The Digital Accessibility Maturity Model

1. The Digital Accessibility Maturity Model Tim Springer SSB BART Group

2. Agenda • About SSB BART Group • What is a Maturity Model? • The Digital Accessibility Maturity Model (DAMM) • Stages & Dimensions • Aspects & Artifacts • The DAMM Audit • Appendix A - DAMM-HR • Accommodations & Hiring

3. Fourteen hundred organizations(1445) Fifteen hundred individual accessibility best practices (1595) Twenty-two core technology platforms (22) Fifty-five thousand audits (55,930) One hundred fifty million accessibility violations (152,351,725) Three hundred sixty-six thousand human validated accessibility violations (366,096) About SSB BART Group • Unmatched Experience • Focus on Accessibility • Solutions That Manage Risk • Real-World Strategy • Organizational Strength and Continuity • Dynamic, Forward-Thinking Intelligence

4. What is a Maturity Model? Maturity Model • Defines level of maturity of an organization in addressing a business problem • Originally developed in line with the Capability Maturity Model defined by Carnegie Mellon • Often used to look at the maturity of software development processes Digital Accessibility Maturity Model (DAMM) • Measures the maturity of digital accessibility programs along a series of dimensions and aspects • Builds on prior work by the Business Disability Forum (BDF) in developing a general organization Accessibility Maturity Model

5. Level 1 – Informal Level 2 – Defined Level 3 – Repeatable Level 4 – Managed Level 5 – Optimized Digital Accessibility Maturity Model Stages

6. High level areas of activity or competence needed for an effective digital accessibility program Program maturity is measured along nine key dimensions: Ownership and Governance Communications Policy and Standards Fiscal and Risk Management Development Lifecycle Testing and Validation Support and Documentation Procurement Training Digital Accessibility Maturity Model Dimensions

7. More Maturity ≠ Greater Conformance • Some models provide for higher levels of maturity pursing higher levels of accessibility • An organization at level two would need be A conformant • An organization at level four would need be AA conformant • SSB explicitly rejects this idea • A mature organization with a clear grasp of digital accessibility may determine not to conform to a higher level of accessibility • We do expect maturity to be correlated with higher compliance / conformance levels • This is a side effect of having a mature accessibility process - not a primary outcome of it

8. A Maturity Model, Not A Roadmap • Roadmap implies linear movement through phases • In practice this is about changing and maturing an organization • Maturity model more accurately reflects what SSB sees as the right operational model • In most scenarios programs aren’t developed in linear order • May want to assess issues only after training the workforce • Remediation isn’t cost effective - want to fix things on a go forward basis • Most activities, in practice, run in parallel and reinforce the management of accessibility

9. Digital Accessibility Maturity Model Definitions • Aspects - A secondary area upon which the maturity of a digital accessibility program is measured used to break down the large dimensions into specific sub-categories. • Artifacts - Specific documents, activities, objects or elements that are developed and maintained as part of a digital accessibility program. • Accessibility Program Office - Central coordinating organizational unit for digital accessibility policy. Maturity model assumes that a central coordinating organization component or a specific, named organization component are playing this role. • Line of Business (LoB) - Individual organizational unit charged with addressing accessibility. For this purpose LoB is a general concept denoting a group that owns an IT asset that is charged with implementing accessibility.

10. Ownership and Governance Stages • Level 1 - Informal • Having no organizational ownership for accessibility and minimal governance and risk management processes in place • Level 2 - Defined • Organizational unit that owns accessibility is defined • Core governance and risk management artifacts are defined • Level 3 – Repeatable • Active governance models in place and being conformed to • Level 4 – Managed • LoBs that own accessibility are monitored for and held accountable when accessibility is not properly implemented • Level 5 – Optimized • Organizational components that own accessibility are actively managed and their organizational mandate and scope is updated as accessibility of systems and issues dictate

11. Artifacts Organization Chart Accessibility Monitoring Plan Accessibility Program Roles and Responsibilities Accessibility Project Management Plan Ownership and Governance Aspects and Artifacts Aspects • Organizational Ownership  • Governance Policy • Accessibility Program Office • Monitoring  • Reporting • Recordkeeping

12. Communication Stages • Level 1 – Informal • No structured or formal communication relating to digital accessibility • Level 2 – Defined • A basic definition of accessibility communication is in place such as an Accessibility page on a site • Level 3 – Repeatable • Products and services that are launched by LoBs consider accessibility communication as part of their launch process • Specific example products and services can be cited • Level 4 – Managed • Enterprise level metrics available on communication efforts with PwD • Communication efficacy and metrics can be tracked across LoBs • Level 5 – Optimized • Enterprise and LoB feedback is used to actively update, modify and extend the program

