A practical worksheet for your first BabelBee project

Start with one routine project that resembles work you already deliver. Use a non-confidential sample or material you are authorized to process. Record the language pair, source length, file type, layout complexity, review requirements and tools used in your existing workflow.

Copy this worksheet for each project

Measure	Existing workflow	BabelBee workflow
File type, language pair and source length	Fill in	Fill in
File preparation: active person-minutes	Fill in	Fill in
PM coordination: active person-minutes	Fill in	Fill in
Translation and review: active person-minutes	Fill in	Fill in
Post-export checks and repairs: person-minutes	Fill in	Fill in
Automated processing: elapsed minutes	Fill in	Fill in
Overall receipt-to-ready duration	Fill in	Fill in
External fees actually incurred	Fill in	Fill in
Final deliverable accepted by reviewer?	Yes / No, reasons	Yes / No, reasons
Problems, retrials and unusual waiting time	Record	Record

Do not add automated processing time to person-hours unless someone had to attend the process. Overall turnaround includes parallel work and waiting; it is not the sum of all person-hours.

Include the CAT round trip

For a supported bilingual-file workflow, also record export from the original CAT tool, upload to BabelBee, same-format export, re-import and final document generation. Verify existing translations, locked segments and supported tags. Native TXML, SDLXLIFF and MQXLIFF translation fills empty, editable, unlocked targets; do not compare its workload against retranslation of all segments. Record the number of eligible segments and use matching scope in the baseline. See supported formats and boundaries.

Interpret the result

For comparable projects, the person-time change is (baseline person-minutes − new person-minutes) / baseline person-minutes. Report it only when the baseline is greater than zero. An improvement on one project is not evidence of the same improvement across every file type.

Multiplying saved hours by an agreed loaded hourly cost estimates capacity value. It does not prove payroll or supplier bills decreased. Include subscription allocation, extra usage and support effort when assessing the commercial result.

Three baselines, three different questions

• Already using CAT: does BabelBee reduce handling and coordination in your established workflow?
• No CAT: does introducing a structured workflow help organize delivery, after accounting for learning time?
• Chatbot-only: how much work remains after generating a draft, including terminology, review and file reconstruction?

After three to five comparable projects, decide what to adopt, what to keep in your current tools and what still needs improvement.

For translation companies · For professional translators · Plans and allowances