The World is a’changing –on the way to UNICODE

James Mentele, Dow Corning Corporation

Session: 2505

Global Implementations

Outline factors Dow Corning found important in ‘Going Global’ and to describe the considerations that we are weighing in planning to migrate to UNICODE.

Purpose

Agenda

• Why Internationalization / Globalization?• Changing Factors in the IT World• Background on Codepages and such stuff• Other Internationalization Issues• Translation Requirements & Techniques• So What?• Elements for your Timeline

Goal

Applications:SAP Enterprise, MDMPR/3, Single CP R/3, SAPComponents, non-R/3 Plant,Lab, Department,…

Internet:Web-services,ExchangesSupply Chain

Portals:Anywhere, any language, anytime,Desktop, laptop, PDA, phone, print

Development of products and processes that that work seamlessly and appropriately across country borders, in different timezones, without language barriers.

What is Internationalization?

What is localization?

Selection of product and process interfaces (labels, displays, documentation, …) so that culturally appropriate and legally correct information is presented and requested

• in each users’ language &• with appropriate conventions: units of

measure, date/time formats, timezone, currency, order of magnitude delimiters.

The user is any authorized person or agent – (real or potential): employee, customer, vendor, enforcement agent, automated workflow…

Globalization of Your Business

Requires internationalization of capabilities and localization to each community of interest:

• Using same processes around the world enables leveraging your skilled people and shared services around the world

• Allows customers from around the world to access your business

• Allows you access to vendors & other resources from around the world

Some Requirements of non-English

• Text flow can be right-to-left or top-to-bottom.• Icons may have to be changed to meet cultural

standards.• Buttons, input windows, menus, error messages• Non-Western calendars and date formats• Postal address formats etc. need to be not only

translated, but reconfigured and tested for each separate market.

• Training materials, documentation and packaging and technical support must be addressed.

• How do you alphabetize in languages that don't have an alphabet? (Important for searching)

• Help-desk support, FAQ,…

Examples of non-English Texts

США не будут очищать территорию Ирака от радиоактивных остатков обедненного урана, использованного ими в ходе военных действий в этой стране.

هل تبحث عن وظيفة ؟ اشترك اآلن واحصل على أفضل الوظائف في

الشرق األوسط胡锦涛 14日到广东疾病预防控制中心考察，同医务工作者座谈。

조선외무성　대변인　미국이　대조선정책을　전환할　용의가　있다면　대화형식에　　구애되지　않다

Scope

LanguagesOfficePlantsPartnersNew mktsCommunities…

TimeZonesEff. datesDates on docsEst. arrivalShelf-lifePerf. Measures…

Legal Compliance & Local Customs

UoM, CurrencyInvoice numbersPrivacyMSDS rulesCE Mark, …

What is changing re Internationalization?

• EU is growing: East Europe with more languages:– Cyprus (Greek part), the Czech

Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia

• Increased concerns over product safety: IVD Directive(98/79/EC) & CE mark– Required to import certain products

after Dec. 7, 2003

The EU Now & expected in 2004

                                                                        

Now:•Austria•Belgium •Denmark •Finland •France •Germany •Greece •Ireland •Italy •Luxembourg •Netherlands •Portugal •Spain •Sweden •United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Invited:Cyprus (Greek part)the Czech RepublicEstoniaHungaryLatviaLithuaniaMaltaPolandSlovakiaSlovenia

What is changing re Internationalization?

• New international trade regulations & procedures (result of terrorism concern)

• Manufacturing is moving: Japan -> SE Asia + East Europe/Russia -> Middle East

• System Audiences:– Span of employees– Customers and end-consumers, government

(tax & EHS)– Supply Chain– Prospects: Customers, Employees,…– Web Services

• IT Infrastructure: UNICODE, hardware, software, apps

Where are your (future) audiences?

• Customers?• Suppliers?• Employees?• Tax authorities?• Product

Regulators?• Transportation

Services?• Where do you want to be successful?• Where do you want to go to jail?

Trends & Demographics

Source:Global Reach

On-Line Population Projections

Source: Forrester

TimeZone Sensitive Transactions

• Batch scheduling, Calculation of business days

• Price changes, Invoices, Payments (late fees)

• Contract durations, Shelf-life, certification dates, warrantee dates

• Ship date/time, Estimated Arrival date/time

• Prompts like yyyy/mm/dd are language sensitive

• Remember Summer/Winter rules

Country Specific Functionality

• Base SAP processing for local governments– Delays of Country versions in Enterprise may impact

upgrade plans– Not all extension functionality is on the same

upgrade timeline (E.g. Global Label Mgt)

• Address Layouts vary by Country, Units of Measure, Currencies

• Taxation (Country/State taxes on internet sales)

• Regulatory Reporting (Waste, consumption,..)• EHS Requirements (Varying Country/State

requirements)• Privacy Requirements• CE Mark

Why UNICODE?

