DG Translation Management Plan 2011

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EUROPEAN COMMISSIONDirectorate-General for Translation

The Acting Director-General

DG Translation

Management Plan 2011

(Policy area 31 Language Services)

Date: 22 December 2010


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DG Translation MANAGEMENT PLAN 2011

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Table of contents

1. Mission Statement ..................................................................................................................................... .3

2. The challenges for 2011 ........................................................................................................................... .4

3. Activity Translation................................................................................................................................... .5

Objective T1 Deliver high-quality and efficient translation services .............................................................................. .5

Objective T2 Enhance written multilingual communication .........................................................................................6

4. Activity Policy strategy and coordination ..................................................................................................................... 7

Objective P1 Effectively match demand and supply................................................................................................. .7

Objective P2 Promote the role of translation in a multilingual Europe ........................................................................... .8

Objective P3 Enhance interinstitutional and international cooperation in the field of translation and terminology......................9

5. Activity Administrative support ............................................................................................................. .10

Objective S Provide the administrative support to ensure the functioning of the Directorate-General..................................

10Objective L Ensure sound financial management as well as legality and regularity of underlying transactions ......................11

Glossary.................................................................................................................................................................. .12


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1. Mission Statement

We provide the European Commission with high-quality translation and other language services.Our job is to respect the European Unions multilingual character by making sure the

Commission produces clearly written documents in all the official languages, and in others aswell.

Multilingualismis one of the basic principles of the European Union, guaranteeing cultural and linguistic diversity. DGT is oneof the worlds major centres of linguistic expertise, making us a valuable asset to our partners in Europe and beyond.

Our core business is translation rendering a text written in one language in a different language while preserving thecontent and meaning of the original. We also provide other language services. For example, we edit documents to makethem clearer, we check for correct terminology and we offer linguistic advice. We support the training of future linguists inuniversities and we are active in developing new translation technologies. We also translate website material and, through ourstaff located throughout the Member States, tailor information to meet the needs of people there.

Our immediate customers are the Commission and its departments, helping them to put forward clear legislative and policy

proposals in all the official languages. By making this information available to people in a language they understand, we helpmake the EU more open, accountable and democratic.The right to use any official language of the EU when dealing withthe European institutions ensures equal treatment for all.This underpins the EUs legitimacyand helps ensure that its citizenscan enjoy their rights to the full.


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2. The challenges for 2011

2010 was characterised by growing demand for translation as the Commission stepped up its pace of work. In the interests ofcustomer service, and to optimise its overall translation capacity, DGT adopted flexibility measures, making certainexceptions to the principles of the Translation Strategy, and focusing on the strategic initiatives in the Commission Work

Programme. In 2011 DGT will formalise this flexibility by formulating objective criteria and laying down improved planningmethods. DGT will continue to provide the European Commission with high-quality and efficient translation and otherlanguage-related services for its written communication in all official languages.

The Lisbon Treaty will bring about important changes on nearly all DGT's active fronts. The extended scope of the co-decision procedure and the new role and responsibilities of national parliaments will require increased cooperation betweenthe Commission, the other European Institutions, the Member States and other stakeholders. In addition, DGT will be doingtranslation work for the new European External Action Service under a specific Service Level Agreement.

The quality of documents is important both for the Commissions image and for efficient translation. DGTs editing unit helpsCommission authors to produce texts that are clear enough to be understood by the target audience or to be translated intoother languages. The Clear Writing Campaign, launched in 2010 at the initiative of DGT, aims to bring about a major andsustainable change in the way the Commission drafts, edits and produces its documents. Structural measures at Commission

level are expected to be taken in 2011. Moreover, by doing more to promote sustainable language regimes and establishpriorities for web translation, DGT will support the Commissions Internet strategy and help to ensure that citizens andstakeholders are able to enjoy their rights.

Anticipating and addressing the challenges ahead and the evolving needs of the Commission, DGT will continue to build up itscapacity by recruiting permanent staff, strengthening the linguistic, thematic and technological skills of its staff and makingsystematic use of external resources. Drawing on its experience from the 2004 and 2007 enlargements, DGT is preparing tocope with one more official language, when Croatia joins the European Union. The special arrangements for Irish willgradually come to an end, and steps will have to be taken to recruit enough professionally trained translators for Irish.

