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Abstract

Inaccessible digital content is a huge problem, but how do we describe and measure the problem well enough to formulate a strategy to remediate it? As we work toward the 2026 deadline to comply with federal digital accessibility rules, we’re all feeling like the blind men in an Indian parable trying to describe an elephant for the first time. They describe the part they touch as if it represents the whole animal. Arguing, they can’t reach a consensus. Each man is right, but each has only one piece of the elephant.

In this session, I will share how our campus is describing our digital accessibility compliance problem. With enough data, we can create and execute a strategy, communicate with our leadership and stakeholders, and measure our success. Through discovery tools, data analysis, systems integration, training, and process improvements, we have created enough clarity to describe the elephant.

Well, How Big Is the Elephant? 🐘 Digital Accessibility Compliance One Byte at a Time | UC Tech 2025

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Well, How Big Is the Elephant?

Erik Wieland

Digital Accessibility Compliance One Byte at a Time

UC Tech 2025

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Our Elephantine Task

  1. Background
  2. Creating a strategy
  3. Discovery & analysis
  4. Systems integration
  5. Process improvements
  6. Resources

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Background

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About UCSF

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Healthcare

Research

Graduate Education

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Why We’re Focusing on Accessibility

New! Digital Accessibility Requirements in Federal Law

  • Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act
  • Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

New! Technical Standard: WCAG 2.1 A and AA

  • Applies to all web content, web and mobile apps, new conventional electronic documents (e.g., Word, PowerPoint, PDF), video/audio

New! Date for Compliance: April 2026

  • Federal enforcement, lawsuits

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Digital Accessibility Principles

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Perceivable

Available via sight, hearing, and/or touch

Operable

Keyboard-accessible, navigable, compatible with other input methods

Understandable

Readable and predictable, with clear labels and instructions

Robust

Works with a variety of assistive technologies, devices, and formats

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Creating a Strategy

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The Elephant in the Room

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What Needs To Be Accessible

UCSF chose min. score of 95 on WCAG standards

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Websites

      • Reading order
      • Image tags
      • Color contrast
      • Font size

​

Examples

      • ucsf.edu
      • ucsfhealth.org
      • hr.ucsf.edu

Web &�Mobile Apps

      • Color contrast
      • Keyboard navigation
      • Mobile-friendly

​

Examples

      • MyChart
      • UCSF Mobile
      • MyTime
      • REDCap

​

Video

      • Accurate captions
      • Descriptive audio

​

Examples

      • ucsf.edu
      • PPT slides
      • UCSF Mobile
      • Mediasite, Kaltura

​

Documents�& Courses

      • Reading order
      • Image tags
      • Color contrast
      • Descriptive audio, captions

​

Examples

      • Word, PDFs
      • PPTs, videos
      • Emails

~6000?

~3000?

???

???

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Risk-Based Approach

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�IT responsibilities

​

​

Discover

    • Public-facing websites, PDFs, videos
    • App inventory
    • Known documents, courses

Inventory

    • Document ownership
    • All websites in Siteimprove
    • All owners trained on testing

Test

    • Minimum 95 on WCAG 2.1 A and AA
    • PDFs and videos
    • Manual testing for apps

Prioritize

    • High volume
    • Public facing
    • Patient facing
    • Student facing

Triage & Remediate – Shared responsibility

    • Archive – IT has archived ~300 sites since 2023
    • Fix it
      • IT-managed: IT fixes templates. IT & Dept fix content.
      • Dept- or Vendor-managed: Dept or vendor fixes.
    • Pay vendor to fix it: IT recommends tools and�vendors, Dept works with vendor.