•We didn’t start with UNICODE due to cost of storage and lack of standards

•Vendors had to implement regional systems on limited hardware so proprietary codepages were developed to support various languages

•ISO Standards followed, but not all applications have been converted yet

•Global systems needed Dynamic codepage switching & Global Data Mgt standards or blended codepages

•UNICODE enables storage definition of all common characters of phonetic and ideographic languages, many requiring multiple bytes

Glyphs/Fonts/Codepages & Locales

• Fonts control glyphs (A,A,A,A,A,…)• Codepages (character to bytes mapping):

– ISO– Microsoft– EBCDIC– Blended– UNICODE (Multi-byte)

• Locales connect upper & lower case letters• Codepage on workstations, Various SAP

application servers, non-SAP servers• Dynamic codepage switching on SAP servers

Glyphs/Fonts/Codepages & Locales

Fonts & FEP(A,A,A,A,A,…)

PC CodepagesMicrosoft, Mac,EBCDIC

SAP Applic ServersEnterpriseMDMPSingle (Blended) CPYour ABAP

Non-SAP IISSAP Enterprise Web Server3rd Party:Haht/Lighthammer/

RFC Internet Supply Chain Exchanges External

Data

ISO, Blended, Proprietary CP, UnicodeAppropriate Locales, CP Convertors

WANPlant, LabSpecial Function

Components:Hardware & Software• Workstation upgrades: Win95, Win98,

Win2K, NT, XP) & Office product versionsLinux, Unix, Mac, …

• Local Servers and spools – Maintain needed Locales, CP, Fonts

• Application Servers - Versions– SAP components (Logistics, BW, APO, CRM, …)– SAP Web Application Server, IIS– xApps (NetWeaver), Connectors, RFC, ABAP– XML, .Net, J2EE, VB, …

• Database Servers (R/3, BW, SCADA, Sieble, …)

• Internet & Partners

Application sets

• Employees at workstations• Bar code, RFIDs, SCADA• Tailored to type of Workstation:

– Telephone, PDA, Agents

• eCommerce• Net Services• Collaborative• EHS• Helpdesk & System Management

Document types

• Text, Spreadsheets, Images• Renditions (Pdf, Word, PPT, etc.)• Drawings (as in CAD)• Audio• Video

• Document Management– Searching Audio & Video– Indexing & searching ideographic

languages– XML tagging

Translation Environments

• Dynamic (Machine) Translation• Pre-translated components – Pulldowns,

buttons?• Partial translation – downloadable documents?• Full translation? Translation of upgrades• Localization vs. translation• Registration of the web-site in search engines

of other countries/languages?• System generated documents with Phrase

libraries (MSDSs, Labels, Shipping & Handling docs.,..)

• Translation of non-English feedback / inquiries?

Translation tools & options

• SAP Language Supplements• Machine translation (E.g. Systran)• Translation Memories (E.g. Trados – in

SAP)• EHS MSDS generation & Global Label Mgt

system

• Internal Translation Team?– Setup, Training, Maintenance

• External Translations? (E.g. GLTaC)– Selection, Quality, Interface

• NLS Consulting?• Phrase Library setup

Machine TranslationTool for Dynamic Translations

Originaldocument

Removemarkup

Extract numbers (1,234.45)Proper namesDetermine part of speech (n., v., adj, etc)

Document Type Source Language

Mush file of words & syntax

Translate words based on Part of speech,Glossary priorities

Assemble target language sentence

Target Language

Source language syntax rules

Target language syntax rules

MachinetranslateddocumentReapply

markup

Not-foundword listUpdate CSD

Translation MemoriesTool for Professional Translators

Originaldocument

Originaltranslation

Aligned files of sentencesCut &Align

Reviseddocument

Revisedtranslation

Translatoronly looks at

differing sentences

Rules-based Document Generation

Source Data:Product Properties

Desired document:Format, Country,

LanguageProduct

Appropriate Rules

Headings & PhrasesAssemble

document sections

Format document:

Right to left, Left to right, etc.

Multilingual Content Management

• Authoring– Training for writing documents to be

translated– Terminology control

• Revision Control– Terminology consistency– Translation

• Rendition: HTML, Word, PDF, etc.• Publishing Control

– Searches, FAQs, Solution Finders

Training Materials Translation Process

1. WorkFlowDocumentation•Spell-check•Grammar check•Ambiguity

removal

2. Machine Translation•Topical Glossaries•SAP Dictionary

3. Human post-edit•Readability•Paper dictionary•Update SAP dictionary•System verification

4. Domain ExpertReview

•Multilingual•Power User•SAP Glossary 5. Site Usage

So What?

• Begin addressing the business case for your organization– Strategic need? Urgency?

• How prepared are you?– Skills and awareness of your IT and

your 3rd party vendors?

• Develop your roadmap to get from ‘here to there’– Identify & document elements not

compatible– Make deployment decisions with end

goal in mind

UNICODE Migration Issues

• Standardization & cutover of the workstations & printers

• Upgrades to the Databases– Any User-defined characters?

• Enforcement of MDMP rules• Upgrade of databases to UNICODE• Increased disk space, memory, CPU speed

requirements• Software upgrades (Your own code, 3rd party,

SAP release upgrades)• Middleware upgrades• Impact on Supply Chain integrations

(coordination of integrations with suppliers and customers)

UNICODE Upgrade Timeline

• Assess workstation and printer (fonts & spool servers) upgrade plan

• Evaluate database upgrade issues:– Conversion of current codepages to UNICODE– Conversion of SAP Blended Codepages– Eliminate User defined Characters, single byte

katakana– Define and program around violations of rules for

global databases• Global data only in English letters & Arabic numerals• Text in language specified by language key• If no language key, only Global data

UNICODE Upgrade Timeline2

• Check all 3rd party and your own code for correct multi-byte handling

• Work with your Supply Chain & eBusiness Partners for compatibility or controls

• Check all RTFs for correct session and data handling capabilities

• Availability of CP translation tables• Locale management as evolution occurs• Determine availability schedule of all SAP

components in UNICODE

Determine your Cutover Strategy

• Green-site SAP? => Start with Unicode• Single language, ISO codepage => Move to

Unicode before implementing multiple languages

• Blended codepage? => Work with SAP to move to Unicode

• MDMP Implementation? => Document any MDMP rule violations, Work with SAP to move to Unicode

• Big bang? Web front ends first? Impact of Supply Chain Partner plans?

Good luck!

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Session Code: 2505