Troubleshooting
10 Get Professional Help
©2015, Lucy Software & Services GmbH
www.lucysoftware.com
Top 10 Lessons for Successful International SAP® Rollouts
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Overcoming
Cultural Barriers
More often than not international
SAP® rollouts are planned based
on a local blueprint and initial rollout
experience. The rollout, for example,
to China or Brazil is supposed to be a
replica of the successful rollout in North
America.
And then a little thing called CULTURE gets in the way. We
interpret interaction with others based on our own culture,
education and expectations – and that is where the
problems start. People are different; sometimes more so
than we might think.
You have lined up training in Mandarin or Portuguese.
You have even planned for the challenges of Chinese
Golden Tax or Nota Fiscal.
All should go smoothly.
So far the theory.
Potential Challenges
Hierarchies
Meeting Culture
In some cultures, management hierarchies are very
important.
Any decisions require the presence or explicit approval by
the responsible manager. If that person is not taking part in
your meeting, you cannot expect any direct results, nor can
you expect direct feedback.
You may be familiar with meetings where ideas and
opinions are freely exchanged, such as brainstorming
sessions.
In certain cultures, the concept of an “open” meeting is
unknown. All sharing and discussion of ideas is strictly
ordered and subject to position in a hierarchy.
Unprepared sessions are not really welcome and can even
be counterproductive. In the worst case, meetings may
result in silence and misunderstandings.
Solution
Project Planning
Cultural Awareness Training
Plan for much more time (also in-country).
Do fit-gap analysis on-site and make sure you really
understand the local requirements.
Confirm all interaction in writing.
Perform at least basic cultural awareness programs
for your rollout teams. This will not solve all the issues,
but it will make a difference.
Top 10 Lessons for Successful International SAP® Rollouts
©2015, Lucy Software & Services GmbH
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Translation Pays
Translation is an issue in any international rollout. The
tendency is to try to keep costs to a minimum and so avoid
translation wherever possible. “Surely anyone that can
operate an SAP system speaks enough English to log on
and work in English?” So goes the argument.
Do all your SAP users speak English?
Is the zero translation approach really the cheapest and the
best?
Who Speaks English?
English is NOT the world’s first language (by number of
native speakers).
It is actually in 4th place behind Chinese, Hindi and
Spanish. As regards Internet websites English is only just
ahead of Chinese.
In certain countries people do have a good command of
English simply because their languages are restricted in
reach (for example, in Scandinavia or the Netherlands), but
that is the exception.
Across the globe business people with a college education
often have a reasonable command of written English.
Senior managers and employees in areas like finance can
work with English. However, this does not necessarily
mean that they are able to clearly express themselves on
complex subjects, for example, in a training context or in
rollout discussions.
Many involved in day-to-day business processes, for
example in a manufacturing context, have little or no
command of English, for example in China, Southern and
Eastern Europe and South America.
Consequences for International SAP Rollouts
1.
You cannot assume all business users have sufficient command of English
to either properly operate an SAP system or to engage in English SAP training
2.
Do not think of translation or local language interaction as a cost factor, think of it as a
business necessity, just as you would for a piece of additional business functionality.
3.
Even if you still decide to leave the system UI in English, at a minimum you need to
plan to hold training and rollout sessions in the local language = translation of slide decks.
4.
You will find that investing in translating your system UI, that is, your custom SAP developments
more than pays for itself. Users learn processes faster. They operate the systems more efficiently.
They make fewer mistakes. The result: smoother rollouts, happier users and lower overall costs.
Top 10 Lessons for Successful International SAP® Rollouts
©2015, Lucy Software & Services GmbH
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Outsource
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In-house
Translation?
So, you have decided to invest in translation for your rollout
project. Should you use internal resources or should you
look for external help?
More often than not you will have pressure to reduce project
costs by using internal resources.
In-house Translation
Is this the best approach? Check out the table below for
guidance.
Outsourced Translation
-
+
They do not appear in the cost spreadsheet. You do not
need to go through a procurement process.
