Any project manager knows how important organization is for large projects involving multiple team members. Without clear direction, you can easily waste 100+ hours.
And when it comes to accessibility projects, it’s very easy for a project to start strong and then fall by the wayside, having never been completed. This is a colossal waste of resources and, ultimately, a failed project.
Here’s how an illustration of how this can happen:
- Software Co. wants a VPAT/ACR for their software product.
- They hire a digital accessibility company to audit their software, help with remediation, and issue an ACR (completed VPAT).
- The accessibility company returns a completed audit with 150 accessibility issues.
- Software Co.’s digital team immediately gets to work and fixes 45 issues in two weeks. Everyone feels good about the progress and direction.
Where The Projects Fall Apart
Then the trouble begins:
- The digital team sends the fixes to the accessibility company for validation.
- The accessibility company responds that 8 of the 45 issues weren’t fixed correctly. They mark these issues in a Google Sheet and send it back to the team.
- Meanwhile, Software Co. has a major product update that becomes the priority and the two team leads are now assigned to continuing update work.
- When the rest of the team returns to accessibility remediation two weeks later, they need to re-orient themselves with the project and they’re not sure who should do what.
- Progress stalls as the team members work on other tasks and wait for clarity.
- Two months later, the product update is published live, and it’s unclear which accessibility issues have been fixed and which ones have been introduced, a completely new audit is necessary; we need to start over.
For project managers, this is an absolute disaster. These problems stem from an understandable problem: spreadsheets can work, but they’re to optimal for managing complex accessibility projects.
A Centralized Hub
Our new web app, Accessibility Tracker acts as a centralized hub where both your team and accessibility experts can collaborate efficiently:
- Single Project Location: One location for all accessibility issues, notes, and validation status
- Clear status indicators: Easily see which issues are fixed and which have been validated
- Strategic prioritization: Sort issues by risk of lawsuit or user impact
- Direct communication: Receive in-context notes and feedback from auditors on specific issues
- Progress visualization: See real-time completion percentages and metrics
- Assignments: Project managers can delegate issues to individual team members
The key here is everyone is literally on the same page and the page contains the exact information you need to know to not only continue work on the project, but know exactly where it stands.
This makes it much easier to chip away steadily at accessibility projects until they’re completed.
Prioritization That Makes Sense
A common question we get from clients is where do we start?
When faced with 150+ accessibility issues, knowing where to start is important (we want to make the most impact, right away). Accessibility Tracker gives you the ability to sort by two powerful prioritization formulas:
- Risk formula: Prioritizes issues based on litigation risk, using data from actual lawsuits filed by plaintiff firms
- Impact formula: Orders issues by their impact on users with disabilities, using a weighted 100-point scoring system
Rather than arbitrarily deciding which issues to fix first, your team can make informed decisions based on data and expertise.
The Difference Focus Makes
When teams have clarity, a project path opens up and gives everyone involved a clear path forward. This not only saves time, but mental energy and the dread of revisiting a project you’re no longer quite sure the status of.
Making the Transition
Transitioning from spreadsheets to a purpose-built tracking system is straightforward:
- Upload your existing audit spreadsheet to Accessibility Tracker
- Select your prioritization formula (risk or impact)
- Assign issues to team members
- Begin remediation with clear direction
- Mark issues as complete when fixed
- Receive validation directly in the platform
Next Steps
Accessibility projects don’t have to derail. With proper tracking and organization, your team can efficiently work through remediation and achieve compliance goals on schedule.
Accessibility Tracker launches in March 2025. Whether you’re concerned about ADA lawsuits, Section 508 compliance, or simply providing the best experience for all users, having the right tracking system in place makes all the difference between project success and failure.
To learn more about Accessibility Tracker or to secure your license before the launch, contact us.
