Sequential localization model

This section describes the sequential localization model.

First translation of an object

Figure 1 shows the process for the first translation of an object in the sequential localization model.

When a source object is translated for the first time into a language, the system creates a new object in the target language (referred to as a language object). This language object has its own Revision number as well as an Authoring Revision property, which stores the revision number of the source object when it was sent for translation. For example, if you send for translation a source object that is at Revision 6, a new language object is created in Localization with its own Revision number of 1 and an Authoring Revision of 6.

The language object file keeps the same name as the source object file. Its content is still in the original language (for example, English), but its language attribute is set to the target language. The language object has the tb translated state.

When you prepare the localization kit to send the files to the translation team, the language object still has the same Revision number (for example, 1), but its state is now in translation. The files sent to the translation team are in DITA format.

When translated content is imported into the Content Store, a new revision of the language object is created (e.g., Revision 2), and its state is changed to review so that the translated content can be reviewed internally. The Authoring Revision is not updated so that it is always possible to correlate a language object with its original source. If the translation is updated during the review process, a new revision of the language object is created (for example, 3).

When the translation is approved, its state is changed to Done, and you can now publish the localized map.

Subsequent localizations

As shown in Figure 2, when a new revision of a source object is sent to localization (for example, Revision 9), the CCMS first checks to see if this revision has already been sent for localization; that is, it checks if a language object with the Authoring Revision 9 already exists in localization for this source object. This can happen if, for example, the topic was part of another map already sent for localization. If so, the localization process skips the file.

If this revision has not been sent for localization (for example, the corresponding language object is at Authoring Revision 6), the CCMS then checks the status of the corresponding language object in Localization:

If the status is Localization:in translation or Localization:review, this means that the language object is currently being translated or reviewed, so the language object in Localization cannot be updated. The Localize operation will report an error for the source object and will continue processing the other source objects.
If the status is Localization:tb translated or Localization:done, the CCMS checks if auto-translation feature is enabled and a previous translation exists with a Localization:done status. In that case, it auto-translates the content using the translated text from the previous version of the language object (that is, the Localization:done version). It then creates a new revision of the language object with the auto-translated content. The language object is then ready to be sent to translation.
If auto-translation is not enabled (or a previous translation does not exist), the CCMS creates a new revision of the language object; the content is still in the original language.