Project Plan compatibility between PT8 and PT9

Question

An expat translator here in PNG set up a Project Plan in PT8 a while back, but it is not based on an SIL-approved plan.

The expat translator is now working in PT9, but the translation team is still working in PT8, and the project is close to completion. So it would be good if the translation team can still work in PT8.

First, is it true that only project plans developed in PT9 are acceptable now? Next, if a new plan is implemented in PT9, can the national translators still work in PT8?

Answer 1

Hi anon469049. I’ll tell you what I know, but I’m sure the developers could give you a better answer.

Whether a plan is acceptable to SIL will probably depend on your area/leadership. At one point I was told that if a plan had the same number of stages as the SIL approved plan, it was probably fine. But this is something to check with the leadership in PNG.

As I understand, PT8 Project Plans should work fine in PT9. But some new features were added in PT9, so if you do create a new project plan in PT9, it requires everyone to have at least Paratext 8.0.100.76 or later, so the translators might need the latest update of PT8.

In our area, some projects are finishing soon, and their translators are still using PT8 while the advisors/consultants are mostly using PT9.

Comments

What Stephen+Katt is saying is mostly correct. Pre-existing project plans in Paratext 8.0.100.76 or later will work when upgrading to Paratext 9. However, some of the improvements to Project Plan functionality may not be available. Because they are maintaining two versions of Paratext, currently, it is necessary that new plans be made on computers that have Paratext 9 installed.

Stephen+Katt is also correct that within SIL there is a strong request from management that plans have the same same six stages, with the same names and in the same order. (I believe this is also true for Seed company, and most other Bible translation organizations) Having some uniformity in the plans allows for better data collection and management and reporting to donors. Speaking only for SIL, it is possible to reorder, move to a different stage, add, delete, or rename tasks, just don’t change the stages. The easiest way to do this is start with either the SIL Base Plan or the SIL Compact Base plan and modify it.

There is a lot of good information about project plans and how to work with them on the Paratext website. I will not duplicate all of that information since it is already nicely organized here: Project Plans

If the user in PNG has specific questions not covered on the Paratext website, then please write back and we will try to resolve the problem