Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR)

Creating a New Accessibility Conformance Report

ACRs should only be completed after products have been evaluated for conformance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Accessibility Evaluations can be completed by third party vendors, product development, Quality Assurance staff, or the Pearson Accessibility Quality Assurance Team.

For assistance completing an Accessibility Evaluation submit an Accessibility Evaluation Request. For help producing an ACR, submit an Accessibility Conformance Report Request .

Use the Correct Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)

The Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) should be based on the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) VPAT® templates .

ITI VPAT templates are provided to align to the following standards:

  • VPAT WCAG: WCAG 2.1 or ISO/IEC 40500 (W3C/WAI’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)
    • We recommend that ACR documentation for products in the US are evaluated against WCAG 2.1 success criteria even though US legal and regulatory requirements align to WCAG 2.0. This is because some requests for proposals will request information about compliance to WCAG 2.1.
  • VPAT 508: Revised Section 508 standards (U.S. Federal accessibility standard)
  • VPAT EU: EN 301 549 (European Union’s “Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe”)
  • VPAT INT: Incorporates all three of the above standards
The current VPAT® version templates should be used when creating or updating ACRs.

Define the Testing Methodology

VPATs require the author to outline the specific testing methodology (evaluation methods) used to determine the accessibility conformance of the technology.

This section of the template should include information on:

  • Whether the evaluation was conducted internally or by a third-party accessibility vendor. If the evaluation was completed by a third-party vendor, obtain the testing methodology from the vendor.
  • Automated testing tools used (if applicable)
  • Assistive technology used to verify the conformance to guidelines that relate to the use of assistive technology
  • The job role of the person(s) conducting the evaluation if internal (QA Engineer, Product Owner)
  • It is helpful for those Pearson teams reviewing a completed ACR to understand the level of accessibility knowledge and experience with ACR documentation the evaluator has. When submitting your ACRs for review, please include information about your experience with this process.
    • Are you a current Accessibility Champion partner who has received training by the Accessibility Team for Assessments?
    • Have you previously completed an ACR for another product in partnership with the Accessibility Team for Assessments?

ACRs must be completed based on the findings from an Accessibility Evaluation. ACRs should not be created based on product knowledge alone.

An Accessibility Conformance Report can be created by third-party vendors, product development, Quality Assurance staff, or the Pearson Accessibility Quality Assurance Team.

For assistance completing an Accessibility Conformance Report and VPAT submit an Accessibility Conformance Report (VPAT) Request .

Complete the VPAT to Create the ACR

When completing the ITI VPAT® , each applicable Success Criteria will be assigned a conformance level.

Conformance Levels are defined as:

  • Supports:The functionality of the product has at least one method that meets the Criterion without known defects or meets with equivalent facilitation.
  • Partially Supports: Some functionality of the product does not meet the Criterion.
  • Does Not Support: The majority of product functionality does not meet the Criterion.
  • Not Applicable: The Criterion is not relevant to the product.
  • Not Evaluated: The product has not been evaluated against the Criterion. This can be used only in WCAG 2.0 or WCAG 2.1 Level AAA..

When creating an ACR from a VPAT, it is critical that the capabilities of the product or technology are documented to accurately reflect the current capabilities within the release that was evaluated. Future functionality that is planned cannot be documented on the ACR.

As you complete an ACR, keep in mind that the purpose of the ACR is to document the conformance to accessibility guidelines when content is encoded to support the capabilities of the system.

The completed ACR should be reviewed by at least one person who was not the primary author of the document. This review should be focused on confirming the accuracy of the claims, the clarity of the language, and the consistency of the information conveyed in the ACR.

When ACRs are ready to be posted for use by clients, sales teams, or published to any web space, the completed ACR should be tagged for compliance to Section 508 and checked for compliance to web accessibility guidelines. The Pearson Accessibility Team for Assessments has resources to help create accessible documents.

Updating an Existing ACR

ACR documentation should be updated with every major product release. This should include documenting the accessibility conformance level of new features and reviewing the conformance level of existing features.

When updating ACRs, confirm you have the correct ITI VPAT® . Updates made to ACRs should be reviewed by at least one person who was not the primary author of the updates.

When updated ACRs are ready to be posted for use by clients, sales teams, or published to any web space, the completed ACR should be tagged for compliance to Section 508 and checked for compliance to web accessibility guidelines. The Pearson Accessibility Team for Assessments has resources to help create accessible documents.

It is recommended that the author of the ACR maintain a change history log that records the differences between the ACRs for each product release version.