13. Communication Aspects and Artifacts Aspects • Program Communication • Maturity of the organization in the public communication of the accessibility program • Regulatory Communication • Maturity of the organization in communicating with regulatory authorities regarding digital accessibility policy activities • Market Communication • Maturity of the organization in communicating with the market regarding digital accessibility policy and implementation. Artifacts • Public Communication Plan • Defines how the program will be communicated to the public • Engage with the disability community to solicit feedback and perform functional testing of web asset. • Keep constituents and customers updated on efforts taken to bring assets into compliance • Organization-wide Compliance Statement • VPATsand GPATs

14. Policy and Standards Stages • Level 1 – Informal • Minimal or no policies or standards, no defined scope for policy, standards implemented in products or projects on a reactive basis • Level 2 – Defined • Basic policy and standards defining commitment but not operational impact – conformed to and used on ad-hoc basis • Level 3 – Repeatable • Policy and standards in use, actively promoted and communicated • Level 4 – Managed • Policy and standards conformance actively managed and measured • Level 5 – Optimized • Influencer and early adopter of new standards

15. Policy and Standards Aspects and Artifacts Aspects • Policy • Maturity of the digital accessibility policy within the organization • Includes creation of the policy, deployment into the organization,conformance to and maintenance of the policy on an ongoing basis. • Standards • Maturity of the technical standards for the organization • Includes scope of the coverage of the standards both in terms of technology platforms and roles impacted Artifacts • Digital Accessibility Policy  • Covers the entire organization and addresses key policy areas. • Technical Standards • Set of digital accessibility technical standards

16. Fiscal and Risk Management Stages • Level 1 – Informal • No specific budget allocated, poor understanding of legal requirements • Level 2 – Defined • Broad, single year budget defined, not subject to RoI analysis • Understanding of legal requirements and business case for accessibility • Level 3 – Repeatable • Clear business strategy, multi-year budget, RoI tests and investment • Level 4 – Managed • Effective use of resources by building accessibility in at outset vs. retrofitting • Monitoring and reporting against business objectives • Level 5 – Optimized • Budget for innovation and R&D, market research, product evaluation leading to new solutions

17. Fiscal and Risk Management Aspects and Artifacts Aspects • Budget • Level of maturity of the budgeting process associated with digital accessibility • RoI • Level of maturity associated with analyzing accessibility investments and the degree to which they are subject to RoI analysis • Risk Management • The presence and degree of development of a digital accessibility risk model for systems, portions of systems and individual requirements Artifacts • Budget • LoB Digital Accessibility Budget Guidance • LoB Digital Accessibility Budgets • Prioritization Model • Accessibility Coverage Questionnaire

18. Development Lifecycle Stages • Level 1 – Informal • Accessibility included in the development lifecycle on a reactive, ad-hoc basis • Level 2 – Defined • Accessibility process and artifacts are documented for each major development lifecycle stage • Level 3 – Repeatable • Accessibility is fully integrated into the product development process and considered from end-to-end • Level 4 – Managed • Accessibility metrics defined and actively collected throughout the process • Metrics reviewed by senior management and serve as basis for ongoing employee assessments • Level 5 – Optimized • Transcending policies and standards and innovating to meet functional needs of people with disabilities

19. Development Lifecycle Aspects and Artifacts Aspects • Development Artifacts • Must be developed and/or filed with APO as part of lifecycle • Roles and Responsibilities • Specific and effective roles and responsibilities related to accessibility in lifecycle • User Acceptance • Products and services deemed functionally usable by individuals with disabilities • Pattern Library • Reusable UI components are developed with/include accessibility Artifacts • Lifecycle Roles and Responsibilities  • Definition of the roles and responsibilities organization units have in implementing accessibility in the development lifecycle • W3C Accessibility Responsibility Breakdown • Development Artifact Guide  • List of the specific development artifacts lines of business must create and or file with the central Accessibility Program Office.

20. Testing and Validation Stages • Level 1 – Informal • No testing plan is defined, ad-hoc testing if at all • Level 2 – Defined • Testing plan defined, ad-hoc testing, little or no functional testing • Level 3 – Repeatable • Well defined master plan in place with conformance • Increasing levels of formal accessibility testing occur as product and project risk and RoI dictate • Level 4 – Managed • Testing metrics filed with Accessibility Program Office • Functional testing by users with disabilities occurring at multiple stages • Level 5 – Optimized • Accessibility Testing Plan actively updated and disseminated based on lessons learned from each group

21. Testing and Validation Aspects and Artifacts Aspects • Accessibility Testing • Degree to which accessibility testing is being performed in an effective fashion • Infrastructure • Degree to which an effective accessibility testing infrastructure is in place • Accessibility Testing Artifacts • Specific set of artifacts from the testing process that are produced during the development process and filed with the APO as needed Artifacts • Accessibility Testing Plan • Maturity associated with a well defined master plan for accessibility testing • Define increasing levels of formal accessibility testing as product and project specific needs dictate • Defines overall testing approach for accessibility and key gateways at which accessibility will be considered • Include approaches for sampling an application and validating that such sampling would occur

