Whilst digital accessibility is certainly achievable, including generic statements in policy or strategy documents that initiatives “must meet Level AA WCAG 2.0” is not an effective governance strategy. Similarly with procurement, assuming that vendors understand what the statement means is an oversimplification of what digital accessibility entails.
Digital accessibility is a relevant and ongoing process that needs to be embedded not only as an ongoing process during the lifetime of a website, but as a core value and process that forms part of an organisation’s standard operating procedure if an organisation wishes its customers to remain engaged.
Our governance workshops and reports identify areas of responsibility and subsidiary goals such as:
Identifying the person(s) responsible for:
- Evaluating accessibility requirements of vendors and assessing their conformance with organisation policy
- Ensuring that accessibility is integrated in the different policies and standards published by the organisation such as communications policy, social media policy, procurement policy, design guides and software development kits
- Training, monitoring and management of content produced by content authors
- Checking for updates to W3C standards and emerging guidelines for website development content and mobile applications
The report contains a matrix of stakeholders involved in the process, which articulates their agreed obligations and records methods for monitoring and reporting on compliance.
Decision making within the governance process includes making choices such as:
- Examining the purpose of the function, understanding how often it is used, and identifying and evaluating acceptable alternatives
- Gaining an awareness of the group requiring the function and how they view and interact with web content
- Assessing the severity of the accessibility problem by considering both compliance and the practical impact for people with a disability
- Creating, documenting and training in customisations and/or alternate processes if required
Read more about how we approach Accessibility Strategy and Planning.