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on 05-06-2024 09:01 AM
In today's digital landscape, accessibility has emerged as a fundamental principle to ensure equal access to information and services for all individuals, regardless of their abilities. Accessibility conformance reports play a pivotal role in assessing and enhancing the accessibility of digital content and platforms. In this article, we discuss what accessibility conformance reports entail for ServiceNow and what our approach is.
What is VPAT and ACR?
The Accessibility Conformance Report, or ACR is a representation of how a product meets the applicable accessibility standards. An ACR is usually the result of a completed VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template).
An Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) is a comprehensive document that evaluates the level of accessibility of a website, application, or digital content. It outlines the extent to which the digital asset conforms to established accessibility standards and guidelines, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
ACRs typically include detailed assessments of various aspects of accessibility, including but not limited to:
1. Perceivability: Ensuring that information and user interface components are presented in a way that can be perceived by all users, including those with visual or auditory impairments.
2. Operability: Ensuring that user interface components and navigation are operable by users with various disabilities, including those who rely on keyboard navigation or assistive technologies.
3. Understandability: Ensuring that content and operation of the user interface are understandable to all users, including those with cognitive or learning disabilities.
4. Robustness: Ensuring that digital content is compatible with current and future assistive technologies, thus ensuring long-term accessibility.
The ACR provides a detailed breakdown of the findings from accessibility evaluations, highlighting areas of compliance and non-compliance with accessibility standards. It may also include recommendations for remediation and improvement to enhance accessibility further.
Why is Publishing an Accessibility Conformance Report Important?
Publishing an ACR is not just a matter of compliance; it reflects an organization's commitment to inclusivity and accessibility. Here are several reasons why ServiceNow publishes accessibility conformance reports:
1. Transparency and Accountability: By publicly sharing an ACR, we demonstrate transparency regarding the accessibility status of our digital assets.
2. Legal Compliance: In many jurisdictions, there are legal requirements mandating accessibility for digital platforms, especially those operated by government agencies or serving the public. Publishing an ACR helps to demonstrate compliance with these regulations.
3. Customer Trust and Loyalty: Accessibility is not just about compliance; it's also about providing an inclusive experience for all users. By prioritizing accessibility and publishing ACRs, we intend to build trust with our customers, including individuals with disabilities, who constitute a significant portion of the global population.
4. Continuous Improvement: Publishing ACRs fosters a culture of continuous improvement. By regularly assessing accessibility of our products and publicly documenting findings, we can identify areas for enhancement and allocate resources effectively to address accessibility barriers.
ServiceNow performs extensive audits both internal and external to analyze our workflows. We value both the usability of our Platform and Products and adherence to accessibility standards. We have dedicated significant investments in our accessibility practice, and we have created a multidiscipline Accessibility Center of Excellence (COE) team to ensure that we are meeting our customers’ expectations and aligning to industry standards. Our applications support assistive technologies such as: NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver, TalkBack and ZoomText. We are planning on expanding our supported assistive technologies with more applications such as Dragon. We allow for the exclusive use of the keyboard to navigate and operate the product content and functionality. In addition, we test on multiple browsers, including Chrome, Safari, and Edge Chromium.
We then utilize the latest Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) created by the IT Industry Council (ITI) to create an ACR. Once created, ServiceNow publishes Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs) on the doc site.
ServiceNow products are built with the goal of conforming to applicable accessibility guidelines and principles of the:
• Section 508 Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as well as all applicable related federal regulations
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) at the AA level, ISO/IEC 40500, & aims to adhere as strictly as possible to WCAG standards
• EN 301 549 Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe V3.1.1
References:
https://www.itic.org/policy/accessibility/vpat
https://accessibility.huit.harvard.edu/interpret-vpat
https://www.section508.gov/sell/how-to-create-acr-with-vpat/
