Delivery methods (a.k.a. Actions)

• Report
• Online editing
• Online review
• Media upload
• File upload
• Review/QC using MQM tools
• Auto create subtitles
• Auto FFMPEG render
• Auto delivery
• Auto upload
• ASR
• Automated jobs and job parenting
• KNP / Term bases

Report

The simplest delivery method allows a user to click a button and report the job as Done. This will change the status of the job and look for child jobs. If any are found, job owners are notified that their work can now begin. Setting the job as Done also removes it from the user's Dashboard. 

Report jobs are good for offline and custom work that is a required part of a workflow but do not correspond to another delivery method. 

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A Report job on the user Dashboard. 

 

Online editing

Online editing jobs allow any user to originate or translate in Plint using their browser. The common logic around online editing is explained here. Plint Subtitler is covered in detail here.  

Online review

Akin to online editing, Online review enables files in standard formats (doc, video, pdf ...) to be reviewed and refined in a simple workflow:

• User A: Upload file
• User B: Review in browser
  • Approve (done)
  • Not approve
    • Parent job reopened for new upload by User A
• Repeat until perfect 

As with online editing, you can add a general comment on status change and a history of versions is maintained.  

Media upload

This delivery method serves a very specific purpose: to supply the system with video (a "proxy") which will be automatically loaded into the online editors. Using this method will automatically set the right File mode and link it to the same node as the job. Only a single file can be uploaded.

The file will also be analysed after upload. The extracted metadata, such as resolution and framerate, can be viewed by clicking the "Information" icon for the file in the Filezone. 

The running time may also be automatically entered on part level for the project. Please note that this is only done if the site has this global setting turned on and the project unit is set to minutes.  

Files can also be automatically converted into an editor-friendly format using the built-in transcoder. 

More here. 

File upload

Unlike Media upload, File upload jobs support multiple files. This delivery method simply "delivers" the uploaded files into the project Filezone (setting them to File mode "Standard" by default). After upload, the user can add description and other information for any or all files before changing status. 

"File upload - advanced" works the same way but allows the user to specify more information/options per file. 

The information that can be specified for each file includes:

• File description
  • can be any text
• File categories are edited under Tools & Data
  • If one or more categories are mandatory, the File upload job cannot be completed until this category has been linked to a file
  • Which categories are available for selection for a certain upload job is determined on job level
  • This is done under the "File settings" tab

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Adding file information before status change

Review/QC using MQM tools

Plint Subtitler supports a review mode where each change/error is logged according to a standardised set of issue types. Using these tools involves a combination of tools and settings rather than a single Delivery method:

MQM (Multidimensional Quality Metrics) is a framework for objective assessment of translation quality, using standardized error categories and severity levels to calculate a quality score. Depending on the demands, categories can be adapted/omitted and the threshold levels for acceptance adjusted.

Adjusting and understanding the MQM settings in Plint

Under Tools & Data / MQM Settings, a site admin specifies how the various error categories will affect the report. Each reported issue will add a number of points to the accumulated error score. This number depends on what value is entered here for the selected Category and Severity (e.g. "Minor"), multiplied with the Weight. In the below example, a Major Mistranslation would result in 120 points.  

The "Max allowed errors" setting determines if a job will Pass or Fail, based on the following calculation: is the combined score per 1000 words higher or lower than this threshold? This calculation is done when the report is completed and summarised (see below). 

It is highly recommended that you make any such changes early on, to ensure that reports aggregated over time can be compared in a meaningful way.

 

Plint Subtitler in MQM mode

The actual review is done in Plint Subtitler, in a dedicated MQM mode. How to use this mode is explained here. The mode is activated on the Editor settings tab:

An MQM Report job (optional)

This job consists of viewing the report after the quality control has been completed. All reports are stored and linked to the users (Reporter / Translator) and can be accessed as needed for the users in question. However, in order to quickly assess the result of a test, you can create a job and assign it to a project manager, vendor manager or similar.

