Accessibility Adoption Checklist Basics for State Agencies

OIT Technology Accessibility Program

February 16, 2023

Agenda

• About the Checklist
• Six Core Criteria for Adopting Accessibility
• Coming Soon
• Q&A

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About the Checklist

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About the Checklist: Customizable

• The planning template is not intended to be a one-size-fits-all solution—it’s up to the agency to customize it to meet agency needs.
• It's designed to be a single source of truth and a documentation hub for verifying that the agency is earnestly working toward fixing current issues and operationalizing accessibility in order to provide accessible services.

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About the Checklist: Outcomes

• Immediately address existing accessibility compliance issues by taking inventory of all technology touchpoints, assessing them for accessibility compliance then remediating the problems. If the agency is not able to remediate by the deadline, then a plan for accommodation needs to be put in place by the agency.
• Build accessibility into roles and processes in order to operationalize accessibility and avoid costly accessibility debt in the future.

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Six Core Criteria

• Governance, Roles & Responsibilities
• Evaluation & Remediation
• Skills & Hiring
• Communication & Support
• Procurement & Vendor Management
• Software Development Lifecycle

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Governance, Roles & Responsibilities

Ensure that accessibility is positioned appropriately within your agency and that accessibility-related roles and responsibilities across the organization are defined, including the designation of an executive sponsor or accountable party.

• Define what accessibility governance means for your agency
• Create an Accessibility Workgroup that represents the core criteria
• Define roles and responsibilities including Business Product Director roles
• Identify directives, policies, procedures and guidelines that can be updated with accessibility requirements

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Governance: Responsibilities

• Executive Leadership: Executive sponsor, Change Management
• Communications Team: Communications & Support
• Web Managers/Authors: Communications & Support, Evaluation & Remediation
• Finance: Procurement, contracting and vendor management
• Human Resources (HR): Skills & Hiring
• IT Directors and Business Product Directors: Evaluation and Remediation, Software Development Lifecycle
• Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Team: EDI support and alignment of efforts
• Project and/or program management
• Other division or program roles

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Evaluation (Testing) & Remediation

Ensure that the agency accounts for all agency digital touchpoints, has a plan for testing and validation of technical standards conformance and that plans are developed to address accessibility issues once identified.

• Engage with the agency IT Director to determine the best tool for creating an inventory of agency technology.
• Engage with agency Business Technology Product Roles and IT project managers to create a plan for testing, remediation and where needed, accommodations.
• Engage with agency procurement team members to create a plan for vendor management.

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Evaluation & Remediation: Collaboration

An essential partnership:

• Agency IT Director
• Business Technology Product Director
• Product Owners
• Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
• Developers
• Designers
• Testers
• Program Managers
• Procurement

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Skills & Hiring

Ensure the agency hires people with accessibility skills and trains current employees on skills related to accessibility.

• Identify skills needed for which roles need which skills
• All employees should have “Web Accessibility Basics” training
• Many employees should have document accessibility training
• Identify one or more key people to oversee skills development efforts

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Communication & Support

Ensures that the agency tracks and resolves incoming accessibility complaints and that there are clear and well-tended channels for receiving feedback on IT accessibility issues.

• Internal communications regarding accessibility process improvement, resources and training
• Public statements of compliance including the state’s accessibility statement

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Procurement & Vendor Management

Ensures that the agency's solicitation, evaluation and contract processes address IT accessibility/OIT Accessibility Technical Standards compliance.

• Process for purchasing accessible IT
• Process in place for engaging vendors in accessibility accountability
• Requires collaboration with the Business Product roles

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Software Development Lifecycle

Ensures that IT accessibility requirements are incorporated into technology activities such as IT project management, design, development, testing, deployment, and ongoing continuous improvement.

Both OIT and the agency have a role to ensure accessibility is addressed at the start.

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What is the SDLC?

The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is the process of planning, creating, testing, releasing, maintaining and managing an IT product. The SDLC should include accessibility in all phases.

• Planning
• Analysis
• Design
• Implementation
• Testing & Integration
• Maintenance

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Software Development Lifecycle: Roles

• IT Directors, Solutions Engineers, Business Analysts
• Project management teams
• Executive sponsors
• Business Technology Product Directors
• Product owners
• SMEs
• Change management
• Program managers
• Developers
• Designers
• Testers
• More!

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Questions?

If you’re thinking it… most likely someone else is as well.

Reach out to the Technology Accessibility Program at OIT_Accessibility@state.co.us.

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