HORSCH, a leading global manufacturer of innovative agricultural technology and modern solutions for soil cultivation, seeding and plant protection, had just successfully completed its SAP S/4HANA conversion. This was when translations gradually increased in importance, as HORSCH regularly needed to translate SAP texts into the local languages of its international locations.
Searching for the Right Tool
When looking for a tool for translating the custom texts from Fiori apps, Z transactions, Customizing, and forms, HORSCH came across i18n Translation Manager for SAP S/4HANA, the SAP add-on from LUDECKE. HORSCH wanted a way to easily identify SAP texts based on transactions and transport requests. Support for translating Fiori apps was another requirement. Lastly, HORSCH needed to export texts from the SAP system for translation in the custom editor they were using at the time.
In i18n Translation Manager, you can enter Z transactions to automatically identify the texts that these transactions are calling up. Texts can also be identified based on transport requests or development packages. i18n Translation Manager enables various translation workflows, including the option to export translatable texts from SAP systems to XML files. And of course, it fully supports translation of Fiori apps.
“Using i18n Translation Manager for SAP S/4HANA, we were able to implement an efficient translation process. The add-on fully met and exceeded our expectations.”
Moving from a Custom Tool to SAP Translation Hub
HORSCH used these features to build its translation workflow, with i18n Translation Manager identifying and ingesting the SAP texts that needed to be translated. The texts were then written to XLIFF files and exported to a Windows share. After the translation step was completed in the HORSCH translation tool, i18n Translation Manager imported the translated files and wrote the translations to a transport request.
When testing the various features available in the add-on, HORSCH tried out the integration with SAP Translation Hub. Combining the lightweight, easy-to-use editor where the texts are pre-translated using AI with i18n Translation Manager’s scoping and administrative capabilities fit perfectly into the existing translation process. It also made the process more efficient, since exporting the files was no longer needed, and texts could be directly pushed to an API. In the new process, SAP Translation Hub replaced the HORSCH’s custom translation tool. One big advantage was that translations were now generated using official SAP terminology.
Translating Development Deltas
i18n Translation Manager also enabled HORSCH to set up a delta translation process with SAP Translation Hub. For objects that had been translated before, but in which new texts had been added, the add-on made it possible to upload only those newly added texts to SAP Translation Hub. This way, HORSCH was able to avoid having to review the same translations twice and cover not only the initial translation of, say, a transaction or Fiori app, but also translate ongoing changes from development.
The new translation process using i18n Translation Manager went live earlier this year.
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