-
+
No extra budget required
Keeps people from their
normal work (so there is an
indirect cost associated)
Professional SAP translators
produce quality translations
Extra budget required
More familiar with company
jargon
Translation is not a core
competence
= uncertain quality
Highly familiar with SAP and
business terminology
Not immediately familiar
with company jargon
Fewer issues with system
access
Not familiar with translation
tools
Tend to make mistakes and
are slower
Experts in usage of tools
Authorization required for
system access
Not scalable
Fast when translating SAP translation is their bread
and butter
Scalable. You can add more
resources if you are under
time pressure
Outsourcing the SAP translation activity to professional SAP translators pays in the long run.
They produce quality SAP translations for the system UI as well as for training materials.
Good translations make the end-user experience a positive and successful one.
Let your internal people focus on their core competencies.
Top 10 Lessons for Successful International SAP® Rollouts
©2015, Lucy Software & Services GmbH
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4
There is more to it
than just Translation
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Typical translation lifecycle when translating the user interface of SAP applications
1 Check
translatability
2 set up
translation
9 iterative
translation
3 define
scope
8 troubleshoot
Activity
Check for translatability
Organize development for
international deployment
Scope and Perform Translation
Move translations through
the SAP Landscape
Test translations
Defect processing &
troubleshooting
Translate delta
development
4 define
terminology
7 test
5 translate
6 transport
to test system
When translating the user
interface of your custom SAP
developments and configurations
you need to be aware that the
translation activity itself is just a
part of a bigger, iterative process.
What to do
Before you even start translation, you need to check that the texts you want to
translate are indeed translatable. For example, screen elements may be “hardcoded”, that is, not defined separately as a translatable text element but as text
strings within the code. These screen elements cannot be translated.
When you develop SAP applications in English that are also destined for
international markets you need to adapt development guidelines accordingly. For
example, you need to ensure that field lengths are set to at least 150% of the length
of the English texts to accommodate longer texts in the foreign languages.
Example: English: “SAVE”, French: “SAUVEGARDER”.
Call in experts to help define exactly what you need to translate – this is key for
budgeting and planning and to perform the works with appropriate quality.
Typically you translate user interface texts in an SAP development or consolidation
system. Once translation has been performed, the foreign language texts must be
transported to the Q system for testing and then on to Production.
A plan must be in place for this activity.
For any SAP development and rollout project you will have planned for a
User Acceptance Test (UAT). For an international rollout plan also for a
Language Acceptance Test (LAT). " See lesson 9. This involves testing if
a) all screens and outputs are fully available in the foreign language,
b) the translations are understandable for business users.
Defects and/or incidents will be logged by end users when translations are missing
or incorrect. You need to define a process for handling these tickets.
You will also need problem solvers. Language troubleshooting experts are required
for this activity. " See lesson 9
Once initial translation is complete, that is not the end of the road. As additional
functionality is added or existing functionality is corrected, translations must be
updated. Translation is an iterative process.
The worst thing you can do is to start translation and then not continue.
The result is screens with mixed languages and very unhappy end user
Top 10 Lessons for Successful International SAP® Rollouts
©2015, Lucy Software & Services GmbH
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Quality Counts
When you program custom SAP functionality for your
company you take measures to ensure the quality of the
programs in terms of robustness and usability. You want to
guarantee that the code actually fulfills the business
requirements.
Do the same for translation!
The same quality standards should apply to translations
of your custom SAP interface texts as to your SAP
applications.
What is Translation Quality?
A translated SAP user interface must be as understandable
and easy to use as the English original.
That is the definition of quality.
A poor, or worse, incorrect translation can mislead or
confuse the end user. This hinders efficient operation of the
system and can actually to lead to real errors.
Example:
English: “Dep.” can mean:
“dependent” “department”
German:
“abhängig”
“Abteilung”
“deposit”
“Pfand”
Keep to Standard
SAP Terminology
Your SAP applications typically consist to 90% of SAP
standard applications (translated by SAP) and 10% of your
own custom developments and configuration. For the end
users there is no difference – it all appears as one system.
