Sign Language Interpreting Services Agency
June 18th, 20081. About Sign Language Interpreting Services Agency. SLISA, as they will be referred to within this document, is a sign language interpreting company based out of Sacramento, California.
70 Freelance interpreters
50 Client companies
15 Assignments per day
450 Assignments per month
As a mid-sized business, SLISA generates a large amount of paperwork (deployment, invoicing, interpreter files, etc.) which requires continuous attention. Additionally, the company dealt with tremendous logistical issues in seeking available freelance interpreters for multiple daily appointments, and subsequently tracking invoices for each of these jobs.
2. Scheduling. The most time consuming issue SLISA faces on a daily basis is the scheduling and coordinating of interpreters. With such a large network of freelance interpreters interspersed throughout a large geographic area (Bay area), the lack of a singular automated system to solve these issues required a significant amount of personnel hours to be expended daily. Unattended Media was called upon to provide a viable, web-based solution for such a problem.
3. Assignments. An assignment is created each time a client company requests an interpreter for a particular event (emergency interpreting, regularly scheduled classes, etc.). Scheduling individual assignments requires the following information: client company name, date, start and end times, location, and the number of required interpreters. Upon initial investigation, Unattended Media determined that a great portion of expended time could be cut here by retaining entry history items such as stored addresses and other pertinent client details. Rather than manually entering addresses individually, our web-based application stores every entry ever made. After the ‘Assignment Form’ is completed the application sends e-mails to inform all assigned interpreters of new assignments, or informs them of any changes made to any current assignments.
3.1 Recurring Assignments. Interpreters are often required for events such as classes that occur on a regular basis. Unattended Media provided for this by incorporating a “recurring” option. SLISA’s previous application required a new assignment entry to be made every time an event occurs, regardless of its recurring basis. The present solution provided by Unattended Media allows the scheduler to create an assignment once, mark it as recurring, and then set up appropriate date parameters via a visual calendar. This is an easy-to-use option that saves considerable time, and allows for easy company forecasting.
4. Availability. Previously, SLISA individually tracked all of their roughly 70 interpreters and their constantly changing schedules. Any anomalies in these personal schedules caused more expended hours to be applied to re-assigning tasks and securing interpreters in advance. The current solution developed by Unattended Media allows interpreters to input their availability information themselves.
4.1 Interpreter availability settings. After selecting the event time parameters in the ‘Add Assignment’ section, the application displays every available interpreter for that specific frame of time. Previously, SLISA was required to call interpreters on an individual basis to confirm certain availability.
4.2 Plan Ahead. Availability may be filled in by interpreters weeks (or even months) ahead, allowing SLISA to plan any necessary contingency, in case of any staffing shortages.
5. Interpreter Invoices. Managing roughly 70 freelancers with differing schedules, at different hourly rates, and varying expenses per project leaves substantial room for human error. Unattended Media was able to provide an automated system to handle these requests.
5.1 Better Organization. Previously, SLISA compiled individual monthly invoices per interpreter (in no specific format) through e-mail. This information would then need to be manually recompiled and then billed to the client company. The current solution provided asks interpreters to enter information regarding the length of the assignment, the extent of the travel, and any other related expenses per assignment. This information is then automatically added into the interpreter’s running monthly invoice for review by SLISA. At the end of the month all assignment information is automatically totaled for each interpreter (in precisely the same format), allowing SLISA to easily and accurately pay interpreters.
6. Client Company Invoices. The client company invoices retrieve all relevant information entered by interpreters and recompiles it on a per client company basis. A list of every assignment for each client company is created and all hours and expenses are totaled up, thus generating an invoiced.
6.1 Fully Automated. Prior to the current solution, SLISA was required to review assignment sheets and manually sort them out by company. This does not include all of the manual accounting required to add up all the numbers and differing variables associated with them. All of this is now done automatically, thus eliminating the risk of missing assignments, mathematical errors, or any other potentially costly mistakes.
7. Bulletins. Prominently featured upon logging into to the scheduling system, bulletins make it easy to communicate company news or policy updates to all interpreters. The bulletins are easily accessible by interpreters and allow for quick access to pertinent information.
8. Details. We firmly believe that some of the greatest functionality is found in the details of the application.
8.1 Location Settings. The varying nature of the assignments creates an abundance of new locations for interpreters to travel to. Often, interpreters choose to plug destination addresses into Google Maps in order to get accurate travel information. In seeking to perfect the details of this project, Unattended Media created the program in such a way that it automatically retrieves the address location and creates a direct link within the individual ‘Assignment’ page to that location in Google Maps.
8.2 Directions. Taking locations one step further, Unattended Media created an automatic directions link based off of the address that the interpreter specifies in their profile. The address from an interpreter’s profile (usually their home address) is combined with the location address from the assignment, and a Google Directions link is created.
8.3 Daily View. The daily view is accessed by a visual calendar found on the right sidebar. Upon clicking on an individual day, items such as notes, assignments, and available interpreters per day are viewable from the same screen.
8.4 Quick Access Links. As well as containing a convenient calendar, the sidebar displays large icons that provide quick access to the most commonly used features. These sidebar icons are customized according to the user type that is currently logged in (administrators, interpreters, and client companies). This element adds considerably to the overall functionality and ease of use of the program.
8.5 Company Interpreter Request. Rather than calling SLISA or send an e-mail requesting an interpreter, client companies may log in to the application to fill out a quick form. This provides an easy solution for interpreter requests, and clients may be informed right away on the availability of interpreters per request.
8.6 Detailed Instructions. Unattended Media was able to provide an application that is easy-to-use upfront, but deep in complexity as far as functionality is concerned. Detailed instructions covering every aspect of the application’s use were created. Different instruction sets were written to reflect varying user levels (administrators, interpreters, client companies) because each user interface is customized to each level.
9. Conclusion. Through initial consultations and ongoing revisions, Unattended Media was able to provide a complete solution beyond what SLISA had originally expected. While facing the challenging task at hand, Unattended Media was able to leverage its intricate knowledge of web-based applications and apply it to the unique needs of SLISA. Key benefits of this solution include:
9.1 Scalability. The application accommodates for growth by allowing easy changes to the backend database. Without limitation, SLISA is free to add as much new information as needed, without adding personnel hours required to manage an increasing load of data.
9.2 Considerable Savings of Time. Unattended Media was able to streamline all of the planning processes of SLISA within this singular web-based application. Accessible as long as there is available Internet, issues can be handled as they come, from any location. All of the recompiling that was originally necessary is now eliminated with a cross-referencing, archiving database.
9.3 Improved Record Keeping. By logging and archiving all past assignments and invoices in one convenient location, the handling of records has been completely changed for SLISA. It is now much easier and faster for SLISA to make necessary comparisons, or to simply double-check information. Months or even years from now, SLISA can look back at sales trends with specific clients, assignments handled by individual interpreters, or invoices paid out. Having this singular resource for information alone is an invaluable asset that Unattended Media was able to develop for SLISA.