PIETRO SFERRINO

There will only be three versions going forward:

• SDL Trados Business Manager Lite
• SDL Trados Business Manager Team
• SDL Trados Business Manager Online

The BaccS Desktop single user licence is no longer available to new users.

SDL Trados Business Manager Lite: this is a plugin that is fully integrated into SDL Trados Studio 2019 SR2 and above.  It provides a complete invoicing/quoting system for Freelance translators and is available through the SDL AppStore and the SDL Trados website.

SDL Trados Business Manager Team: this is a standalone product for small teams that supports the sharing of a single database if it's saved in a location on a server where multiple users can gain access to it.  It also uses a network licence which removes the need to have named users for all the available licences.  The minimum sale is three licences and it's only sold by contacting your account manager if you have one, or by going through the online chat here (sdl.com/businessmanager) where you will be contacted to discuss your needs.

SDL Trados Business Manager Online: this is an on-premise product installed on a server so that users can work with it in a web environment through a browser, and/or by using a Team version of the desktop client.  The minimum sale is ten Online licences and five Team and it's only sold by contacting your account manager if you have one, or by going through the online chat here (sdl.com/businessmanager) where you will be contacted to discuss your needs.

The Lite version has been enhanced to provide more features that might be useful for someone working as a freelance translator, and we will be happy to consider any others that should be there for this scenario and we can put them intoa future release.  The main point being we think that the direction the product has gone, with all the features we have added to it, make it overly complex and unsuited for the sort of tasks a professional working as a translator would need.  So we have tried to address this my reducing that complexity and improving the capability of the plugin accordingly.

You can find more details of the changes here:

https://community.sdl.com/product-groups/translationproductivity/business-manager/w/wiki/4729/what-s-new-in-sdl-trados-business-manager-lite

If you have purchased the BaccS Desktop directly from us you can of course carry on using it for as long as you like.  But if you would like to try the Lite version and see whether this would also suit your needs let me know and I can help you with this.  If you are interested in the Team version because you actually work like a small agency then also let me know and I can arrange for someone to assist you with this enquiry too.

I'm returning to this thread because I'm afraid I still don't understand this transition from Baccs.

I bought the stand-alone desktop version of Baccs (directly) a couple of years ago.

You wrote, Paul, in another thread that you have provided users like me "with updated versions of the software until the support agreement runs out.  At this point these users will decide whether they wish to continue upgrading or paying for their support contract, or not."

I also read that you are "likely to make the Lite version a suitable replacement for all Freelance users".

I understand I will be able to use Baccs 5.0.4 for as long as I want. But I will not receive future updates to the product.

But I have several questions:

1) Will I be provided with a license for the Lite version at some point? If so, when? Or do I simply have the option to pay for that license?

2) I see that I have a support agreement for Baccs Desktop 5 until May 2022. I was never informed of the need to have a support agreement. What will the consequences be when that support agreement expires? If after 2022 I wish to "continue upgrading or paying for [my] support contract," as you wrote in the other thread, what does that entail?

3) It appears that there will no longer be an online forum in which to ask questions about problems I have with Baccs desktop, like there was before. Is that correct?

4) In the future, will the updated Lite version always require the latest version of Studio to work? I have a Studio licence but I will very likely not continue to update the product.

Thank you for your answers.

I'm returning to this thread because I'm afraid I still don't understand this transition from Baccs.

I bought the stand-alone desktop version of Baccs (directly) a couple of years ago.

You wrote, Paul, in another thread that you have provided users like me "with updated versions of the software until the support agreement runs out.  At this point these users will decide whether they wish to continue upgrading or paying for their support contract, or not."

I also read that you are "likely to make the Lite version a suitable replacement for all Freelance users".

I understand I will be able to use Baccs 5.0.4 for as long as I want. But I will not receive future updates to the product.

But I have several questions:

1) Will I be provided with a license for the Lite version at some point? If so, when? Or do I simply have the option to pay for that license?

2) I see that I have a support agreement for Baccs Desktop 5 until May 2022. I was never informed of the need to have a support agreement. What will the consequences be when that support agreement expires? If after 2022 I wish to "continue upgrading or paying for [my] support contract," as you wrote in the other thread, what does that entail?

3) It appears that there will no longer be an online forum in which to ask questions about problems I have with Baccs desktop, like there was before. Is that correct?

4) In the future, will the updated Lite version always require the latest version of Studio to work? I have a Studio licence but I will very likely not continue to update the product.

Thank you for your answers.

Eric Schwartz said:

1) Will I be provided with a license for the Lite version at some point? If so, when? Or do I simply have the option to pay for that license?

This won't happen automatically as this is a seperate application altogether.  So you do have the option to pay for this licence.  However, if you would like to take this instead of your Desktop version I would be happy to make this available to you as a direct replacement for the version you have now. 

We have tested this new version with many translators who used the old BaccS Desktop, and have an update due shortly - https://community.sdl.com/product-groups/translationproductivity/business-manager/w/wiki/5123/changes-introduced-in-sdl-trados-business-manager-lite-version-5-2. The intention is to try and make sure that this plugin provides everything a freelance translator will need.  If there are things missing that are essential for a freelance translator (not an agency, or one person acting as an agency) then we will consider adding them.  We would like this to be the best solution for a freelance translator and I believe you can already see evidence of this if you look at how the versions have evolved since we first released this plugin earlier this year.

Eric Schwartz said:

2) I see that I have a support agreement for Baccs Desktop 5 until May 2022. I was never informed of the need to have a support agreement. What will the consequences be when that support agreement expires? If after 2022 I wish to "continue upgrading or paying for [my] support contract," as you wrote in the other thread, what does that entail?

The reason you were provided with the support agreement was so you receive free upgrades to your product for as long as they are made available.  You also have the ability to log a case through the support team.  Once the contract expires you would have to pay for all future upgrades.

Having said all of this, subsequent to the original announcement we decided to discontinue the Desktop product altogether and replaced it with two products, Business Manager Team and Business Manager Lite.  There will be no further upgrades to the old desktop product.  This means that your existing support agreement entitles you to ask for help through the support teams whenever you like, but there will be no more upgrades to that particular version of the product.

Eric Schwartz said:

3) It appears that there will no longer be an online forum in which to ask questions about problems I have with Baccs desktop, like there was before. Is that correct?

That is incorrect.  You are asking your questions here in an online forum for Business Manager and you should feel free to ask questions about the old Desktop version you have.  Probably the closest to it is Business Manager Team.  Just make sure you always mention the version number so people reading the post will know how best to answer.

But you also have the support contract and can use that whenever you like.

Eric Schwartz said:

4) In the future, will the updated Lite version always require the latest version of Studio to work? I have a Studio licence but I will very likely not continue to update the product.

When we develop plugins for Studio they may work for older versions too.  But at some point we take advantage of new APIs that were not available in older versions  and this can mean we have to build a new version to suit the new APIs.  When this happens we will retain the older plugin so it won't be lost, but once that version of Studio is no longer supported we won't support the plugin for that version either.  So there will be no more updates with new features or bug fixing where required.

You can of course continue to use the older versions for as long as you like.

Thanks, that was great. A very complete answer. I'll stick with the old desktop Baccs indefinitely, then.