It is therefore all the more important that you always
translate your custom texts using the same translations as
defined by SAP otherwise your end users will be confused. If
they see two different translations they will think there are
two different terms/concepts.
A great point of reference for SAP terminology is SAPterm,
SAP’s database of terminology that is delivered with every
SAP Basis system (transaction STERM). Professional SAP
translators are intimately familiar with SAP terminology
and will know which translations to choose for a particular
business context (finance, sales etc.).
“depreciation”
“Abschreibung”
Only a professional SAP translator will be able to check on
the meaning of the source text “Dep.” and will be able to
select the correct translation to use. Often this means
looking at the application context or even examining the
coding.
This is not a job for interns or other “cheap” resources.
Obviously, choosing the right term is critical for the end
user.
They are the best guarantee of quality. Your
foreign end users will thank you for it.
Build in Quality Check
For an international rollout involving translated user
interfaces you also need to plan for a Language Acceptance
Test (LAT), " see lesson 9. Check if translations are
complete and if they are correct.
Top 10 Lessons for Successful International SAP® Rollouts
Do not cut corners.
Use professional SAP translators from the outset.
This will result in smoother rollouts, fewer
defects, and improved system acceptance.
©2015, Lucy Software & Services GmbH
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Interpreters Help Make
Rollouts a Success
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When you face serious language and cultural barriers in
your rollouts, as you might for instance in Asia, but not only
there, you will find that experienced SAP interpreters can
make the world of difference in making your rollout a
success.
Good interpreters with SAP experience help you
overcome language and cultural barriers during all
phases of an international rollout. They can make the
difference between a highly stressful rollout and a
positive rollout experience with high end-user
acceptance in the target country.
When Can Interpreters Help?
Work On-site and Remotely
Interpreters can be of great benefit at various stages of
a rollout.
Interpreters are invaluable for on-site, face-to-face
engagements, but also for telephone conference calls that
often make up a large portion of project interaction in
international projects. Also watch for time zone issues here!
1. Fit-gap Analysis / Design and Implementation
Process
Achieving project buy-in from your target country means
engaging on-site, in-country, and truly understanding
local business processes and requirements.
Interpreters are invaluable in getting this information for
you and in best communicating your plans so that there
are no misunderstandings.
2. On-Site Testing
Local business personnel performing testing can only
provide accurate feedback in their own language.
Interpreters sitting with these people can feed this
information in English to the project development
teams.
3. Training Sessions
If your key trainers do not speak the local language (for
example, they are experts from the USA), then you really
need interpreters in place. Your experts speak in English,
even if slide decks may be in the local language.
The interpreters ensure that trainees feel free to
formulate questions in their own language. This avoids
the typical “silence” in so many classes where
attendees’ English is lacking. Trainees have a much
better learning experience and get up to speed faster.
Customer Experience with
Interpreters in a Japanese
Rollout
A large SAP customer successfully rolled out SAP ERP
functionality to Japan in 2014.
Translation and interpreting played a major role in all
rollout activities.
“The Lucy Software Japanese interpreters
made a significant contribution to the success
of our rollout activities in Japan.
Without them it would have been tough.”
4. During go-live, interpreters can assist in quickly
clarifying any issues. This is so critical the first time you
actually run month’s end closing, for example.
Top 10 Lessons for Successful International SAP® Rollouts
©2015, Lucy Software & Services GmbH
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Getting Training Right
Training is a key element of any rollout. For international
rollouts there is the additional challenge of overcoming any
cultural and, in particular, language barriers.
If trainees cannot easily understand what you are saying
because you are presenting new concepts to them in
English – a foreign language – learning will be slow and
acceptance poor. So training plans need to be considered
carefully.
E-Learning Systems
Face-to-Face Classroom Training
or E-Learning?