Determined to keep pace with ever faster technological developments, DGT will in 2011 introduce the latest generation of itsmain computer-assisted translation tool and test the newest machine translationsoftware solutions in combination with theexceptional language resources it can draw on in-house. This project is one of the flagship initiatives under the e-Commission

strategy.

DGT will continue to contribute to language learning as a key feature of the Commissions multilingualism policy. Activitiesorganised every year in each of the Member States for the European Day of Languages and the Juvenes Translatoresinitiative will continue. While these projects raise people's awareness of what translation is all about, the European Masters inTranslation is concerned with enhancing standards of translator training in the EU, and with helping to create a truly Europeanmarket for skilled translators.

Signed:Piet VERLEYSEN


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3. Activity Translation

DGT enables the Commission to fulfil its political and legal obligations to prepare and monitor legislation in all officiallanguages, and to communicate in the citizens various languages.

T1 Objective T1 Deliver high-quality and efficient translation services

A high-quality translation service is of the utmost importance for the legal certainty of the Commissions regulatory action, writtencommunication and the legitimacy of the Commissions work. The objectives of quality and efficiency must be addressed throughout thetranslation process. This requires proactive interaction with the requesting services and stakeholders and necessitates effective totalworkflow management.

Quality and efficiency depends in particular on:

the efficient use of resources

the appropriate application of quality control and assurance measures

a regular and meaningful customer feedback system.

To make the translation process more efficient, DGT has developed a range of services comprising a coordinated approach toterminological work, the acquisition of paper and electronic resources, a multilingual reference library and the re-use of past translationsstored in translation memories (pre-processing). Further to this, DGT has started to develop a new machine translation service for theCommission which will, by 2013, cover all official languages and should enable the Commission to meet any multilingual communication

needs that are not yet satisfied.

DGT is committed to the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM). In 2011 TQM activities will include work in the following areas:establishing a comprehensive customer feedback management system, and developing a concept for exchanging all the knowledge,good practices and innovative approaches that have been developed all over DGT.

Result Indicators Target at XI 10

1. Deadline compliance (percentage of translation requests for which all linguistic versionshave been delivered on time)

95

% 95.6

%

2. Rate of quality control 1 x 70

% 85.6%

3. Percentage of external translations rated good or better x > [2010] 89.8

%

4. Satisfaction rate with DGT services2 x > [2009] 92

%3

5. Number of movements in the interinstitut ional terminology database IATE 190000 168836

Outputs

Total production (official EU languages)

Total production (other than official EU languages)

Financial Information Budget

1. External translation budget

2. Library acquisitions

3. Multilingual tools and databases (terminology)

14250000

638

000

80000

1Concerns only QC1 documents.

2The next DGT customer satisfaction survey will be done in 2011 with results in 2012.

3Result of the 2009 survey.


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T2 Objective T2 Enhance written multilingual communication

DGT supports the Commission in communicating Europe by processing multilingual websites and providing such language-relatedservices as localisation, editing and linguistic advice.

By editing and translating Commission priority pages for the Europa website in all the official languages, DGT promotes theCommissions policy for better communication with EU citizens and stakeholders and strengthens its multilingual presence on the

Internet.

Through its Field Offices for translation (FOs) within the Member States, DGT focuses on clear and comprehensible communicationwith EU citizens by localising messages, i.e. adapting them to the specific political, social and cultural context.

DGT advises the Commission on linguistic issues and provides support by drafting, shortening and standardising texts, in particularfor documents drafted in English and French. In line with the report arising from the Clear Writing Campaign, the Commission isexpected in 2011 to take structural measures to modify its document drafting and production workflow.


