How to convert statistics/analyses into an invoice
Thread poster: Robgo
Robgo
Robgo
Austria
Local time: 01:19
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
Feb 3, 2022

Hello,
I have a new customer who gives me many jobs, all in memsource and many of them very small (sometimes only a few words).
At the end of the month I got a statistic from memsource (called analysis) which I can download as a SCV, LOG or JSON file.
But it contains far too many numbers to turn this into an invoice (word count, fuzzy matches ...). I'm sure there is a way or software, but it's new to me.
Can somebody tell me how to do that?
Thanks so much.
Rob
... See more
Hello,
I have a new customer who gives me many jobs, all in memsource and many of them very small (sometimes only a few words).
At the end of the month I got a statistic from memsource (called analysis) which I can download as a SCV, LOG or JSON file.
But it contains far too many numbers to turn this into an invoice (word count, fuzzy matches ...). I'm sure there is a way or software, but it's new to me.
Can somebody tell me how to do that?
Thanks so much.
Robert
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Tony M
Tony M
France
Local time: 01:19
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Try this... Feb 3, 2022

I confess I've not tried this specifically with MemSource, but a technique I've used before is to paste the statistics into a DOC and convert to table (or else into an XLS), and then start by deleting the superfluous columns (and possibly rows too) — if you use XLS, it's easy then to operate simple functions on the contents, and then finally copy the key information into your invoice in DOC etc. format.

For very small jobs, it may be quicker to just do it manually!


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 01:19
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Did you Feb 3, 2022

Robgo wrote:
But it contains far too many numbers to turn this into an invoice (word count, fuzzy matches ...).

Did you agree with the client about how much you're being paid for the individual match percentages? Do you know how much you're being paid for each band?

Doesn't the client tell you once a month how much they owe you?


Jorge Payan
 
Robgo
Robgo
Austria
Local time: 01:19
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Rates Feb 3, 2022

We agreed on a word price but not on rates for repetitions/fuzzy matches.
It's a good company I'm sure but not an agency and I'll have to sort that out with them.
I just wanted to ask here before if maybe that's common practice and there are many tools for this but maybe it IS uncommon.


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 01:19
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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Amazingly Feb 3, 2022

Robgo wrote:
I just wanted to ask here before if maybe that's common practice and there are many tools for this but maybe it IS uncommon.

There aren't many/any such tools out there (that I know of). You'd think that this would be something that translator would want to use (e.g. import analyses from various CAT tools and then calculate a final amount based on set discount percentages), but no. So I suppose Excel is your friend.


Philippe Etienne
 
Robgo
Robgo
Austria
Local time: 01:19
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Feb 3, 2022

Samuel, in the worst case I'll do that.
But I know that this company works with dozens of translators from many different countries. I'm sure that they don't all do this the hard way.
There's gotta be a way, probably built-in in the full version of memsource. Haven't found anything yet, though.


 
Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 01:19
Member
English to French
How will you figure out the invoice amount? Feb 3, 2022

You need a "weighted word count" (WWC) to issue your invoice, which value amounts to WWC multiplied by your "word price".

To calculate a WWC, you need not only the "analysis" (the file you download from Memsource), but also a "discount grid", ie how much of your full rate is discounted based on concordance bands.
Robgo wrote:
We agreed on a word price but not on rates for repetitions/fuzzy matches.

This discount grid should be discussed/stated from the onset in the negociation phase, because it can have a major impact on your earnings. The discount grid determines the invoice amount as much as your word price.
If you don't have/know this discount grid, you cannot figure out an invoice amount.

...It's a good company I'm sure...

Track the time you spend on those jobs, and you'll have hard facts about how good it is based on the hourly rate they pay you.

Depending on how that Memsource "statistic" looks like, and when you know more about the discount grid you're supposed to use, you might want to try CATCount (https://www.catcount.com/ ). It may be able to compute the analysis file you retrieve from Memsource after a bit of manual tweaking to make it Trados-like or Wordfast-like.

Philippe

EDIT: it may also be that this company pays you full rate for all words, in which case the invoice amount is a no-brainer. If you've never talked with them about discounts, that's what I'd do and see how it goes.

[Edited at 2022-02-03 16:18 GMT]


 
Robgo
Robgo
Austria
Local time: 01:19
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Philippe, Feb 3, 2022

Yes, indeed, a grid was not discussed but we agreed that repetitions will be considered.

As for the hourly rate - yes, that's something I'm keeping an eye on, always.

I have asked their billing department as I'm still convinced that they will sort this out given that everything is handled with memsource. I'm waiting for their answer.

Thank you for the link, I'll take a good look as this seems to be what I was looking for.

[Edited at 2022-02-04 08:11
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Yes, indeed, a grid was not discussed but we agreed that repetitions will be considered.

As for the hourly rate - yes, that's something I'm keeping an eye on, always.

I have asked their billing department as I'm still convinced that they will sort this out given that everything is handled with memsource. I'm waiting for their answer.

Thank you for the link, I'll take a good look as this seems to be what I was looking for.

[Edited at 2022-02-04 08:11 GMT]
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Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 01:19
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Re: CAT Count Feb 3, 2022

Philippe Etienne wrote:
Depending on how that Memsource "statistic" looks like, and when you know more about the discount grid you're supposed to use, you might want to try CATCount (https://www.catcount.com/ ).

Aah, yes, I forgot about CAT Count. In CAT Count, you would create a "scheme" for each different client, because your discount grid is going to be different for each client. CAT Count can import 5 types of analyses (Memsource is not among them).

[Edited at 2022-02-03 20:56 GMT]


 
Robgo
Robgo
Austria
Local time: 01:19
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Oh boy Feb 4, 2022

It was my bad after all.
Apart from the dozens of individual files there IS a summary which makes it a piece of cake to turn it into an invoice.
Having looked at the grid from memsource I think I have understood, but can someone confirm the following?
There is a "net rate" line which apparently already weighs the repetitions and makes a grid unnecessary (that would explain why it wasn't discussed), so I guess that
net rate x word price
would be all there is to do,
... See more
It was my bad after all.
Apart from the dozens of individual files there IS a summary which makes it a piece of cake to turn it into an invoice.
Having looked at the grid from memsource I think I have understood, but can someone confirm the following?
There is a "net rate" line which apparently already weighs the repetitions and makes a grid unnecessary (that would explain why it wasn't discussed), so I guess that
net rate x word price
would be all there is to do, correct?
I have tried that and compared it to my usual grid and it's almost the same, even slightly better.
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How to convert statistics/analyses into an invoice






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