Launching a Successful Digital Accessibility Program

Tim Springer

Matt Arana

Agenda

Key Concepts• Business Drivers• DAMM• Roadmap Phases

Roadmap• Initiate• Pilot • Scale Up• Maintain

Key Concepts

Business Drivers

Digital accessibility programs are driven by a mixture of the following factors:

Why do we care?

Business Drivers

Manage Legal Risk

Eliminate Discrimination

Conform to Laws

Access Markets

SocialResponsibility

Overarching Model

High level areas of activity or competence needed for an effective digital accessibility program • Program maturity is measured along ten key dimensions:

– Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance– Communications– Policy and Standards– Legal and Regulatory– Fiscal Management– Development Lifecycle– Testing and Validation– Support and Documentation– Procurement– Training

Digital Accessibility Maturity Model (DAMM)

Roadmap Phases Overview

Initiate• First six months• Get started• Determine high risk areas • Implement some quick fixes• Level one maturity

Pilot• Six to eighteen months• Define a few specific systems to work on for accessibility• Understand what works and doesn’t in context of specific assets• Work towards level two maturity

Roadmap Phases Overview

Scale Up• Eighteen to thirty-six months• Implement consistent

enterprise-wide systems• Measure and monitor

conformance systemically• Work towards level three

maturity

Mature• Ongoing• Maintain and mature

enterprise-wide systems• Actively manage processes

and procedures• Reporting and active

management of accessibility• Work towards level four and

five maturity

But that’s another show….

Phase One – Initiate

Phase Overview

• Understand where the risk is• Address specific high risk areas• Get things moving• Limited and reactive retrofitting and code

fixes• Key Activities

– Define a policy –can always update later– Understand the portfolio– Start some training work– Provide clear, well-tended methods for

getting feedback on accessibility– If organization is subject to regulations or

settlement get a handle on reporting

Asset Reviews

Accessibility Coverage Questionnaire• Covers functions and markets• Defines relevant laws, guidelines and

standards

Determining Coverage

Testing

ManualAutomated

Assistive Technology

IdentifyModules

IdentifyUse Cases

Groundwork

Prioritization

Analysis

Authoring

Delivery

Reporting

Asset Reviews

Audit high risk systems for compliance (via third party or in house)• Technical Requirements

– Is it coded properly?– Testing requirements split between Automatic (24.8%), Manual

(48.3%) and Global (26.9%)• Functional Requirements

– Can it be used by people with disabilities?• Support Requirements

– Is it accessibility in deployment?

System Audits

Global

Program Review

If an organization has a program in place, do a rough review of program against DAMM

Outcomes:• Define key aspects to improve• Define key artifacts to create• Define roadmap specific to the organization• Define budget requirements• Define reporting and ownership structures

Key Artifacts

Accessibility Coverage Questionnaire• Result of systems review activity• Determine the risk associated with inaccessible ICT, and

inform the RoI for the cost of accessibility implementation• Helps us pick pilot projects to focus on

Organization Wide Compliance Statement• Standard organization wide compliance statement

Key Artifacts

Accessibility Policy• Accessibility policy covering the entire organization and

addressing key policy areas

Regulatory Calendar• Formal method of tracking deadlines for accessibility filings

Regulatory Filings• Completing regulatory filings including but not limited to

responses to the DoJ or EEOC pertaining to formal ADA complaints, Section 504 plans, etc.

Key Artifacts

Accessibility Resolution Policy• Defines manner in which accessibility issues are handled and

resolved

Accessibility Issue Submission Form• Publicly available accessibility issue form

Accessibility Training Plan• Plan for training on accessibility• Spans all the phases with increasing levels of detail• Start with stock SaaS model and summits• Mature over time• Define refresh interval and training triggers

Key ArtifactsAccessibility Policy

• Define target technical standards• Define timeline for adopting and

implementing standards• Provide a copy of policy to personnel• Start training around it

Key InfrastructureUniversity

• Accessibility Overview Course• Base Technical Track

– Role based– Web, iOS, Android– Top ten certification

• Expert Technical Track– Internal expert certification

• Docs Track– PDF, Word, InDesign– Top ten certification

• SaaS model for courses

Key InfrastructureHelp Desk

• Contract structure for support– Expert questions– Standards conformance– Program approach

• Testing, testing, testing

Phase Two – Pilot

Phase Overview

• Work with a specific set of assets to implement reasonable level of compliance

• Document approaches to compliance

• Start to improve approach to based on lessons learned from each asset

• Define budgets for program

• Begin updates to development lifecycle

Key Activities

• Appoint a digital accessibility coordinator

• Define a Accessibility Program Office (APO)

• Have them report to an appropriate executive

• Quarterly reporting by Coordinator to executive

• Regulatory and settlement reporting as relevant

Program Management

Key Artifacts

Accessibility Program Roles and Responsibilities• Roles and responsibilities of the APO

Prioritization Model • Organization-wide prioritization model for what gets done first• Enterprise, asset and best practice level

VPATs, GPATs and Conformance Statements• Normalize public conformance statements for pilot products or

services

Accessibility Technical Standards• Publish an initial set of accessibility technical standards• Generally published in AMP or similar infrastructure