1. Web translation deadline compliance 95% 62.7

%

2. Editing deadline compliance (percentage of editing requests for which the edited

document has been delivered on time)

100

%

99.9

%

3. Proportion out of all text translated for the web which have undergone qualitycontrol

95% 74.9

%

Outputs

Number of pages processed for the web

Number of documents processed at Field Offices

Number of pages edited by the Editing Unit

Financial Information

No budget


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4. Activity Policy strategy and coordination

This activity underpins the work of formulating, preparing and implementing policy so as to achieve the overall mission of theDirectorate-General. It promotes strategic planning within the service and regular and efficient communication with DGTspartners and stakeholders inside and outside the institution.

P1 Objective P1 Effectively match demand and supply

DGT acts as the Commissions translation hub. The translation strategy and in particular its demand management component, inforce since 2004 and last updated in 2007, has enabled the Commission to meet its obligations in the field of translation. It makes itpossible for DGT to concentrate its resources on translating core4 documents, while allowing some margin of flexibility when

justified. The Lisbon Treaty and the creation of the EEAS are likely to increase the need for translation, which may lead to theTranslation Strategy being adjusted accordingly. Against the background of limited resources, the flexibility measures introduced in2010 will be structured to give the best possible response to the political priorities of the Commission and the requirements of theLisbon Treaty.

DGT will continue to conclude Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with Commission Directorates-General and honour thecommitments in those already signed. In 2011 one particularly important SLA will be signed with the EEAS. SLAs enable DGT to

optimise the demand management of documents not included in the translation strategy.


1. Service level agreement signed with EEAS yes n/a

2. Commission Communication (translation strategy, machine translation, clear writing) yes n/a

Outputs

Number of Service Level Agreements signed or renewed with requester DGs

Number of pages produced according to Service Level Agreement (Annexes 8A and 8B)5


No budget

4Core documents: legislative and political documents, and communication priorities (s. SEC(2006)1489/4).

5Annex 8A: List of translations not included in the general framework established by Communication SEC(2006) 1489, but whichDGT undertakes to provide by integrating them into the normal translation workflow.

Annex 8B: List of translations not included in the general framework established by Communication SEC(2006) 1489, which DGTwill outsource, reinvoicing DG XY.


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P2 Objective P2 Promote the role of translation in a multilingual Europe

DGT contributes to the Commissions efforts to promote multilingualism. It conducts studies on translation and multilingualism tofoster evidence-based policymaking and to promote new language technologies. It takes targeted action to raise awareness of theimportance of language learning and its role in helping people understand each other.

DGT develops and maintains contacts with the translation industry, translation professions and national institutions and

organisations in charge of translation. It builds networks with universities in the EU to set minimum standards for a high-qualitymasters-level training for translators and to foster cooperation and exchange of best practices. This helps the translationprofession and its market to develop. DGT also manages contacts with secondary schools in the EU through the JuvenesTranslatores contest to promote foreign language usage in Europe, and the particular art of translation.


1. Number of EU Member States represented in the EMT network 27 24

2. Number of EU Member States where the European Day of Languages is organised 27 26

3. Number of applications in the Juvenes Translatores competition x [2010] 1602

Outputs

Number of information events to support the recruitment of highly-qualified staff

Number of new studies on translation and multilingualism


1. Conferences and internal meetings

2. Studies(hors quota)

3. External meetings

227

312

120000

(60.000 )

90

925


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P3 Objective P3 Enhance interinstitutional and international cooperation in the field oftranslation and terminology

DGT contributes to the work of the Interinstitutional Committee on Translation and Interpretation (ICTI). DGT manages a numberof ICT tools which are available to the other institutions and, partly, to the public. DGT strives to improve cost-efficiency intranslation by way of increased cooperation with other institutions.

DGT participates in a wide area of international activities to share best practices and to develop multilingual terminology andtechnology. It also promotes staff exchanges and training to strengthen the translation profession.


1. Finalising and testing the Key Interinstitutional Activity and Performance Indicators Yes n/a

2. Define an interinstitutional AST3 profile for translation services Yes n/a

3. Signing a new CAT tool contract following an interinstitutional call for tenders Yes n/a

Outputs

Number of staff members on exchange in other institutions and international organisations

Number of joint training actions

Number of terminological agreement managed

Number of international stakeholders with whom DGT cooperates


Interinstitutional cooperation 493000


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5. Activity Administrative support

This activity covers the work of DGTs services which manage human resources, provide information and communication

technologies, handle document administration and logistics, and carry out internal audit and internal control.