You create such a job with the Delivery method "MQM Report". 

The job itself will appear on the user's Dashboard with an icon leading to the report (red or green, depending on Pass/Fail status). There is also a button to report the job as Done and remove it from the Dashboard. Please note that this will not remove the report from the system:

Reading the report

The report will summarise the result by showing the number of individual errors and their categories and severity, along with charts and statistics. You can also export the complete list of errors in Excel format. 

Aggregated data on user level

By going to a user's summary page, you can find all their MQM reports. They can be viewed individually, or summarised with the "Aggregated MQM Scorecard" link. 

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Auto create subtitles

This automatic action converts a file from the internal system format into a deliverable (e.g. TTML, SRT). The created file will be stored in the project Filezone for easy access by project managers and other users. With additional settings, it can also be made visible to Resources (from a job) and Clients (in Client Filezone). 

If unsure, you might also want to read up on how parenting works with automated jobs

Key concepts

• The source file is the current version of the online editing file for the job's node. 
  • Example: the Auto create subtitles job is linked to part one of a project, and to the German language node. 
  • The system will look for an online editing file in the same node
• Any available delivery formats can be selected, including the original JSON file
  • Additional formats are continuously added.
• By combining information about the project as well as language and part information a custom filename can be instructed. 
  • E.g. project ID + "_" + language code + "part" + part number

Example use case

• Prepare a subtitling workflow consisting of
  • Translation
  • QC
  • Auto subtitle creation
• When the QC step is done, the subtitles will then be created automatically
• When all subtitles are completed, a project manager
  • enters the project Filezone
  • filters out all deliverables (based on file extension, for instance)
  • batch downloads all files
  • and delivers

Automating delivery

By making a file "Visible to client in filezone" you could allow the client users to fetch completed files themselves. However, that may not be convenient in all cases. By placing an automatic delivery job after the subtitle creation job, subtitles can be automatically sent to an external server (AWS S3, FTP ...) virtually seconds after approval, in the selected format. 

Auto FFMPEG render

If unsure, you might also want to read up on how parenting works with automated jobs

This option lets you create deliverables using the files in the project, including the video file. A typical example would be a video with burnt-in subtitles. In order to use this you need.

• A video uploaded to the project and set to mode "Standard".
  
  • It also needs to be linked to the same node/part as the job that the translation is linked to.
  • Typically, this video should be a hi-resolution file without burnt-in timecode or text.
    • The simplest way to attach such a file to the project while also being able to work in the online editor is to use the "Media upload" delivery method for a previous job and select a conversion preset in the upload dialogue.
      • This will automatically store the original file with the project and create a lo-res proxy for the editor to use, giving them both the correct settings
    • (But adding the necessary files can also be done directly in the Filezone)
• A node with a subtitle linked to it
  • I.e. a subtitle file created by online editor
• A Render preset
  • This determines the details of the output file.
    • Text styling, video resolution and container, audio format, etc 
  • These are edited and created under Tools & Data and require some in-depth knowledge to manage
  • The two styling options support:
    • ASS: Italics, Raised, Bold, Underline, Coloured text
    • SRT: Italics, Raised, Bold, Underline
  • In order to use alternative fonts, they first need to be uploaded under Tools & Data / Fonts.

By combining these three, Plint can automatically create deliverables as a job.

The same tools and logic can also be applied to render videos "ad hoc" from the page Generate video copies, which can be accessed from the project bar. 

Auto delivery

Auto delivery is an automated delivery method that can be used in any workflow. When the parent job is done, the Auto delivery will be initiated and files delivered to a predefined location determined by the Connection profile. When you select the "Auto delivery" method, you can select the Connection profile and additional settings on this tab. 

Only files linked to the same node (e.g. part/language combination) as the delivery job will be sent to the location. If you have multiple files in that node, you can create a pattern to select what files to deliver. The example below shows how two patterns, separated by a pipe character, can be used to target both MP3 and docX files. 

