An Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) is a document that provides an accounting of the accessibility status for a digital product or service. An ACR is created by filling in and completing the VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) standardized document.
Although the two terms are frequently used interchangeably in the private marketplace, buyers and procurement agents are really asking for an ACR when they ask if you have a VPAT for your product or service. Remember that the VPAT is just a template whereas ACR is the actual report.
An ACR consists of two primary sections:
- Report details
- Accessibility table
Here’s what each section covers:
Report Details
Think of this as the administrative section of the ACR that sets up the accessibility information. Here you’ll find information such as:
- Product Name
- Product Version
- Product Description
- Contact Info
- Report Date
- Evaluation Methods
- Standards Used
Basically, here we provide all of the relevant information before we get to the main event of the document, the accessibility.
Accessibility Table
The accessibility table is where the digital asset is graded out against one or more technical standards. There are three columns:
- Criteria
- Conformance Level
- Remarks and Explanations
The criteria column is set and so the only columns that need to be filled out are the conformance level and possibly the remarks and explanations column.
The remarks and explanations column doesn’t necessarily have to be field out, but it must be filled out if the product or service either partially supports or does not support the criteria. Even if the criteria is supported, remarks are encouraged, but it’s also perfectly acceptable to leave this column blank for supported criteria.
However, you wouldn’t want to leave this entire column blank for all success criteria, even if the digital asset is perfectly conformant with the technical standards. ACRs that are marked as 100% supports with zero remarks raise questions about the integrity of the ACR.
Accuracy
The details section is straightforward. We need to make sure the name and version of the product (or service) are correct and accurately reflect the digital asset evaluated. We also need to make sure we have the evaluation methodology and technical standards used in place.
However, where accuracy becomes especially important is the accessibility section: the accessibility table is the whole point of the ACR so we need to make sure that it accurately reflects the accessibility status.
This is why an audit from a technical accessibility expert who manually, meticulously, and thoroughly evaluates the digital asset is absolutely essential.
Summary
Accessibility Conformance Reports give buyers a quick way of assessing and comparing the state of accessibility for different products and services. Although they are commonly requested as VPATs, ACRs are really what are being requested.
If you need help with an audit or would like an independent third-party to issue the ACR for your product or service, we’d love to help.
Contact us and we’ll reply right away. We usually have ACRs to our clients within 1-2 weeks after they contact us.
