Projectext or Plunet, which one? Thread poster: Glodom
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Glodom 
China
Local time: 15:12
Member (2010)
English to Chinese
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Since our business volume booms recently, we are considering to use a professional project management system. Someone recommended two software: Projectext and Plunet. Have you used any of the two software? which one is best? or any other suggestions?
Donna ([email protected])
[修改时间: 2014-06-10 09:41 GMT]
| | | | | Don't know Projectext, but Plunet is OK | Jun 10, 2014 |
Dear Donna
First, a big THANK YOU for asking! It is really a good sign when an agency thinks of what the system looks like from the translators' side.
I assume you will be using the latest version of Plunet if that is the option you choose.
I actually gave up on a client who used an earlier one! It was just too much hassle as they set it up, but the latest version is - or can be - convenient for translators too.
In fact, one of my absolute favourite ... See more Dear Donna
First, a big THANK YOU for asking! It is really a good sign when an agency thinks of what the system looks like from the translators' side.
I assume you will be using the latest version of Plunet if that is the option you choose.
I actually gave up on a client who used an earlier one! It was just too much hassle as they set it up, but the latest version is - or can be - convenient for translators too.
In fact, one of my absolute favourite clients uses it as well as a couple of occasional clients. Being familiar with it helps, but it comes with good user instructions for translators, at least in the English version.
It is still possible to keep in personal contact with the PM if there are any queries or issues, which is important - the agency can then deal with them before they turn into serious problems.
The invoicing system is effective too.
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I am not aware that I have ever worked with Projectext, but I am always wary of these management systems. Many of them are a lot of hassle for the translator, and we can't charge for extra administration time!
But I don't feel I am wasting my time with Plunet.
Just my personal view.
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| | | | Erik Freitag
Germany
Local time: 09:12
Member (2006)
Dutch to German
+ ...
| Whichever you chose, don't force your translators to use it! | Jun 10, 2014 |
No matter which one you chose: Don't force your translators to use them. It's fine if you try to make your life easier, but don't do it at your translators' expense.
Christine Andersen wrote:
Many of them are a lot of hassle for the translator, and we can't charge for extra administration time!
But of course we can! Even if this usually means I'll be continuing to use the traditional means of communication (i.e. by exchanging regular emails). An agency that tries to shift some of its workload towards me is going to have to pay for it!
Christine Andersen wrote:
But I don't feel I am wasting my time with Plunet.
That's good to hear, maybe things have indeed changed since earlier versions (which I found ridiculously cumbersome to use).
[Bearbeitet am 2014-06-10 20:15 GMT]
| | | | Natalie
Poland
Local time: 09:12
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...
MODERATOR SITE LOCALIZER | Both are very inconvenient to use | Jun 10, 2014 |
Both work in a few browsers only, and don't work correctly with the rest or don't work at all. Huge waste of time.
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Glodom
China
Local time: 15:12
Member (2010)
English to Chinese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Christine Andersen wrote: Dear Donna First, a big THANK YOU for asking! It is really a good sign when an agency thinks of what the system looks like from the translators' side. I assume you will be using the latest version of Plunet if that is the option you choose. I actually gave up on a client who used an earlier one! It was just too much hassle as they set it up, but the latest version is - or can be - convenient for translators too. In fact, one of my absolute favourite clients uses it as well as a couple of occasional clients. Being familiar with it helps, but it comes with good user instructions for translators, at least in the English version. It is still possible to keep in personal contact with the PM if there are any queries or issues, which is important - the agency can then deal with them before they turn into serious problems. The invoicing system is effective too. ______________________________________ I am not aware that I have ever worked with Projectext, but I am always wary of these management systems. Many of them are a lot of hassle for the translator, and we can't charge for extra administration time! But I don't feel I am wasting my time with Plunet. Just my personal view.
Dear Christine, many thanks for your detailed reply. Have you used other better project management systems?
