If your agency still runs Trados Business Manager (TBM), you are running software that its vendor no longer supports. It still opens. Nobody will fix it when it stops. This page sets out the facts, maps each part of a TBM workflow to VectorLingo, and is plain about the parts that do not carry over.
What happens if you keep running TBM
RWS’s notice is clear: TBM stays available where it is already installed, but the support team will not help with problems, will not correct them, and there will be no further development. Installation and update services have stopped. The community forum is read-only.
In practice that means every system update, server move or Trados upgrade is a risk you carry alone. Whatever you decide, do two things now: take a full backup of your TBM database, and save PDF copies of your invoices. Your financial history should not depend on software nobody maintains.
Where each part of TBM lives in VectorLingo
| Task | In TBM | In VectorLingo |
|---|---|---|
| Quotes from a CAT analysis | Quotes from Trados Studio analysis | Weighted quotes from Trados Studio, Trados Cloud, Phrase or memoQ analysis |
| Price lists and fuzzy schemes | Price lists with fuzzy schemes | Rate cards with match bands (re-entered, not imported) |
| Projects and jobs | Projects and jobs | Projects with a workflow per target language |
| Vendor database and assignments | Contractor database, assignments and deadlines | Vendor records, offers and assignments, with a vendor portal |
| Client invoices | Client invoices | Client invoices and credit notes |
| Vendor invoices | Invoices from vendors | Vendors submit their invoices in the vendor portal |
| Trados Studio | Studio plugin integration | Analysis file upload; no plugin |
| Trados Cloud | Project, task and assignment sync with Language Cloud | Project and file sync; needs your own Trados Cloud account; translator assignments do not sync |
| Purchase orders | Purchase orders to vendors | Purchase orders to vendors |
| GroupShare | GroupShare integration | Not supported |
| Installation and updates | Installed and maintained by you | Hosted for you; nothing to install |
VectorLingo also does things you may have handled outside TBM: a client portal for file delivery, financial reports, and, for UK agencies, invoice and bill sync to FreeAgent or Xero.
What moves over — and what does not
Moves over: your clients and their contacts, and your vendors with their language pairs and a default rate per service. VectorLingo imports these from a CSV or Excel file.
Does not move: project and invoice history, open jobs, price lists and fuzzy schemes. You set up your rates again as rate cards, and you keep your TBM backup and invoice PDFs as the record of past work.
Free import call. Start an Agency trial and book a call with us. You share your screen, we map your columns with you, and you run the import in your own workspace — nothing is emailed to us. Bring whatever client and vendor list export you can get out of TBM (Excel or CSV). If you cannot get one out, we will work through it with you. We can help you set up your first rate cards on the same call.
Using Trados with VectorLingo
Trados Studio only: export the analysis from Studio and upload it to a quote or project. VectorLingo reads the match bands and prices the job from your rate card. There is no Studio plugin, so you create and run the Studio project yourself.
Trados Cloud: connect your own Trados Cloud account and VectorLingo creates the project, pushes the source files, and pulls each finished target language back when Trados reports it ready. Translators are still assigned inside Trados Cloud, and your vendor assignments in VectorLingo are kept separately — neither syncs to the other. TBM could pull Language Cloud assignments in and raise purchase orders from them; VectorLingo cannot. Details on the Trados integration page and in our guide to managing translation projects in Trados.
When VectorLingo is not the right replacement
- Your workflow is built around GroupShare. VectorLingo does not connect to it.
- You need TBM to drive Trados Studio directly through a plugin.
- You rely on Trados Cloud assignments flowing into your business system automatically.
- You have a large team and want deep configuration with a long implementation. Read our comparisons with Plunet and XTRF.
VectorLingo is the right tool if…
You are an agency of one to ten people. You quote from Trados analysis and want the price to follow the match bands without retyping numbers. You want vendors to accept jobs and send invoices through a portal instead of email. You want to stop maintaining a server, and you want to see the price before you talk to anyone.