We have received more requests recently for VPATs covering Articulate Storyline and Rise 360 courses. The pattern is consistent: a training vendor or content team is selling courses to a federal agency, a university, a state or local government, or a large enterprise, and the buyer’s procurement process requires an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) before the purchase can move forward.
Why Procurement Asks for an ACR on Training Courses
Section 508 requires federal agencies to purchase accessible information and communication technology, and training courses fall within that definition.
The new ADA Title II Web Rule is also having major effects in the marketplace. Vendors selling into educational spaces are now being met with VPAT / ACR requests for their digital prodcuts and services. If you’re new to accessibility, you’re likely seeing WCAG 2.1 AA and WCAG 2.2 AA come up a lot.
Universities, state governments, and enterprise buyers are now making this request in their RFPs.
The ACR covers your course as published. Articulate promotes accessibility features in Storyline and Rise 360, but the authoring tool being capable of accessible output does not mean your course conforms. Conformance depends on how the course was built.
Section 508 Edition vs. WCAG Edition: Which VPAT Applies
The VPAT is a template, and it comes in editions. Two editions are potentially in play for course vendors.
The Section 508 edition is for sales to U.S. federal agencies. The Revised Section 508 standards incorporate WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA by reference, which means 508 only covers success criteria up to WCAG 2.0 AA. It does not include the newer criteria added in WCAG 2.1 or 2.2.
The WCAG edition reports against WCAG itself, including 2.1 and 2.2, and is what universities, state governments, and enterprise buyers typically expect, since many of them reference current WCAG versions rather than the federal standard.
Which edition you need depends on who is asking. A federal contracting officer needs the 508 edition. Most other buyers are better served by the WCAG edition. Some vendors complete both so the same course is covered for every procurement channel. When we scope your project, we confirm which edition your buyer requires.
Courses Are Simpler to Audit Than Most Digital Assets
E-learning courses are more simple and straightforward to audit than websites and web applications. A course is a defined set of slides with a player that repeats on every screen, and the interactions usually follow standard patterns. The boundaries are clear and the work is predictable, which means the scope and the price are too.
The VPAT Process for a SCORM Course, Step by Step
1. Scope
We review the published SCORM package and inventory what is in it: slides, modules, quizzes, media, and interaction types. You receive a fixed price based on the actual contents of the course. No sales call.
2. Audit
We conduct a manual WCAG audit of the published course, slide by slide, using keyboard navigation and screen readers. A published course renders every slide inside a single player at one URL, so each slide is tested as it appears on screen, along with the player controls, menu, captions, and every quiz and interaction. Findings reference slides by title so your team can locate each issue.
3. Your Team Remediates, or We Go Straight to the VPAT
This fork is your call, and it depends on your timeline and what the audit finds.
Most findings in a typical course are fixable by your own course developers inside the authoring tool, including:
- Alternative text
- Focus order
- Color contrast
- Caption corrections
- Slide titles
- Quiz configuration
These are all controlled in Storyline or Rise 360. Your team applies the fixes in the source file and republishes the package.
If procurement is waiting and you need documentation now, we skip remediation and complete the ACR based on the audit results, accurately reflecting the current state of the course.
4. Validation
If your team remediates, we validate the republished course to confirm the fixes hold in the published output. This matters with course content because a fix applied in the authoring tool does not always survive publishing the way the author expects.
5. The ACR
We complete the VPAT in the edition your buyer requires and deliver your ACR, ready for the procurement agent.
Some Issues Cannot Be Remediated by Your Team
Not every finding is within your control. Some issues are controlled by Articulate rather than by course authors.
The course player, its controls, and certain interaction types are Articulate’s code, and their behavior is baked into the published output. There is no setting your team can adjust to change them.
Articulate publicly documents these gaps. Its accessibility maturity plan for Storyline 360 lists known limitations that authors cannot fix, and Articulate publishes its own ACR for the Storyline player acknowledging them.
These items are documented in your ACR as-is. That is normal and expected in conformance reporting. The ACR is an honest account of the product, and buyers understand that some entries trace to the underlying platform.
What the Finished ACR Gives You
The ACR is the document your procurement contact is asking for, and it answers the requirement directly.
Every line of it is backed by a manual audit of the actual published course. You can stand behind it in a procurement review because we tested every slide.
Many clients choose to remediate before the ACR is completed. An ACR documenting strong conformance is a sales asset in a competitive procurement.
An ACR documenting open issues still satisfies the requirement, but it can raise questions during evaluation. The choice of which path to take is yours, and the process supports both.
If You Have a Course and a Procurement Deadline
Send us the published package and we will scope it. This applies to Storyline, Rise 360, Captivate, and other SCORM content. The process is established and the timeline is predictable.
Contact us to get started.