[修改时间: 2014-06-11 01:58 GMT]
| | | | Glodom
China
Local time: 15:12
Member (2010)
English to Chinese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Could you recommend a better system? | Jun 11, 2014 |
Natalie wrote:
Both work in a few browsers only, and don't work correctly with the rest or don't work at all. Huge waste of time.
Dear Natalie, thanks for your reply. Could you recommend a better system?
| | | | | Name correction: Projetex | Jun 11, 2014 |
I believe that the correct name for the first software is Projetex, not Projectext. I used version 6 or 7 for some time a few years ago and my impressions were mixed. But they offer a new version almost every year (with you having to pay for each upgrade) and currently, it's Projetex 10. You can try it free for 30 days. You may also wish to look at ]project-open[, which is cross-platform and open-source. Unfortunately, I can't offer any comments on its use in translation environment.
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| It obviously depends how you set Plunet up | Jun 11, 2014 |
I can see from the other discussion that I was still very dissatisfied with the invoicing system at that time!
It CAN be set up to accept translators' own invoices, I believe, but the client I work for most has streamlined invoicing to comply with local requirements. They did it over a couple of months with feedback from translators, so there are obviously a number of options and possible configurations.
This version of Plunet is not integrated with any CAT tool, at lea... See more I can see from the other discussion that I was still very dissatisfied with the invoicing system at that time!
It CAN be set up to accept translators' own invoices, I believe, but the client I work for most has streamlined invoicing to comply with local requirements. They did it over a couple of months with feedback from translators, so there are obviously a number of options and possible configurations.
This version of Plunet is not integrated with any CAT tool, at least in their configuration, although they use Trados Studio a lot.
Plunet sends a mail to tell the translator when a job is allocated, but when I get one of these, I can contact the PM (if she has not already contacted me first) to see the files before committing to take the job.
Downloading and uploading files is straightforward.
I find it works fine with Internet Explorer, but don't know about other browsers.
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I don't know the names of any other systems I have worked with, but as I said, I tend to regard them as unnecessary hassle and a waste of my time!
And PLEASE don't ask us to change passwords every three months.
One occasional client's system will never let me in, because my password has expired since last time, and it takes me half an hour just to to log in...
By which time I decide to turn down the job anyway - the thought of logging in again to deliver and invoice is just too much!
[Edited at 2014-06-11 21:28 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Alan Halls
Germany
Local time: 09:12
German to English
| Bad experience with Plunet | Jun 12, 2014 |
Good morning all
I do not know Projetex, but I had the dubious pleasure of working with Plunet for some time from the Customer side (in Germany). We had to prepare translation jobs to go out to freelancers. Setting up the software was a nightmare. As a company, Plunet did not feel any need to help our team of about 6 project managers in setting it up so it worked. They insisted on pointless online "tutorial" sessions that did not help much because there was no real introduction to t... See more Good morning all
I do not know Projetex, but I had the dubious pleasure of working with Plunet for some time from the Customer side (in Germany). We had to prepare translation jobs to go out to freelancers. Setting up the software was a nightmare. As a company, Plunet did not feel any need to help our team of about 6 project managers in setting it up so it worked. They insisted on pointless online "tutorial" sessions that did not help much because there was no real introduction to the software and its functions. It took the company I was working at a year to get anywhere near a useful installation, with two people trying to figure it out more or less full time. Such simple actions as importing a CSV file of translators' addresses etc. were not possible. We had to type all those details in by hand. When it finally got to the point where we could use it, it turned out that the user interface was a serious throw-back to the previous century. Totally non-intuitive, designed by programmers who had no idea of user needs and obviously never asked.
Nobody felt it had been worth the enormous amount of money we had to pay for it.
A really professional solution would be STAR James but that is very expensive. At the other end of the scale there are several less overburdened systems available online.
However, as others have already mentioned, there is nothing worse for external translators than being forced by the customer to use a clunky system. Whatever system it is, I would make sure translators can opt to use their own CAT tool (thousands of us do not use TRADOS!) and definitely not work "live" online.
Perhaps this experience has helped to muddy the waters a little
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