If you are using online learning and reference systems such
as ANCILE uPerform™, Assima, Datango performance suite
or others you need to make the content available in the
local language. As for classroom training, it is far easier for
trainees to understand new concepts and processes in their
own language. Basic system interaction and instructions
such as “Click Enter to confirm” are translated
automatically by these systems (there is a table of standard
translations). Additional explanations and guidance that
you add (for example, in the form of text bubbles) can be
extracted as XLIFF files and translated by SAP translators
with industry-standard translation management systems.
E-learning with system simulations is increasingly popular:
trainees can learn at their own pace and they can run
through processes multiple times. Due to the challenges of
international audiences, you will find that it is still
advantageous to run classic classroom training sessions,
face-to-face. Your trainees will thank you for it.
Translate User Interface before
Training Materials
Translate as Much as Possible
So how much do you need to translate?
The recommendation is: as much as possible.
If you are translating the system UI of your SAP
applications you should only translate training materials
when UI translation is complete. Otherwise, references to
menu items, field names, transactions and so on may not
correspond to the reality of the SAP system. This will pose a
problem during training as the trainees will be following the
instructions in the training materials and may be confused
when the texts do not match those on the screen.
Classroom Training
Even if you are holding classroom-type training sessions in
English with English-speaking process experts, it is very
helpful for the trainees to have the training content in their
own language. Where English skills are weak, having an
additional reference in your own language really helps
comprehension and accelerates the learning process.
Also consider using interpreters as an additional aid for
understanding (" see lesson 6). There are various options:
— You present parallel slide decks: one in English and one
in the foreign language
— You use English decks, but the trainees have a separate
(printed) copy in their language for reference
— You speak in English but the slide deck is in the foreign
language and the presenter has an extra copy in English
to refer to. Sounds awkward, but actually this works
very well.
Top 10 Lessons for Successful International SAP® Rollouts
Synchronization of Terminology
with the System User Interface
Make sure that the translations you use for the system UI
are the same as those used in the training materials, or you
will confuse your trainees.
Even if you are not translating the system UI,
translation is a MUST for training materials.
©2015, Lucy Software & Services GmbH
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Multilingual Project Communication
In any international rollout project communication between
the teams is a major part of the work. Language barriers
also often make it a huge headache.
E-Mail Exchange
Defect and Incident Tickets
E-mail is probably the main medium for information
exchange: project announcements, exchange of planning
information. Often you will have project members from
multiple geographies, some native speakers (say of
English), some from India, with varying degrees of fluency
in English, still others for whom English is a foreign
language and who have great difficulty in expressing
themselves clearly, particularly on difficult technical
subjects.
You have processes for handling defects and incidents, but
are you prepared for international users logging defects in a
foreign language? Often 1st or 2nd level support is provided
by key users in-country; in this case ticket processing in the
local language is no problem.
For geographies where English is a major challenge (for
example, Asia) you may consider an e-mail translation
service to intercept e-mails and translate them in both
directions. This can really improve communication and
avoid misunderstandings, even if it means extra overhead.
However, if the local support teams cannot resolve the
issues, they will refer the tickets to 3rd level support that
often comprises English-speaking support personnel at
headquarters (for example, in the USA) or support teams in
India (again English-speaking). How can they handle
tickets that are not in English?
You need to consider this in your ticket workflow.
Either you need personnel to translate key tickets (in both
directions), or you may want to look at using automated
translation. In this way, support personnel can understand
the rough issue and, if required, have key tickets translated
by humans.
Telephone Conferences
If e-mails are difficult, telephone conferences are an even
greater challenge: bad telephone lines, difficult accents, a
poor command of the common project language and time
zone challenges can create a nightmare scenario.
Lucy Software offers secure solutions in this space
providing machine translation of tickets within your
corporate firewall so nothing goes to the Internet but your
support personnel can more readily understand the issues.
Such telephone conferences are inefficient, frustrating for
the participants and are a real cost factor.
A few suggestions for getting the most from your
international telephone conferences:
—
—
—
—
—
Send agendas, key information and supporting
materials well in advance so people can prepare.
Consider translating these materials for foreign
audiences.
Ensure that telephone quality and connectivity are
adequate; test in advance.
