Assignments configuration overview and how-to guide

Assignments Configuration is designed to simplify project management, reduce manual effort, and enhance the overall efficiency of your workflow.

Here’s a breakdown of the key functionalities that this feature offers:

Project Auto-launch:

This feature allows you to trigger assignments automatically whenever new scope is added to a project.

AI Assignments:

Our AI-driven assignments automatically place translation tasks with marketplace freelancers based on machine learning suggestions. This saves you time and also ensures you get the best-suited talent for your project.

Revamped Assignment Templates (Now - Template Assignments):

We’ve completely reimagined the assignment template user flow, making it more intuitive and user-friendly. Creating assignment templates has never been easier.

Project Templates Integration:

This integration allows you to launch assignments at the beginning of a project, considering preselected assignment settings and sources. It streamlines the project setup process and ensures consistency.

Our new feature is seamlessly integrated into your workflow.

Users can access it by clicking on the “Assignment Configuration” button, which opens a side panel containing assignment sources. Within this side panel, you’ll find a convenient tile with assignment sources.

Users can toggle between AI assignments and Template assignments, but only one source can be selected at a time.

Please note that some options are bound to specific subscription tiers, so be sure to check the availability conditions for your plan.

AI assignment selects a suitable supplier for each task based on overall supplier performance and their experience with similar translation tasks.

If the selected supplier declines the invitation or fails to accept it within 24 hours, the invitation is automatically sent to the next 10 best suppliers for each task in the project.

After an assignment is fulfilled, AI assignment calculates the task’s deadline and populates it automatically, reducing manual effort.

Users now gain more visibility and control over the assignment configuration process.

The most notable change is the ability to create a hierarchical structure of assignment templates from the assignment templates configuration UI.

The new user interface provides comprehensive insights into Assignment Templates contents, including translators / language service providers, tasks coverage, and a flexible HUD.

• Whenever the new scope (files, segments) is added to a project, new task assignments are dispatched.

• Auto-launch could work with both AI and Template assignment sources: just select a preferable source from the side panel.

• You can toggle between different assignment sources at any time: the system will prompt you with a confirmation pop-up for changes to the assignment source during the automation runtime.

Smartcat lets you invite multiple suppliers to a single task simultaneously and choose how the work is distributed among them.

1. Go to Projects and open the relevant project

2. Go to the Tasks page and locate the task (for example, Translation or Editing)

3. Click Invite next to the task

4. In the supplier suggestion window, select your invitation mode in the bottom left corner (see the table below). You can also select the invitation mode next to the Invite button.

5. Search for suppliers by name or email, or select from your vendor list

6. Check the boxes next to all suppliers you want to invite

7. Click Send Invitations

Each selected supplier receives an invitation notification and can accept or decline.

If you use the Everyone who accepted mode, you can add more suppliers by clicking Invite more.

If you use the First to accept mode and you have already invited one supplier, they accepted, and want to add more, you cannot update the current assignment directly. You must cancel it and reinvite. If a supplier has not accepted yet, you can invite more suppliers.

1. Cancel the current assignment

2. Re-invite all suppliers, and select the mode appropriate to your workflow.

3. Select all suppliers and click Send Invitations

All suppliers who accept receive a portion of the task.

⚠️ Cancelling an assignment does not delete completed work. Smartcat calculates the cost of work completed to that point, and the supplier is compensated accordingly. The linguist temporarily loses access to the file and must accept the new invitation to regain access. A new cost calculation begins for remaining work once they re-accept.

If the Invite button is grayed out or unavailable when assigning a supplier to a task, this is almost always caused by one of two things.

Cause 1: The file is still being processed

After uploading a document, Smartcat needs time to parse the file and extract the translatable content. While processing is underway, supplier invitation is temporarily unavailable and the Invite button appears inactive.

Resolve it:

Wait until file processing is fully complete, then try again. The Invite button becomes active automatically once the file is ready.

Result: The Invite button is active and supplier assignment can proceed.

Cause 2: Task volume has not been added

For file types that cannot be automatically parsed, or if you select Do not parse when uploading a file, Smartcat cannot calculate the task volume. Supplier invitation remains disabled until a volume is entered manually. This also occurs if you select Do not parse when uploading a file

Resolve it:

1. Open the project

2. Go to the Tasks page

3. Look for an alert requesting volume input

4. Enter the required number of words or pages

5. Click Save

The Invite button becomes active and supplier assignment can proceed.