To help train the project managers of the future, Plunet offers a Plunet Academy Program to give students prior experience with a software solution used daily in the translation industry.
Plunet’s university partners have free access to Plunet BusinessManager, so they can teach the software as part of their curriculum, either with an experienced professor or together with a well-versed Plunet client.
In 2018, Linguaserve, one of the leading Spanish language service providers, started a collaboration with the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the Plunet Academy to support a practice-oriented way of teaching students and facilitate their future start in professional life.
The Plunet Academy Program fits right into the TRAVLOC (Audiovisual Translation and Localization) program, which offers students advanced, multidisciplinary, and technological training in translation. This comprehensive program trains students in translation technologies and audiovisual translation, improving the practical execution of interlinguistic products and services in the translation industry.
Laura Albarrán Rodríguez, who is now an experienced project manager, is a perfect example of the program’s success. She learned how to implement project management tasks with the help of Plunet at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and wrote her final master’s thesis (TFM) on a technology-focused topic, comparing the functionalities of Plunet version 7.4 with Plunet 8. The conclusion of her thesis not only helped her get her degree, but also helped Linguaserve and the product team at Plunet—a success all round! Read her story below:
Final master degree thesis: Changes in assignment methods and resources selection mechanisms in Plunet for project management
Laura Albarrán Rodríguez decided to complete the TRAVLOC master’s degree after her undergrad. She attended a course on project management at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, taught by Pedro Luis Díez Orzas, CEO at Linguaserve. Pedro showed how the daily work of project managers is assisted by a Translation Business Management System (TBMS), using Plunet as an example. The students on this course had access to Plunet BusinessManager and gained valuable knowledge of Plunet that they will be able to use professionally after graduation.
In addition to the course, Laura also had the chance to do a project management internship at Linguaserve during her studies in Madrid. When Linguaserve announced their decision to upgrade to Plunet version 8, a big step for Plunet clients, Laura found the topic of her master’s thesis: the different assignment methods and functionalities that Plunet 8 offered in comparison to other software solutions and previous Plunet versions.
In order to write her master thesis, Laura followed the instructions to upgrade to Plunet 8, read the release notes, watched the best practice webinars, and used a Plunet 8 test system to learn about the new features that would change the way project managers find, request, and assign vendors in the future.
Based on the test system, Laura concluded that Plunet 8’s main improvement was the significant simplification of the job assignment process, saving project managers valuable time. Laura highlighted the ability to see all matching resources directly in the job tab and apply filters to rank the results as the most noteworthy features. In addition, Laura found a lot of visual changes that make the process easier. For example, the new traffic light indicators in the list view, and the integrated calendar view that helps project managers plan more accurately and send job requests in line with resource availability. However, Laura also critically assessed these additional automation features, wondering whether the project manager needed to give up more control by relying on traffic light indicators, for example.
Upgrading in real life vs. thesis conclusion
Following Laura’s thesis conclusion, Linguaserve went ahead with their decision to upgrade to Plunet 8. After only working with the Plunet 8 test system, it was very interesting for Laura to see all of these new features go live. She could see how Plunet 8 worked in real life using real data, and how this impacted the work of project managers. If Laura could write her thesis again, she would write her conclusion slightly differently:
- The valuable time saved by reducing the number of clicks and the visual changes are still her favorite improvements in version 8.
- Laura changed her opinion on traffic light indicators after seeing their impact in daily life. The implemented indicators give her an instant overview of the resource’s availability in the calendar view, rather than taking away much-needed control.
- The option to pre-define assignment rounds in workflow and job templates with the VendorSearchManager PRO was an improvement that made a real difference in reality, but did not get much attention in Laura’s thesis. After seeing the amount of time this saves in the live environment, this module also made it to her list of main improvements in Plunet version 8.
“The Plunet Academy Program gave us the opportunity to learn the software well enough to use it for our upcoming professional life.”
In conclusion, Laura and her classmates took a lot away from the early experience with Plunet BusinessManager during their studies. Being able to learn about real-life scenarios and getting an insight into the technology solutions language service companies use is invaluable and gives students and entry-level professionals an advantage when searching for their next role.
If you are a Plunet customer and interested in collaboration with a university, feel free to reach out to marketing@plunet.com.
Abstract Laura Albarrán Rodríguez TFM
Translation project management has incorporated new technologies such as project management tools. The use of these tools has become more and more widespread, as they facilitate and structure the work of project managers.
Plunet is the most widespread and widely used translation project management tool on the market. A few months ago, Plunet launched its latest version (version 8) with many updates in the assignment methods.
In this paper, I will analyze the different assignment methods and their functionalities in Plunet version 7 and 8 in order to compare them and conclude whether the new updates incorporated in this system improve the translation project manager’s tasks or not.
About Linguaserve
Linguaserve is a benchmark for professional translation and website localization services in the main sectors of economic activity, with more than 80 employees and 2,000 professional translators and proofreaders in over 30 countries that are certified under the UNE-ISO 17100 standard. Specialists in translating and localizing websites, apps, and software, Linguaserve also specializes in the e-commerce internationalization process with the best technological innovation to expand your business. Linguaserve works on a regular basis with more than 150 language combinations and provides top-quality services that are endorsed by three seals of quality: ISO 17100, ISO 9001, and ISO 18587.
