Culture Settings and Localization

Note: Administrator permissions are required to access the Culture Setting form.

Localization is the process of adapting an application to a particular culture/locale so users can access the software in their native language. Essential has been designed to support localization for multiple cultures from a single installation of the software. A user-specific Culture setting determines the language and numeric and date format of the user interface (UI). Because the setting is user-specific, it does not affect other users of the same application. This allows global enterprises to manage and report multi-lingual data from a single instance of Essential.

Overview of Localization Implementation	Localization Considerations
Culture Setting Assignments	Required Culture Setting Modifications

Overview of Localization Implementation

Translated data for some widely-used languages, such as Spanish and French, is provided by Sphera. To localize Essential for a language other than the ones provided by Sphera, resource data must be translated for the language, designated for use by one of the Microsoft .NET-supported cultures, and added to the Essential database. During the Essential installation process, the license key controls which language translation values will be installed. The appropriate Culture settings are modified on the Culture Setting form and the applicable Culture setting is then assigned to each Essential user on the User Manager form. The following functionality is available in Essential to set up and apply translated values:

The Custom Localization feature enables users to modify existing translations for localized resource data to meet business or regional needs. A new value in one or more languages can be specified within the Essential UI for translatable resource data, such as labels, hyperlinks, buttons, and messages that are displayed on forms and browse views. The user's Culture setting determines which value is displayed in the UI. Refer to Custom Localization for additional information.
In the Emergency and Incident modules, the Localization Resources feature enables users to set up localization resource records and language translations for the user-defined values established for static software values. The logged-in user's Culture setting determines which translated value is displayed. Refer to Localization Resources for additional information.
Values that are established throughout the software for data entry can be translated into different languages and added to the database in the Language Dependent section on Essential forms. The user's Culture setting determines which value is displayed in data entry field lists. If no translation exists for a value, the value is displayed as it was entered with the default language.

Essential is shipped in the default language, English, and with the corresponding default Culture setting, English - United States.

Culture Setting Assignments

A Culture setting identifies a locale for a user. The locale is a language (culture-neutral), and most often, a language plus a country/region (culture-specific). For example, “French” is culture-neutral and “French – Canada” is culture-specific. Including the country/region for a language allows for local variations such as language dialects and idioms, currency and date formats, etc. to be applied. Consider a culture-neutral locale as the Parent culture and the culture-specific locales for the same language family as Child cultures. Examples are provided in the table below, along with each culture’s name which is a language abbreviation or a language – country/region abbreviation.

Parent Culture	Culture Name	Child Culture
Spanish	es
	es-ES	Spanish - Spain
	es-CL	Spanish - Chile
	es-MX	Spanish - Mexico
English	en
	en-US	English - United States
	en-GB	English - United Kingdom
	en-ZA	English - South Africa

On the Culture Settings browse view, available cultures are listed by Culture Code (culture name) and Culture Description (locale).

Translated data for the Sphera-provided languages is available after the Essential implementation is complete. Since Essential can be customized to use translated data for any Microsoft .NET-supported culture, the Sphera-provided translated data is designated for use by culture-neutral locales, i.e., parent cultures. The same translated data applies to the parent's culture-specific child locales—unless translated data for a culture-specific locale exists. For example, assume your Essential implementation has been set up with the Spanish language and the following users have been established, each with a different Spanish-related culture assignment:

User	Assigned Culture
User A	Spanish - Chile
User B	Spanish - Spain
User C	Spanish - Mexico

The existing Sphera-provided translated data for the "Spanish" culture applies to User B. For User A and User C:

When no translated data exists for the "Spanish - Chile", "Spanish - Spain", or "Spanish - Mexico" cultures, the translated data for "Spanish" applies to User A, User B, and User C. All three users see the same translated values in the Essential UI.
When translated data has been added for the "Spanish - Mexico" culture, it applies only to User C. The translated data for "Spanish" continues to apply to User A and User B.

The same logic is applied when the Custom Localization feature is used to change translated values. If a custom translation for the logged-in user's culture exists, the custom translated value is displayed in the UI. This culture hierarchy allows a translated value to be shared by multiple cultures and also allows a specific culture to use a different value for business or regional needs.

Tip: Users must be assigned one of the culture-specific locales. Translations for both parent and child cultures can be entered via Custom Localization.-

Localization Considerations

All numeric, non-currency fields can be localized and formatted (commas, decimals, and other numeric formatting characters). Currency conversions are not supported. The values for currency-related fields need to be entered in a common currency at the enterprise entity level so arithmetic operations calculate accurately and reports display appropriate results.
Salutation and name formats will not be localized.
National and local regulatory-related forms, reports, lists, and container labels will not be localized. Examples include waste manifests and regulatory reports such as TRI, STEERS, DMR, Tier2 Submit, SARA 311, and HON Semiannual. Custom development that enables localized Essential data to be used for regulatory reporting in different locales may be an alternative for your facility.
When a user-defined value is established for a static software value, (1) both values must be linked and (2) the culture and translation data for the user-defined value must be specified on applicable Essential forms. For example, this functionality is available for use with Incident Type templates. The standard localized resource data provided for Essential does not translate customizations.
For Data Importer, template date formats default to mm/dd/yyyy HH:MM:SS AM/PM in Excel Workbooks. In order to successfully import dates, the date format in Excel must match the date format of the user's assigned culture. Consequently, it may be necessary to re-format date-related cells in Excel. Refer to Date format Compatibility for additional information.
If a culture is changed during an active Essential session, it may be necessary for the user to log off, close the browser, restart the browser, and log back in to Essential to view forms and data in the chosen culture.
The Essential UI has been designed to use controls and features that maximize performance to provide an efficient and user-friendly method for capturing data and interacting with the software. As a result, not all data is translatable. Refer to Non-translatable data for additional information.

Required Culture Setting Modifications

Microsoft .NET-supported cultures are identified by a Culture code, description, and language. Essential is shipped with the language, English, for all Culture settings. If localization has been implemented, the language value for the corresponding Culture setting must be changed to the appropriate language. For example, if resource files translated into French have been implemented for the French - Canada culture, the language for the fr-CA culture code must be changed from English to French on the Culture Setting form. Otherwise, all values will be displayed in English.

Important: In addition to language, the Culture setting also controls numeric and date formats. For example, the Essential UI is presented in English for both the English - United States and English - Australia settings. However, assigning the English - Australia setting to a user displays dates in the dd/mm/yyyy format, whereas the English - United States setting applies the mm/dd/yyyy format.

To modify culture setting descriptions and languages

Click Administration > Culture Settings on the Navigation Tree.

The Culture Settings list is displayed.
Locate the appropriate culture and click the culture code link to open the Culture Setting form.
Modify the Culture Description when necessary.
Select a different Language from the list, when applicable.

If the appropriate value is not listed, click the Ellipsis button and add it.
Click Save.