Website and Document Tracking System for a Translation and Consulting Company

Universal Translation offers a wide range of services for foreigners, including sworn translations, notary and apostille procedures, consular approvals, residence permit and citizenship file preparation, interpreter support, and foreign student consulting. Most of these tasks are not completed in a single step; they progress in chains spanning from translation to notary approval, apostille to consulate.

That's why we built not just a promotional site, but a corporate website explaining the services, an admin panel managing all content, and a CRM with a financial system tracking every file from start to finish.

Corporate Website: Simplifying a Broad Service Portfolio

Given the large number of services, the site was structured with categories and services to help visitors find what they need in just a few clicks. Pages are easy to scan, with concise and clear information.

Flexible service catalog: categories and services can be added or disabled from the panel; no code changes are needed for a new service page.

Search and filter: The 'Our Services' page displays search and category filters with result counts.

How It Works: a four-step process, with detailed bullet points under each step.

Frequently Asked Questions: each question is presented as a card with the expert's photo, name, and title; quick questions can be asked via WhatsApp directly from the page.

Blog, About Us, Careers, and References: all managed from the panel.

Contact and quote forms: submissions are received via email and logged in the panel.

Turkish and English SEO

The site publishes in two languages; each language has its own address, canonical and hreflang links, breadcrumb navigation, and custom error pages. This ensures pages like 'sworn translation,' 'apostille,' and 'residence permit file' can be found independently in searches.

File Tracking: Monitoring Every Stage from Document to Delivery

In such tasks, the real value lies in knowing the file's current stage. For example, a company document destined for abroad may go through translation, notary, apostille, chamber of commerce, and consular approval before being shipped. Every link in this chain is recorded in the panel.

Stage and document templates: defines which stages and documents are required for each service.

Files instantly create a copy: when a file is opened, a copy of the templates is applied; even if templates change later, ongoing files remain unaffected.

Client and file records: client information, categories, and service-linked files are all in one place; dates, notes, and approval details are tracked for each stage.

Document management: uploaded documents are tracked by type, language, and status.

Calendar and notifications: delivery dates appear in the monthly calendar; upcoming deadlines and overdue financial records trigger notifications.

Activity log: every creation, update, and deletion in the panel is listed with who did it and when.

Finance: Ledger, Collections, and Accounts

Income, expenses, collections, and receivables are tracked in a single ledger. When amounts are entered inclusive of VAT, the base and VAT are automatically separated; partial payments can be recorded, and remaining balances are calculated automatically.

Invoice numbers, dates, and PDFs can be added alongside receipts.

For deferred transactions, due dates are entered; overdue collections are marked as 'delayed.'

Accounts are maintained for notaries and suppliers: work received from a notary and payments made to them are reconciled in the same line.

Cash summary on the overview screen (today's collections, this month's profit, pending receivables); income and expenses are visible day by day on the calendar.

Payments can be entered from either the finance screen or within the file; both update the same ledger.

Admin Panel: All Content Managed in One Place

Site texts, services, FAQs, blog, careers, and legal pages are managed through a custom-designed admin panel. The panel runs on Directus but offers a simplified, company-specific interface instead of Directus's default UI.

AI-assisted blog: when a topic is entered, drafts in Turkish and English are prepared together and edited in the panel before publishing.

User guide: a PDF manual explaining all panel sections is available for download with one click.

Secure login: includes password reset via email and in-session password change flows.

Technologies Used

The project was developed with Next.js (App Router) and React using TypeScript. For data and content layers: Directus; for UI: Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui; for multilingual routing: next-intl; for email sending: Resend; for blog drafts: OpenAI API. The app is packaged with Docker; critical flows are end-to-end tested with Playwright.