Speak clearly and slowly (exaggerate!).
Consider using interpreters for important calls. They
can make all the difference in getting the message
across and avoiding any serious misunderstandings.
Top 10 Lessons for Successful International SAP® Rollouts
©2015, Lucy Software & Services GmbH
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Testing & Troubleshooting
In any project plan, you will include integration testing,
user acceptance tests, final dress rehearsals.
For an international rollout you also need
to check for language.
What do you need to consider?
Language Acceptance Tests
(LATs)
Within your ticket processing system, for example, HP
®
Quality Center Enterprise software, ServiceNow software
or SAP Solution Manager, you must define an appropriate
process for managing language-related tickets including
roles and responsibilities. Ideally you will define a
translation resolution group that deals with all languagerelated issues. This process is required prior to and after golive.
Also take into consideration a potential need for translating
tickets.
In a multilingual scenario, alongside functional testing, you
need to test for the following:
— Completeness of the translation
Does everything appear in the relevant log-on
language?
Do you have any mixed-language screens, or
completely missing texts?
—
Defect and Incident Processing
Appropriateness of the translation
Is the translation correct in the given context?
Do your business users readily understand what they
need to do?
Typically it makes sense to include a language
acceptance test within general user testing. This
reduces overhead. In-country business users should
perform the testing by working through transactions.
Testing should NOT be performed on the basis of Excel
spreadsheets with source: target language.
It is also important to provide testers with guidelines for
feedback. Personal linguistic preferences should not play a
role.
Troubleshooting
If translations are missing or incorrect business users will
log a ticket and often attach a screenshot highlighting the
error. The task is then to identify the relevant technical
object that is affected in order to perform the correction.
This requires skilled resources with appropriate experience.
These resources have a mixed skill set of SAP Basis and
language skills.
As this is not a core competence, many companies
outsource this specialized activity to SAP language experts
like Lucy Software.
In this case, all related tasks are handled by one
competent partner, from object location to translation
and the provision of an appropriate language transport
in readiness for re-testing.
Example:
“Head of department” is the same as “Department
manager” and does not warrant a defect.
Top 10 Lessons for Successful International SAP® Rollouts
©2015, Lucy Software & Services GmbH
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Get Professional Help
International rollouts are clearly a real challenge. Yet often
you neither have the resources nor the competence in the
area of languages to overcome these hurdles on your own.
Successful rollouts depend very much on finding an
experienced, field-proven partner that is familiar with all
language-related issues and has appropriate resources and
strategies to bridge the gap to success.
Lucy Software and Services
Your Competent Partner
You can focus on your core competencies and avoid
typical pitfalls.
Lucy Software is an official SAP Language Consulting and
Translation Services partner. A full spectrum of services
meets all your needs for multilingual international rollouts
of SAP applications.
— These range from consulting on language strategies,
—
—
—
—
—
—
through training,
end-to-end translation services including UI
translation and the translation of rollout materials,
long-term project support ,
development of software solutions ,
—
provision of add-on translation software ,
The Lucy team is made up of seasoned SAP professionals
with up to 25 years of domain experience.
Audit/
Introduction
—
We start by auditing your systems, understanding your
precise requirements and introducing you to SAP
translation processes.
—
For larger rollouts we develop and document a full short
and long-term language strategy.
Top 10 Lessons for Successful International SAP® Rollouts
Full-Service
Translation
Training
Support
Software
Solutions
Interpreting
Software
Development
Intercultural
Coaching
Over 100 successful international SAP rollouts
to interpreting and intercultural coaching .
Your Steps to Success
Consulting
Strategy
—
11,000,000 lines of SAP UI translated
into 24 languages
— 10,000,000 words of training and
rollout materials translated
Translate
Support
—
The third phase involves performing translation and
interpreting work for the initial rollout.
—
If desired, we can also support you long-term for all
delta developments and new releases.
©2015, Lucy Software & Services GmbH
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Top 10 Lessons for Successful International SAP® Rollouts
©2015, Lucy Software & Services GmbH