After the proverbial open enrollment dust settles, you’ll want to ensure that you, your team, and your vendors have done the best possible job. You want your customers to be satisfied and be sure all compliance standards have been met. Beyond this, however, a postmortem evaluation can help you simplify and improve processes for the following year as well. Here are some aspects to consider and cover in your open enrollment postmortem:
Reviewing Your Success
Initially, you will want to ensure that you’ve met your push-to-print deadline, but you also want to meet your goal of having both zero print errors and zero translation errors. Your member experience is also a major component of this success.
Reviewing Translation Deliverables
The first concern is translation accuracy; note any misinterpreted or missing translations, typos, deviations of meaning, or formatting/stylistic inconsistencies that could confuse a reader. Pay special attention to numbers, where a typo could result in a phone call not going through, an inaccurate plan number, a missed deadline, or an incorrect drug tier. Review all formatting, from table format to color and print specifications, and check that logos and images look the way you want. Make sure the glossary and the overall style of the text are accurate; take some time to confirm special requirements such as material codes. Overall, the goal is for there to be no stylistic changes from the original language document.
Assessing Vendor Performance
Beyond the physical deliverables of your vendors, you want to assess the performance of the vendor as a whole. Were they timely in their delivery and prompt in communication? How available were they to you? Do their file requirements and protocols conform to the standards? You want, ultimately, for the quality of the translation to be central, but above and beyond that, an easy and responsive working relationship can go a long way.
Preparation for 2020
Your postmortem is actually preparation for the 2020 enrollment season. Collect any of the file requirements or guidelines that will change next year while you have open enrollment in mind. Share updates with any vendors to receive and answer their questions, as well as schedule training with any project managers (PMs) or reviewers. The more aligned you are, the easier the process will go next year. If possible, give vendors access to platform and program accounts so they can begin managing files. Start developing file schedules as well as estimating the number of English updates.
ISI Language Solutions’ Approach for 2020
At ISI Language Solutions, we are also busy evaluating how we can be the best possible resource for you. We have meetings that mirror your own postmortem meetings, in which we’re learning what we can do to be prepared for the new guidelines for the next open enrollment period. We clean up any translation memories while gearing our team up for the next season. This can involve onboarding and training new people to prepare for higher demand. We acquire and train on any helpful new software programs. This is also the time of year to optimize our workflow so that we have an efficient protocol that generates error-free translations. Finally, we share our finalized proofing checklist with our clients.
ISI Language Solutions’ Error-Free Practices
We aim to deliver error-free translated files. Our workflow has several layers of built-in quality assurance. Be it during file preparation, translation, or various proofreading steps, QA touchpoints are integral to the life cycle. The linguists, reviewers, PMs, and team leads all participate. Reference materials are reviewed regularly in order to maintain and ensure consistency. Automated QA tools found in XBench and SDL Trados also assist the team, resulting in error-free translations.
ISI Language Solutions’ Version of the Postmortem for Performance
Our team’s performance is evaluated based on the number of files that require client edits and the feedback we receive from clients. We record when we achieve on-time delivery and aim for 100%, as well as provide prompt, proactive communication to both internal and external stakeholders. When challenges arise, we strive to resolve the issues without a change to the timeline or a reduction in quality. We aim to provide a combination of vendor management, teamwork, and thorough onboarding results with a high level of quality as well as an extraordinarily reliable team.
