LYDIA HARKEY EIR ACCESSIBILITY OFFICER TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY COMMERCE FALL Implementing Accessibility Strategically at Your Organization

EIR accessibility is a Complex Topic Many moving parts = many challenges  Technical  Organizational  Cultural  Legal Touches many areas of an organization in different ways Enabling an organization in EIR accessibility for both for the audience it serves and its employees 2

Approaching EIR Accessibility Set organization expectation levels Define organization EIR accessibility objectives Prioritize your EIR accessibility work Develop strategy and plans using the EIR Accessibility Framework Template Identify EIR accessibility skill gaps and develop training plans Develop short / long term goals and measure to them 3

Set Expectations  Prioritized, multi-year initiative  Work items assigned at various levels  Individual  Departmental team(s)  Interdepartmental team(s)  Interagency team(s)  Work efforts and schedules will be realistically balanced as to complement or not significantly impact contributors primary duties/assignments  Dynamic, with course and trajectory adjustments as needed 4

5 Define the overall objective(s) Example Ensure that all Electronic Information Resources (EIR) delivered or used by are accessible, usable and compliant to Texas accessibility requirements:  Texas Government Code 2054, Subchapter M  Texas Administrative Code Chapter 206  Texas Administrative Code Chapter 213 Includes but not limited to:  Intranet and internet content  Public information  Business applications  Media services  Telecommunications  Contracted information resources projects  Purchased goods or services that are covered under the definition of electronic information technology

Prioritize the work effort Priority classification hierarchy* example 1. Externally facing, mission critical, high number of external users (includes all Internet pages) 2. Externally facing, non-mission critical, high number of external users 3. Externally facing, mission critical, low number of external users 4. Externally facing, non-mission critical, low number of external users 5. Internal use, mission critical, high number of users 6. Internal use, non-mission critical, high number of users 7. Internal use, mission critical, low number of users 8. Internal use, non-mission critical, low number of users *Priority classification assumptions 1. New applications/application enhancements entering pilot (user acceptance) test phase (Internet or intranet) should receive priority within the priority class (1–6) 2. New applications/application enhancements under development (Internet or intranet) will receive priority within the priority class (1–6) 3. Priority for individual applications may change based upon business needs 6 Prioritized Applications Template

7 Develop strategy and plans using the EIR Accessibility Framework Template Plan Strategically Obtain initiative support of organization executive team Develop long term organization goals Integrate into or develop processes to ensure consistency over time Select appropriate EIR technologies / suppliers Effectively manage the EIR accessibility exception process Maintain flexibility to adapt to criteria changes (508 refresh, WCAG 2.0, etc) Charter a workgroup with representation from key areas of the organization Automate for productivity and quality Provide developers tools to facilitate and remediate accessibility compliance Integrate accessibility into content management systems / processes Utilize standardized accessible templates (CSS, etc) Ensure browser neutral accessibility Utilize enterprise level scan tools for issue identification / resolution Validate thoroughly, early, and often Internally developed pages and applications Externally hosted services Published documents / information VPAT analysis and testing of supplier solutions Corrective actions process management / tools Grow awareness and provide education and training Evangelize accessibility throughout organization / EIR supplier community Build / maintain organization’s technical capacity with SME’s Identify skill gaps, and resolve via and training staffing plans Measure and track progress Develop goal appropriate metrics, and reporting tools / methods Communicate and utilize results to drive initiative trajectory Maintain processes and results for “audit readiness” posture Organization Work Plan

8 Identify skill gaps and build “Role Based” Accessibility Training Plans Course LevelCourse Title General Population State Office Web Content Producers Web & Application Testers Web Application Developers Procurement Staff Contract Writers Contract Compliance Project Managers Fundamentals Introduction to Accessibility (Self) Required Fundamentals Office Documents (Internal) OptionalRequired Optional Required OptionalRequired Fundamentals PDF (Internal) Required / Optional* RequiredOptional Fundamentals HTML (Internal or External) Required Fundamentals HTML Forms (Internal or External) RequiredOptionalRequired Fundamentals Testing & Tools (Internal or External) Required Fundamentals CSS (Internal or External) Optional Required Fundamentals Javascript (Internal or External) Optional Required Advanced Dreamweaver (Internal or External) Required / Optional* Advanced ASP / ASP.Net (Internal or External) Required / Optional* Advanced Java / JSP (Internal or External) Required / Optional* Advanced Web 2.0 Technologies (Internal or External) Required / Optional* Specialized Accessibility Law, and its Impacts Required Specialized Accessibility in Contract Solicitations Required Specialized Understanding/validating Vendor EIR accessibility Required * As needed based on assignment.

9 Develop Short and Long Term Accessibility Goals Web Content: Public Facing and General Access Intranet Web pages Maintain less than 2.5% pages with accessibility errors PDFs Reduction of inaccessible PDF Documents 25% by end of fiscal 2014 Reduction by 10% each subsequent year Non-PDF documents Reduction of inaccessible non-PDF Documents 50% by end of fiscal 2014 Reduction by 20% each subsequent year Validation Select and procure accessibility web scanning tool for internet / intranet pages Begin monthly scans and remediation of errors Internal / External Applications New internally developed or purchased applications 75% to be accessible Existing applications 10% per year increase in compliance of existing applications Training Intro level accessibility training to staff 90% Agency Staff by end of fiscal 2014; Remaining 10% in following year Accessible Office Documents training 50% staff trained by end of fiscal 2014; 50% balance in 2015 Web developer accessibility training 100% developers trained by end of fiscal 2014

10 Thank you