Comms Multilingual and ISO 17100

By Sue Orchard

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At Comms Multilingual, we were very happy to have been certified recently under the ISO standard for translation, ISO 17100:2015. This underlines our commitment to quality in everything we do.

I would like to explain a little bit about ISO 17100 and what it means in practice.

ISO 17100 provides requirements for the core processes, resources and other aspects necessary for the delivery of a quality translation service that meets applicable specifications.

Application of this International Standard also provides the means by which Comms can demonstrate conformity of specified translation services to this International Standard and the capability of its processes and resources to deliver a translation service that will meet the client’s and other applicable specifications.

Applicable specifications can include those of the client, of Comms itself, and of any relevant industry codes, best-practice guides or legislation.

Aspects that ISO 17100 covers:

  • Terms / Definitions
  • Resources: human resources & technical resources
  • Pre-production processes
  • Production process
  • Post-production process

Professional competences that linguists must have:

  • Translation Competence
  • Linguistic & Textual Competence in the Source & Target Languages
  • Competence in Research, Information Acquisition & Processing
  • Cultural Competence
  • Technical Competence
  • Domain Competence

We check out all these aspects and more before adding linguists to our database.

Other requirements for linguists:

Translators, proofreaders and QA checkers must have one of the following:

  • A recognised graduate qualification in translation from a university
  • A recognised graduate qualification in any other field + 2 years of full-time experience
  • 5 years of full-time experience in translation

At Comms, our requirements for linguists have always been higher than those laid out here.

Professional competences that reviewers (known at Comms as expert reviewers or SMEs) must have:

The TSP (Translation Service Provider) has to ensure that reviewers are domain specialists and have a relevant qualification in this domain from an institution of higher learning and/or experience in this domain.

This is something that we have been doing as standard for years.

Professional competences that project managers must have:

The TSP shall ensure that project managers have the appropriate documented competence to support the TSP in delivering translation services to meet client and other project specifications.

Appropriate translation project management competence can be acquired in the course of formal or informal training (e.g. as part of a relevant higher educational course or by means of on-the-job training or through industry experience).

In the course of their training and the execution of their duties, translation project managers should develop a basic understanding of the translation services industry and a thorough knowledge of the translation process, as well as master project management skills.

At Comms, our project managers are thoroughly trained in all aspects of their role and we regularly carry out further training and evaluation of their work in order to ensure that the high standards required by our clients and ourselves are always met.

Recording regular maintenance and updating of required competences

The TSP shall have a process in place to record that the competences of their translators, revisers, reviewers, project managers and other professionals required are maintained by continuing practice, and regularly updated by training or other means. The TSP shall keep a record of how competences are maintained and updated.

The ability to prove continuing professional development for our linguists, SMEs, project managers and other professional is something that we check regularly and record in our database.

Technical and technological resources

The TSP shall have an infrastructure in place which, where appropriate, ensures the availability and use of all the required technical and technological resources.

We use state-of-the-art technology to support us in our project work.

Processes

The TSP shall have documented processes in place for all projects, including pre-production work (initial analysis, quotation and agreement with client), production work (translation, check, revision/proofreading, review -where appropriate-, proofreading -where appropriate- and final verification before delivery), and post-production work (feedback and closing administration).

We are highly systematised and everyone knows exactly which documents are required for each step of our processes. This means that any project manager can take over immediately and know the exact status of a project, should the project manager not be in the office for some reason.

We will be happy to answer any questions you may have about ISO 17100 and what it means in practice for our clients.

ISO-certified Translation Agency - Comms Multilingual - ATC Certification Badge