A peek behind the scenes during reporting season at Leinhäuser
If you ask someone in New Orleans, São Paolo or Cologne, they’ll tell you that a year has five seasons, an extra one carved out specifically for pre-Lenten celebrations.
At Leinhäuser, however, we also have a sixth one: the annual reporting season.
It’s a more serious affair, but no less exciting. This is the time when most capital market companies publish their financial figures, inform stakeholders about their sustainability endeavors, and report to their investors on how they’ve done over the past year and what strategic direction they will take.
And this information isn’t shared in just one language, which is where the Leinhäuser team comes into play. During the reporting season, our account managers in the financial publicity team and our specialist translators are completely dialed in to these reports, work efficiently and with intense focus. Their work entails translations and adaptations, proofreading, editing, layout checks, maintaining consistent terminology, processing feedback and, of course, project management. A seamless workflow is crucial here.
That’s one reason why our pre-processing and language engineering teams are integral to successful annual reporting processes. What does that mean, exactly? Read on!
Our language engineering team – ensuring everything runs smoothly from a technical perspective
Our clients work with a wide variety of systems to create their reports. These include industry standards such as WoodWing, firesys, ns.publish and Workiva as well as proprietary systems.
Our team of technical experts has extensive experience with all of these systems and, when needed, expertly designs interfaces between clients’ preferred tools and translation platforms to make sure files can be exchanged and processed with accuracy, speed and the utmost discretion.
Our experts ensure that our contacts in the accounting, corporate communications and investor relations departments can easily access and interact with the texts we have translated or edited.
And, when technical problems arise during the linguistic process, our team is always on hand to find a swift solution. After all, in the midst of reporting season, delays spell disaster.
The language engineering team in action
Picture this: After extensive planning with all involved parties, a reporting project starts on schedule. The account manager has received all of the files and creation of the target-language version(s) is under way. But then, the client receives a message from their content management system (CMS) about a security patch that cannot be delayed without risking unauthorized external access to the as-yet unpublished sales figures.
Plus, there is the added wrinkle that the security update is expected to affect all connected systems, possibly jeopardizing the success of the translation portion of the project.
Once the account manager has been informed of this hiccup, they immediately involve the language engineering team, which, in turn, immediately jumps into action, adapting all affected interfaces and software settings to the client’s security patch.
Thanks to the proactive technical support in the background, we avoid interrupting or delaying the translation process, are able to stick to all agreed deadlines, and our clients receive the high-quality edited texts on time and in the file format and exchange environment of their choice.
Our pre-processing team – prep is everything
As the name suggests, our pre-processing team primarily manages work that needs to happen before a project can even kick off. They take the load off of account managers for these tasks, which can include, for example, aligning and extracting relevant information from previous years’ reports, references, and reporting standards.
These resources are a valuable tool when generating the target-language version of reports, as they ensure standardized terminology and wording, which can also save clients a great deal of time and money.
The pre-processing team also provides active support during an ongoing project. A client can’t provide the graphic for a new organizational structure in an editable format and, instead, we receive a scanned PDF with handwritten annotations? A new sustainability strategy containing the key terms that should be used throughout the annual report is delivered after the project is already well underway? A bilingual glossary needs to be created for the most important function names of a newly acquired subsidiary?
All of these cases actually happened, and our pre-processing colleagues were able to expertly and efficiently solve the issues to keep the project rolling smoothly. Because our pre-processing team knows exactly how to manage any scenario, our account managers are free to concentrate fully on overall project management , quality control, and communicating with the clients.
The pre-processing team in action
Let’s go through another scenario, as we did earlier with the language engineering team.
So, to set the stage again: The planning phase is complete, everyone knows what they have to do, the project has started on schedule, and translations are under way. This time, we’re looking at the none-too-rare situation in which, although Leinhäuser has been hired and defined as the project’s language partner, the client produces a translation of their own for a certain portion of the report. They want this wording to be reflected in the report’s strategy chapter, letter to the board, and press release.
The catch is: The texts are still being finalized internally. In an ordinary setup, an experienced account manager would advise against working on such texts to avoid redundant work and risking inconsistencies, but as we mentioned before: During reporting season, every minute counts. So, once the client provides their own translations for these specific texts, the account manager immediately shares the client’s translations with the linguists involved in the project.
They, in turn, jump into action proofreading the texts so that they’re linguistically correct and align with the client’s style guide. The linguists also compare the source texts with the target texts to ensure that both convey the same message. If the new wording has also affected their already completed translations, they adapt these passages.
The pre-processing colleagues then create multilingual resource files from the checked texts so that the core messages and precise wording can quickly and efficiently be transferred to other texts. At the same time, the account manager analyzes the key terms so the pre-processing team can feed them into the corresponding terminology database or glossary.
These steps ensure that all new terms and words are available for the translation in progress. Thanks to this interactive support behind the scenes, the project continues running smoothly, with the reassurance that both the terminology and style are standardized across all report-related publications.
Successful projects are built on integration
Account managers need to be able to maintain a full overview of the complex work entailed in translating, editing, and proofreading annual reports. To do this, they delegate specialized project work to their reliable colleagues, like those in the pre-processing and language engineering teams, who assist behind the scenes.
Both teams are close at hand for account managers whenever the need arises — whether it’s while the linguistic and technical foundations are being laid before the translations begin or even after the creation phase has already begun.
They quickly find solutions so nothing, not even potential unexpected complications, stands in the way of a successful project and punctual publication.
Thanks to this ace in our pocket, Leinhäuser account managers can proceed with confidence as they deliver timely updates and excellent service to clients.
