Read and write an accessibility conformance report (ACR)
Universities, public bodies and large companies ask software vendors for an accessibility conformance report before they sign. Here is what one contains, how to tell a careful report from a hopeful one, and how to write rows that hold up when someone checks them.
Accessibility
VPAT and ACR: the template and the report
The VPAT® (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) is a blank template published by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI). A filled-in VPAT is an accessibility conformance report, or ACR. When someone asks for “your VPAT”, they almost always mean the completed report.
The current template, version 2.5, comes in four editions. The WCAG edition covers the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. The 508 edition adds the US Revised Section 508 Standards, which federal agencies use. The EU edition covers EN 301 549, the European standard. The INT edition covers all three, for a product sold in more than one market. Use the edition the request names. If it names none, the INT edition covers all three standards.
What a report contains
- The product’s name and version, the report’s date, and a contact.
- A description of what the report covers: which product, which parts, and on which platforms.
- Evaluation Methods Used: how the product was checked, such as automated tools, manual review, and which assistive technologies.
- A table for each standard, one row per criterion, each with a conformance level and a column of remarks and explanations.
The five conformance levels
| Level | What it means |
|---|---|
| Supports | The functionality meets the criterion without known defects, or meets it with an equivalent alternative. |
| Partially Supports | Some functionality doesn’t meet the criterion. |
| Does Not Support | Most functionality doesn’t meet the criterion. |
| Not Applicable | The criterion doesn’t apply to the product. |
| Not Evaluated | The product wasn’t checked against the criterion. The template allows this only for WCAG Level AAA. |
Reading one: six things to check
- The date and version. A report on a version that shipped two years ago describes a different product. Many procurement checklists ask for one updated within the last 12 months.
- What it covers. A report on the marketing site says nothing about the signed-in product you’ll use every day. Look for the screens and tasks your people will rely on.
- How it was checked. Automated tools find only some of the problems WCAG describes. Look for manual review and named assistive technologies, such as a screen reader and keyboard-only use.
- A wall of Supports. Most real products have some Partially Supports rows. A report with none, and no remarks, more likely skipped the hard criteria than met them.
- Remarks that say something. “Partially Supports: some images lack alt text” tells you little. A useful remark names the feature, the effect on people, any workaround, and a plan.
- Not Applicable with a reason. 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) is Not Applicable only if the product has no prerecorded video with sound, or the only such video is a labeled alternative to text already on the page. A tutorial video with narration can’t claim it.
Writing one: rows that hold up
Write each row so the person reading it could check it themselves. Compare these two remarks for 2.4.7 Focus Visible:
| Hopeful | Careful |
|---|---|
| Supports. The product is keyboard accessible. | Partially Supports. Focus is visible on all pages except the date picker in Scheduling, where the selected day shows no outline. Keyboard users can type the date in the text field instead. A fix is planned for version 4.3. |
- Mark Supports only where someone looked at the whole criterion. A clean automated scan shows only that the tool found no failure. It doesn’t show that the criterion is met.
- Give every Partially Supports and Does Not Support row a remark: where, what happens, who it affects, any workaround.
- Say which version and date the report describes, and update it when the product changes in a way that affects a row.
- Describe what you found. A report records the product’s state and makes no promise. Words like “fully accessible” invite the question of how you know.
Further reading
See it on a product
- Read an example review, one task from start to finish.
- Ask for a review of one task on your own product.