22. Support and Documentation Stages • Level 1 – Informal • Support and documentation and is reactively provided to PwDs • Level 2 - Defined • Accessible documentation infrastructure is in place • Defined support process for managing requests from PwDs • Level 3 - Repeatable • Active management of inbound issues and resolutions • Customer representative training delivered • LoBs producing accessibility docs as part of product and service development lifecycle • Level 4 – Managed • Enterprise and LoB metrics gathered on accessibility related issues • Defined and conformed to SLA for accessibility issues • Level 5 - Optimized • Accessibility issues are used to drive future development

23. Support and Documentation Aspects and Artifacts Aspects • Accessibility Issue Handling • Includes ensuring accessibility issues are identified and escalated on an appropriate basis • Requires defined process for customers to contact organization about accessibility and issues to be addressed and resolved in a timely fashion • Accessible Documentation • Includes both native provisioning of accessible electronic documents and ability to provide alternative documentation as needed Artifacts • Accessibility Features Document • Guide for creating and example of an accessibility features document • Accessibility Resolution Policy • Defines the manner in which accessibility issues are handled and resolved • Accessibility Issue Submission Form • Accessibility E-mail

24. Procurement Stages • Level 1 – Informal • Minimal or no steps taken to ensure accessibility of products/services procured • Level 2 - Defined • Procurement policy includes accessibility requirements • Applies to products and services procured, services provided by third parties, work carried out by sub-contractors etc. • Level 3 - Repeatable • Accessibility regularly addressed and enforced in procurement • Non-compliant vendors/contractors face fiscal penalties • Level 4 – Managed • Conduct post-procurement reviews, vendor scoring and feedback to suppliers • Level 5 – Optimized • Suppliers work as active partners in accessibility both for the firm and throughout the industry

25. Procurement Aspects and Artifacts Aspects • Solicitations • Degree to which relevant language is included in procurement solicitations • Contracts • Degree and maturity of the organization in included clear and compelling accessibility compliance requirements into contract language • Vendor Governance • Systems in place for managing whether vendors are, in practice, delivering accessible technology Artifacts • Third Party Compliance Policies and Requirements

26. Training Stages • Level 1 – Informal • Training on digital accessibility provided in a reactive, ad-hoc fashion • Level 2 – Defined • Training plan and course curriculum defined for all impacted stakeholders in the enterprise • Level 3 - Repeatable • Disability awareness training / communications delivered to all ICT staff • Advanced training delivered properly to specific development lifecycle roles • Level 4 – Managed • Training quality assessed and training content updated on a regular cadence • New areas of training and needs are actively identified based on overall program metrics • Level 5 – Optimized • Training is actively pushed to LoBs and specific individuals where metrics warrant

27. Training Aspects and Artifacts Aspects • Training • Clear and well defined training program deployed across covered portions of organization • Certification • Certification process for specific job roles • Job Aids • Level of support for job roles • Internal Communication • Communicate accessibility commitment • Rollout Plan • For young programs and programs that are getting started Artifacts • Accessibility Training Plan • Defines how the organization will implement accessibility training • Training courses and support materials • Internal Communication Plan

28. Get a DAMM Audit • Scoring defined for each dimension • Defines multi-year roadmap for building a mature program • Defines areas of investment in infrastructure, team and program

29. Questions?

30. Thank You Contact Us Tim Springer Tim.Springer@SSBBARTGroup.com SSB BART Group info@SSBBARTGroup.com Follow Us @SSBBARTGroup linkedin.com/company/SSB-BART-Group facebook.com/SSBBARTGroup SSBBARTGroup.com/blog

31. Appendix A HR Dimensions

32. DAMM-HR Accommodations • Level 1 – Informal • Minimal processes in place for providing accommodations • Approach is reactive to the situation • Level 2 – Defined • Accommodations process is documented and covers initial user assessment through to delivery of accommodations • Level 3 – Repeatable • Integrated accommodations process is defined and in use • Level 4 – Managed • Accommodations process and impact is measured and monitored • Issues with specific employees are actively addressed • Level 5 – Optimized • New reasonable adjustments implemented are documented and shared with industry partners

33. DAMM-HR Hiring • Level 1 - Informal • Staff with disabilities are hired by accident and in an ad-hoc fashion • Level 2 – Defined • Clear, defined process for hiring PwDs • Active consideration of the communication needs of PwDs in the hiring process • Level 3 – Repeatable • Demonstrated hires of people with disabilities • Clear on-boarding process with accommodations • Level 4 – Managed • Active monitoring of hiring efforts targeted at PwDs • Level 5 – Optimized • Active work with industry groups focused on hiring PwDs

34. DAMM-HR Hiring Level 1 - Informal • Staff with disabilities are hired by accident and in an ad-hoc fashion Level 2 – Defined • Clear, defined process for hiring PwDs • Active consideration of the communication needs of PwDs in the hiring process Level 3 – Repeatable • Demonstrated hires of people with disabilities • Clear on-boarding process with accommodations Level 4 – Managed • Active monitoring of hiring efforts targeted at PwDs Level 5 – Optimized • Active work with industry groups focused on hiring PwDs