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Key TMS features
Every TMS should have certain features you should look for to meet your business needs.
Project management
Even though the primary goal of a TMS is to automate a lot of tasks in the translation process, it still requires people to manage it.
Notifications
An intelligent TMS should act as a project manager and communicator between team members, and notify everyone working on it when they have new tasks, and when there is new content ready for translation.

Key TMS features
Every TMS should have certain features you should look for to meet your business needs.
- Project management
  Even though the primary goal of a TMS is to automate a lot of tasks in the translation process, it still requires people to manage it.
  - Searcher
    Each TMS is an extensive and comprehensive tool to manage your translatable content. As a result, it is very important that it has a good searcher so that you could easily find what you are looking for.
  - Notifications
    An intelligent TMS should act as a project manager and communicator between team members, and notify everyone working on it when they have new tasks, and when there is new content ready for translation.
  - Analytics
    According to The Economist, data is now the most valuable resource in the world, ahead of oil. That is why it should be regarded as the company's biggest asset. The translation process is no different. You should be able to present the management with all kinds of data at any time.
  - Workflows
    One of the main features of a TMS is work automation. This is reflected, for example, by workflows which keep all translation stakeholders on the same page. This is where the process is actually managed with full traceability.
  - Working outside
    Often TMSs are based on a subscription model in which you pay for the number of concurrent users, i.e. people that use the tool at the same time. As a result, it is good if the TMS offered the possibility for the vendor to work in another CAT tool.
  - File formats
    You need to know what file formats are usually sent for translation in your company so that you could decide which TMS to choose.
  - Anonymization
    To comply with the GDPR, companies are required to anonymize clients' TM content, essentially remove personal data.
  - Mobile version
    The world goes mobile, so do TMSs.
- Finance management
  The main reason for investing in a TMS is to reduce costs that your organization spends on translation in general. See how can this tool help you achieve it.
- Content management
  A TMS maintains all the translation-related content centrally to be accessed in real time.
- Translation editor (Workbench)
  Currently, hardly anyone translates in an original document, be it Word, HTML file or InDesign. Most translators and reviewers work in special text editors that are core CAT tool components.
- Quality management
  There are still discussions on what should be considered a high-quality translation. Is it an error-free document in the target language or the smooth process where every step complies with the established procedure?
- Machine translation
  Machine translation engines are third-party systems for automatic translation that are not standard components of a TMS.
- Connectors
  Learn how to gain more control over your content by integrating content management systems and translation management systems via a connector.
- Security
  Nowadays, data security is on top of mind of all businesses, with the translation industry being no exception.
- Documentation
  When you start working with a new tool, it is extremely useful to have relevant documentation at hand to refer to it when you need it.
- Support
  High-quality documentation is useful, but in some cases it may not be enough. As with every IT tool, with TMSs you can also experience technical problems.
- Product development
  You have bought a TMS and what comes next? Since every IT tool is upgraded from time to time and you get the new version instantly if you use the cloud-based software, you need to be ready for constant changes.

Notifications

An intelligent TMS should act as a project manager and communicator between team members, and notify everyone working on it when they have new tasks, and when there is new content ready for translation.

When everyone can communicate openly over a robust platform that allows you to set up notifications to keep team members on track and to identify their key tasks in the early stages, you’ll save time and money by increasing overall efficiency.

An email is considered obsolete in business communication, losing its place as a primary form of contact. All PMs receive hundreds of emails per day so it's easy to get lost in them. Notifications sent from a TMS can be a better solution because you can create a filter in your Inbox to categorize your work or you can never lose a valuable piece of information.

XTM sends out emails when certain events happen in the system, particularly in relation to project progress, to different participants. Here are a few examples:

New project created
Task finished
Task re-opened
Due dates
Project confirmed
Subcontracting emails

Emails are not sent to the person making the change.

You can configure the sending of notifications in the system yourself, but the XTM Support team can also carry out advanced customization of XTM emails.

Notification settings in XTM — Figure 1. Notification settings in XTM

Chat

It is a nice-to-have feature in a TMS, but certainly not a must-have. It can simplify and accelerate the exchange of information between project members, improving the real-time communication.

In XTM PMs can open chats with all linguists, linguists from a specific language or custom chats with only selected users. Linguists can open chats with the project manager who created the project, with other linguists translating for the same language or with all linguists involved in the project.

It is also possible to customize Chat according to your business needs:

Chat feature in XTM — Figure 2. Chat feature in XTM

The XTM's chat also allows for sending different files (including images).