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Responsibilities

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Asset/Content�Owner

IT Accessibility�Team

  • Complete training
  • Use testing tools
  • Fix accessibility issues
  • Create accessible content
  • Manage vendors
  • Create inventory
  • Provide tools
  • Provide templates
  • Create documentation and training
  • Select remediation vendors
  • Set technical standards
  • Assess risk
  • Maintain inventory
  • Use templates

Shared

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Communications Messaging

Themes and calls to action

  1. Inventory your content: websites, applications, PDFs, videos, course content
  2. Assess your content: testing, tools
  3. Fix your content
  4. Use our documentation and training
  5. Use the Website Accessibility Reporting Dashboard
  6. Come to Office Hours with any questions

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Mission Area Accessibility Issues

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    • Clinical applications
    • Vendor management
    • Patient communications

Healthcare

    • Lab equipment
    • Open-source software
    • Data visualizations

Research

    • Course content
    • Collaboration and classwork submission
    • Lecture capture systems

Education

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Preventing Accessibility Issues

  1. Procurement – Training and process enhancements
  2. Risk Assessment – Modeled on Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit (HECVAT), including accessibility
  3. Tools – Automated testing in developer toolchain; accessibility checkers always on in content platforms
  4. Templates – Accessible, brand-compliant templates for all content platforms
  5. Training – Required accessibility training based on job role

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Discovery & Analysis

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Where’s the Data?

  • ServiceNow – UCSF’s system of record for website and application inventory and reporting
  • Little Forest – IT’s public website discovery tool with accessibility, platform scanning features
  • Siteimprove – UC system standard for�automated website accessibility testing
  • Moodle, Canvas, SumTotal – Learner�and staff learning management systems
  • YouTube, Vimeo, Kaltura, Mediasite –�Video and lecture capture, hosting

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Data Reliability by Source

  • ServiceNow: Only source of private website records, but data poorly maintained
  • LMS: Multiple systems, but complete and mostly accurate
  • Little Forest: Most accurate source of public websites
  • Video: Multiple accounts, platforms
  • Siteimprove: Sites manually added, maintained

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Data Analysis

I reviewed…

  • Website records – ServiceNow, Little Forest, Siteimprove, Analytics (Adobe CJA, Siteimprove)
  • Application records – ServiceNow

Identified patterns, then applied filters and categories to ServiceNow records

  • Websites: ~6000? 1800
  • Redirects to dozens of lab websites
  • Applications: ~3000? 1800

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beside myself looking at the data

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Systems Integration

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Tableau Dashboard

  1. Mulesoft pulls filtered data from Siteimprove, Little Forest, ServiceNow APIs, writes to SCUBA (Enterprise Data Warehouse)
  2. Stored procedures clean data
  3. Tableau pulls in data, matches it, and displays it

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Website Accessibility Reporting Dashboard

  • Filter by control point, department, division, unit, group, or search for sites
  • Score history, trend
  • Identify Siteimprove data, API, process improvements
  • Visibility leads to action, data cleanup

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ServiceNow Integrations

  • ServiceNow pulls filtered data in from Little Forest
  • New website record created if none exists
  • Little Forest data linked to existing website records
  • Category, private website, support group, hosting information autopopulated
  • Planned Automated ticketing for new records

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Process Improvements

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Data Cleanup and Maintenance

  • Bulk updates of website categories
  • Improved website provisioning, deprovisioning processes
  • Automated population of website records
  • Form field validation
  • Automated user coaching
  • Application accessibility attestation process

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Applying rigor to our website provisioning and deprovisioning

  • Clearly delineate responsibilities
  • Add new requirements*
  • Orchestrate and automate where we can
  • Create standard communications with users

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*

*

*

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Form Field Validation

Reducing record-keeping guesswork

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Tracking Accessibility Complaints

  • Revamped process for reporting issues
  • Tracked in ServiceNow, with automatic tagging, assignment based on reported CI
  • Report on response time, MTTR

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Future Plans

  • Integrate Siteimprove with�ServiceNow, Jira
  • Integrate Siteimprove Code with�Cypress, Selenium, GitHub, Jira
  • Little Forest website categorization,�video caption and transcript detection
  • Automate ServiceNow recordkeeping
    • Automate contact updates
    • Orchestration based on data changes
    • Orchestration based on contract renewals

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Questions

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Resources

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Resources

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