In 2002 we introduced a quality assurance strategy. Initially, guided by the Toulouse Chamber of Commerce and industry, we wrote our quality reference manual with the aim of obtaining ISO 9001 version 2000 certification.

At the same time we implemented our own quality management system in order to prepare for the internal audit, and our quality manager was trained to be the internal auditor.

Since then the French standard NF EN15038 has been published and we therefore set up a quality system which integrated all of the necessary processes for daily operations (recording requests, taking orders, tracking projects, managing terminology and translation memories, quality control of translations), which meet the main requirements of the new standard ISO 17100:2015.

In practical, operational terms our quality management system involves regular checking of the quality of our translations.

Each document is delivered with a link to an online form which enables our customers to send us feedback on the quality of our services. The statistics from the forms are automatically fed into our database and then used for our quality reviews to enable us to analyse the data and identify any anomalies by means of 11 numerical indicators, in order to then set objectives for improving quality for the following period.

Several years ago, we introduced a new quality indicator to enable us to measure the cost of internal rereading for quality control. We now satisfy the requirements of the ISO 17100:2015, standard, whereby all English and French translations done by our in-house team are re-read by a second translator. This indicator counts the time spent checking the work of English and French translators. Since 2009 the line-item for this work has quadrupled, which shows the importance we attach to quality assurance and our efforts in this respect.