What you need:

• At least one Connection profile (under Tools & Data). 
• A job on a project, with a parent job
  • Set this job to Delivery method "Auto delivery"
  • Specify delivery settings on the now visible "Connection profile" tab

If unsure, you might also want to read up on how parenting works with automated jobs

Folder structure

If "Deliver files to storage root" is set to "Yes", the files will be sent directly to the location and (optionally) sub folder specified in the Connection profile. If this is set to "No", a folder structure matching data from the project will be created in that location, according to the following pattern: project name/part label/language name. (If the parts are unlabelled, all files for the same language will be sent to a single folder). 

Auto upload

Auto upload is an automated Delivery method that can be used at any point in a workflow. Each job will monitor a predefined location (see Connection profiles for files and ingest them into the system when found, for example a source media file. The file(s) will be linked to the same node as the job itself and be found in the project Filezone, just like any upload. You can use dynamic filename matching patterns including wildcards to fetch the right file, for example media for a specific part or episode. By adding language code as a criteria you can be even more specific.  

The fetched files can be given the same properties as when editing them in the Filezone, such as "Visible on Files tab". They can be set to Media files to be used in the online editor, or Standard files if they are to be delivered or processed further.  

What you need:

• At least one Connection profile (under Tools & Data). 
• A job on a project
  • Set this job to Delivery method "Auto upload media"
  • Select Connection profile and other settings on the now visible "Auto upload" tab

How it works:  At regular intervals (every 10 minutes) each connection profile with attached Auto upload jobs will be checked for matching files. (Please note that the option to specify the checking frequency has been deprecated as of fall 2021.)

Auto upload jobs need to have status "In process". They can be paused or aborted by changing job status. When files are found and fetched from the selected location, the job in question will change status to Done, which will stop the task and open any child job(s) according to normal Plint logic. 

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A workflow starting with an automated Media upload job. When a source media file is available in the selected location, it will be automatically ingested, launching the rest of the workflow. 

The settings tab for an Auto upload job. In this example, files whose name include the part media id matching this job will be found and ingested as Media. 

ASR

ASR availability will depend on site settings

If unsure, you might also want to read up on how parenting works with automated jobs

The "ASR" Delivery method sends the audio of the current media for the node to an external service for Automatic speech recognition. The result will be parsed into Plint's internal subtitle format and attached to the current node. This means that a subsequent job in Plint Subtitler can automatically load this file for further work, such as post-editing. The file could also be automatically converted to a delivery format and used right away, although this is rarely recommended with raw ASR output.  

A typical setup:

• A project with the correct source language specified
• Attach/upload media to each part, in typical fashion
• After the media steps (i.e. upload/convert/verify), add an ASR job
  • This job can be attached to the part itself, or to a target language
• Follow this with a online editor job, for reviewing and adjusting the file

In this example, once the media has been verified and the user changes status, the ASR job will trigger automatically.  When this process is completed, the ASR job will automatically change status and the review/post-editing job will become open for work. A subtitle milestone will be stored and can be seen under Review / Track changes to enable easy comparison between the original and final versions. 

Settings

There are three main settings which can be applied to the ASR job:

• Service
  • Depending on what is enabled for your platform, options may include "Azure", "AWS", and others. 
• Segmentation
  
  • Rule-based segmentation will take into account the Report tool rules matching the job when splitting the text into individual subtitles, basing the subtitle length on the minimum/maximum duration setting. 
    • The Basic variant will only take the duration setting into account when deciding where to end a subtitle. This may require increased post-editing. 
    • The Improved variant takes longer to process but will reduce the risk of single words ending up at the beginning or end of subtitles. 
  • Whereas Sentence segmentation will allow longer clips and base the clip length on punctuation.
    • This is suitable for non-subtitle work and for when you prefer to do the splitting at the post-editing stage, for example using Plint Subtitler shortcuts. 
  • With both types, the Clip separation rule matching the project/job will always be applied to ensure that correct spacing is used between subtitles. 
• Speaker recognition
  • This option will attempt to use the third party service's speaker recognition functionality. The result can be stored either as the first line of the subtitle, or in the Annotation field. The latter field can be either visible, hidden or editable in Plint Subtitler, based on job settings.
    