S Objective S Provide the administrative support to ensure the functioning of the Directorate-General

Skilled staff are the key to quality. It is the job of human resources management to guarantee an appropriate staffing level in DGTsadministrative entities. It devises translators profiles for EPSO competitions to ensure that the recruitment of staff proceeds efficiently.Human resources also provide subject-related, language and ICT training to fill any current or future skills gaps. An annual Learningand Development Framework (LDF) for DGT, supplementing the Commissions Learning and Development Framework, sets out thestrategy for boosting the professional and personal development of DGT staff.

An efficient, reliable and user-friendly ICT (Information and Communication Technology) environment is necessary for maintaining highperformance. DGTs ICT Governance is responsible for adding to, maintaining and managing services and solutions to support DGTs

work. To this end DGT sets up a schma directeur, a head plan defining the services ICT strategy and related priorities.

In implementing the Commissions administrative procedures, DGT also responds to any needs in terms of internal control, security anddocument management. The departments responsible provide assurance to the Director-General on the effectiveness of DGTs internalprocedures and advice on ways of improving the existing schemes.


1. Number of departments with AD posts occupied within 5% of benchmarks 22 19

2. Percentage of non-permanent translators for EU 27 x < [2010] 9.1

3. Number of training days per official 10 8.55

4. Deadline compliance in ICT development 90% n/a

5. Rate of compliance with security rules and procedures 100% 100%

6. Degree of implementation of audit action plans within deadlines 90

% 67

%

Outputs

Learning and Development Framework

IT Schma directeur

Security policy measures

Appropriate physical infrastructure

Audit and evaluation action plans


1. Training

2. ICT development

3. Multilingual tools and databases (others)

4. Missions

5. External Staff

950000

865000

1060000

952

000

7618030


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L Objective L Ensure sound financial management as well as legality and regularity ofunderlying transactions

It is of the utmost importance for DGT to plan, implement and monitor its activities, having full regard for the principles of legality andregularity. DGT services act in compliance with the rules and procedures, under the general principle of sound financial management.In this context, the annual budget is adjusted regularly in order to meet the priorities and satisfy DGTs actual needs, with a view toachieving the objectives set out in the Management Plan. DGT has put in place monitoring tools which support the decision-makingprocess.


1. Number of reservations about the financial management 0 0

2. Value of exceptions reported

< 2% of theamount of thecorresponding

budget line

n/a

3. Percentage of payments executed within 30 calendar days upon receipt of invoice 100

% 98.87

%

4. Absorption of budgetary backlog (RAL) 100% 85.80%

Outputs

Timely resource allocation

Effective budget reporting

Sound risk management


No budget


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Glossary

AAR Annual Activity Report

ABB Activity Based Budgeting

CWP The Commissions Work Programme

DGT Directorate-General for Translation

ECMT European Commission Machine Translation

EEAS European External Action Service

EMT European Masters in Translation network

EU10 Official languages following the 2004 enlargement:CS-Czech, ET-Estonian, HU-Hungarian, LT-Lithuanian, LV-Latvian, MT-Maltese, PL-Polish, SK-Slovak, SL-Slovene

FO Field Office

IATE InterActive Terminology for Europe, a terminology database for use by institutions and thegeneral public (dissemination IATE). This tool replaces the former Eurodicautom terminologydatabase.

ICT Information and Communication Technology

ICTI Interinstitutional Committee for Translation and Interpreting, better known by its French acronym,

CITI

MP Management Plan

QC1 Quality Control level 1. QC1 corresponds to a high level of quality control, to be done bysomeone who did not do the translation, by revision or cross-reading. It concerns documentscorresponding to political priorities and/or creating new legal obligations, documents resultingfrom existing legal obligations and documents resulting from the Commissions communicationspriorities.

SLA Service Level Agreement

TQM Total Quality Management. TQM is a customer-focused management philosophy that seeks to

continuously improve business processes using analytical tools and teamwork involving allemployees.

DG Translation Management Plan 2011

Documents

Transcript of DG Translation Management Plan 2011