The organization may occasionally require a translator to mediate between the primary client of the investigation and a case worker. Translation services may be required if users working on an investigation are unable to interact with a client in his or her preferred language. A client's preferred language is recorded when the client is registered with the organization. For example, when James Smith is registered with the organization, his preferred language is recorded as "Spanish" and he cannot speak any other language. In order to interact with the client, the case worker responsible for the investigation must be able to interact with James in Spanish or have a translator who can mediate between them.
Determining the need for a translator is evaluated depending on the translation requirements present on an individual investigation. For example, a client may require translation services on one investigation but not on another. The need for a translator for a client can be recorded manually by a case worker or it can be determined automatically by the system. Whether the translation needs for a client are set manually by a caseworker or automatically by the system is dictated by a configuration setting that is set on the investigation type on which the investigation is based as part of application administration.
The system determines the need for a translator by checking if the case worker's language skills match client's preferred language. If they do not match, the system determined that a translator is required. A user may also manually update the translation requirements for a case even if they are initially determined by the system. If a translator is required for a client, users are kept informed of it when they view the client's case participant details. Additionally, the system displays the preferred language of the client who requires the translation services.