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Accessibility Enhancement

Phase 1 — Initiation

Our business analyst performs a customer, target audience, domain, and competitor analysis. Then the client's contact person answers a short questionnaire. Then the business analyst and contact person define and agree on business goals, user goals, and project success metrics. They also decide which disabilities should be provided with full functionality and which can be given limited features. As a result of this phase, the scope document is prepared by our project manager and agreed upon by both parties.

Phase 2 — Evaluation

Our user interface modeler creates the initial VPAT (voluntary product accessibility template) document that defines the current accessibility state of the application. This document should state whether the application needs accessibility enhancements or not. If improvements are not necessary, the VPAT document will be the proof that the application is accessible.

If improvements are needed, our user interface modeler analyzes test reports to acknowledge where the problems in the user interface are. This analysis results in the list of interface usability issues that should be fixed. Every issue is accurately described and explained as to what problems it can cause and why. The final step of this phase is made by the user interface modeler: issues are valued and weighted to prioritize which should be fixed first and which can be put on the back burner.

Phase 3 — Recommendations

Based on the issues list, recommendations for how to resolve them are made by the user interface modeler. Recommendations are presented in two ways: text descriptions of how to solve every issue and user interface specifications that show how these enhancements should be applied. These specifications include wireframes that define page content and layouts, use cases that define user interactions and their sequences, and software requirement specifications that define business rules. If these documents already exist, the user interface modeler updates them; otherwise, they're created from scratch.

After recommendations are reviewed and accepted by the client contact person, the VPAT document for enhanced application is created by our user interface modeler.

Final Phase — Delivery

Our project manager prepares all the deliverables and delivers them to client. After the deliverables are approved by client, the project is considered finished.

Results

At the end of the Accessibility Enhancement process, there is a series of documents produced and delivered to the client:

• Initial VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template). A standard text document that defines every accessibility aspect of the application in its initial state. See examples.
• Accessibility Issues List. A text document that describes accessibility issues in detail.
• Accessibility Recommendations List. A text document that describes in detail how to resolve accessibility issues.
• Updated Wireframes. A set of graphic documents that describe page layouts.
• Updated Use Cases. A set of text documents that describe page navigation and interactions.
• Updated Software Requirement Specification. A text document that describes business rules and functionality in details.
• Updated VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template). A standard text document that defines every accessibility aspect of the application in its enhanced state.

Have a question? Feel free to contact us.

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