Key Artifacts

Accessibility Testing Plan• Define the overall testing approach for accessibility• Define key gateways at which accessibility is evaluated in

development process

Quality Control Plan• Integration of accessibility testing plan into current QA process

Accessibility Features Document• Guide for creating and example of an accessibility features

document

Key InfrastructureProgram Software

Accessibility Validation Platform• Automatic, Manual and Functional

Testing• Reporting and Remediation

Direction• Prioritization of Issues

Standards Management • Best Practices• Standards

Reporting• Compliance tracking over time

Thank You

Contact Us

Tim Springertim.springer@ssbbartgroup.com

Matt Aranamatt.arana@ssbbartgroup.com

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Follow Us

@SSBBARTGroup

linkedin.com/company/SSB-BART-Group

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SSBBARTGroup.com/blog

About SSB BART Group

• Unmatched Experience• Focus on Accessibility• Solutions That Manage Risk• Real-World Strategy• Organizational Strength and

Continuity• Dynamic, Forward-Thinking

Intelligence

• Fourteen hundred organizations (1445)

• Fifteen hundred individual accessibility best practices (1595)

• Twenty-two core technology platforms (22)

• Fifty-five thousand audits (55,930)• One hundred fifty million

accessibility violations (152,351,725)

• Three hundred sixty-six thousand human validated accessibility violations (366,096)

Appendix

Maturity Levels

• Level 1: Initial• Level 2: Repeatable• Level 3: Defined• Level 4: Quantitatively Managed• Level 5: Optimizing

Some other (interesting?) ideas

• More Maturity ≠ Greater Conformance

• Do we need it at all?– Fewer Defects– Better on-time delivery – More likely to be on budget– Increased Quality Software

Management Productivity Index

Phase Three – Scale Up

Phase Overview

• Move from targeting specific products and projects to all enterprise activities

• Implement accessibility systemically – Formalize loose program aspects– Harden requirements and guidance for lines of business

• Standardize budgets• Require online self-paced training for all impacted roles• Ensure specific testing artifacts are filed with central office• Clear, maintained policies and standards

Key Artifacts

Organization Chart• Clearly defined organization chart for

Accessibility Program Office• Clearly executive ownership and

responsibility for accessibility

Accessibility Project Management Plan• Roll out plan for the enterprise

Public Communication Plan• Definition of how this will be communicated to

the public• We’re doing great work – let’s get credit for it

Key Artifacts

Lifecycle Roles and Responsibilities• Definition of the roles and

responsibilities organization units have in implementing accessibility in the development lifecycle

Development Artifact Guide• A list of the specific development

artifacts LoBs must create and or file with the central Accessibility Program Office

Key ArtifactsBudgets!

Budget• Well defined, multi-year budget plan for Accessibility Program Office • Driven by the organizational accessibility policy and standards

LoB Accessibility Budget Guidance• Budget guidance provided to individual LoBs with respect to the

implementation and maintenance of the organizational accessibility policy and standard

LoB Accessibility Budgets• Actual budgets defined by individual LoBs with respect to the

implementation and maintenance of ICT under the scope of the organizational accessibility policy and standard

Key Artifacts

Assistive Technology Supports Statement• Specific understanding of what versions and types of AT will be

supported

ICT Procurement Contract Template• Template contract language for ensuring accessibility of purchased

elements

ICT Procurement Policy• Procurement policy for ensuring accessibility of purchased

elements

Training Calendar• Training calendar of when accessibility training is available• Tracking and reporting on training plan conformance

Key InfrastructureThird Party Validations

• Proven methodology that addresses technical and functional criteria for conforming to guidelines

• Ability to prioritize trade-offs associated with accessibility implementation

• Functional testing done by people with disabilities

• Annual evaluations of web properties and mobile applications

Phase Four – Mature

Phase Overview

• Maintain and continuously improve accessibility program• Actively monitor program implementation• Use data to drive decisions and program evolution• Clear measurement and reporting of accessibility levels

Key Artifacts

Accessibility Monitoring Plan• Monitoring plan for tracking accessibility implementations

Accessibility Compliance Plan• Plan for measuring and enforcing compliance with the Accessibility

Policy and Accessibility Standards for all ICT

Process Improvement Plans• Specific to development lifecycle integration• Plans resulting from trends, or post-release defects discovered to

improve accessibility reliability going forward• Sprint retrospectives include accessibility discussions

Key ArtifactsProcurement Maturity

Third Party Compliance Policies and Requirements • Compliance policy for third parties

Procurement Accessibility E-mail Address• Address where inaccessible products or services acquired by the

organizations can be reported

Procurement Checklist• Includes evaluating products/services for accessibility

Vendor Scoring Model• Model and approach for scoring vendors and evaluating vendor

documentation on accessibility

Key InfrastructureCompliance Monitor

A turnkey monitoring solution that allows enterprise websites to track and validate full regulatory compliance with digital accessibility laws, regulations, and standards

Features:• Dashboard• Organization Compliance • Section & Page• Remediation Guidance• Intelligent Violation Prioritization