  • Please note that with Rule-based segmentation, it is common to get more than one speaker label with the same subtitle. They will all be saved on a single line. 
    • Example (Rule-based segmentation, Speaker label stored as part of Subtitle)

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ASR settings tabs

Things to note

• Depending on the segmentation type, certain values will be mandatory in the Report preset in order for the job to run properly. To ensure complete functionality with rule-based segmentation, make sure the Report preset has settings for:
  • Subtitle separation (formerly Clip separation)
  • Duration (min and max)
  • Maximum characters per line
• The ASR process can also be run "ad hoc" using the microphone icon in the joblist
• An ASR job set to "Awaiting corrections" will not run automatically
  • This status is used to indicate that something went wrong with the process and something will probably need to change before another attempt is made. 
• Ensure that the service you select supports the current source language, or the process will fail. 
  
  • For AWS (Amazon Transcribe), the list can be found here. 
  • For Azure (Speech to text), see here.

Automated jobs and job parenting

Understanding the following concept is essential when using automated jobs:

For all automated jobs except "Auto upload", the action is triggered when the parent job changes status. Status change needs to be done through the parent job, for example by clicking "Report as done" on a Report job or through the "Change status" dialogue in the online editor.

Simply editing or batch editing the properties of a job and setting status to "Done" will not trigger automatic jobs. 

Typical examples:

• Media verification in Plint Subtitler, followed by "ASR"
• Final QC in Plint Subtitler, followed by "Auto subtitle creation"
  • and perhaps "Auto delivery"

KNP / Term bases

In order to ensure consistent terminology, Excel sheets with termbases (aka Key names and phrases) can be uploaded into Plint Core, linked to projects and used within Plint Subtitler as a live help while translating. 

Adding KNP to a project includes these steps

• Create or update an Excel file with terms and phrases in all relevant languages
• Import this file into Plint Core
• Link it to a "Production KNP"
  • This could be anything from a certain client, a topic or a TV show – anything with a specific terminology.
• Create a project linked to the same Production KNP
• Include a step in the workflow to add KNPs to the JSON work file

The Excel file

The file needs to follow a certain format (a template is available on request). The second and third columns (source and target language) are mandatory. The rest can be used for additional information, for example when working on a shared Excel book. 

Specifying language

Each target language requires a corresponding tab in the file. The most important part is to specify the language code in quotes on this tab, e.g. "sv". This code must match the target language on the project exactly, including locale if used. ("sv-SE" will for example not match "sv"). 

Importing the file into Plint Core

Under "Tools & data", go to "Production KNP". This is always available to Workbench users and can be added for Manager roles. To introduce a new "Production KNP", click Create. You can also edit an existing one.

Please note that uploading a new file to an existing KNP will remove all current terms and phrases before adding new ones. This is to ensure that outdated terms are not used.   

Upload the Excel file and check the result before saving. 

Link the KNP to the project

Add KNP jobs to the project

KNP jobs are automatic jobs that add information to the work file. They must be run when the template text is in place but before the subtitler starts working in Plint Subtitler. This is typically solved by adding these jobs to a joblist template, but KNP jobs can be added manually for testing, as long as the workflow is intact.

In this example, the KNP jobs have already run, triggered by the status change when the English template was completed. The jobs need the Delivery method "KNP" and what they do (besides importing the template if needed) is to augment the JSON file with suggestions based on the reference text. 

Seeing and using the result in Plint Subtitler

We now have a work file prepopulated with the refefence text and suggestions for how certain terms are to be translated.  

When the user moves to a block with such a term, it is highlighted. In order to simply insert the suggested term, just click on it in the list under "Production KNP".