Overall Performance Category Findings and Recommendations: High Maturity Categories

High Maturity - Very Low Conformance

Highlighted Category Statistics

• All reporting entities in this category indicated they provide links to guides, templates and tools for most types of electronic content on intranet and internet, and they use employee feedback to regularly update and improve resources for Section 508 conformant content creation.

• All entities in this category reported that ICT Accessibility requirements are almost always included in solicitations according to procurement standards, and they perform regular audits and reviews to ensure solicitations include appropriate accessibility requirements .

• 2 of 4 reporting entities (50%) indicated they have no professionals trained in Section 508 web testing and the other half said they have only some training, which is ad hoc.

• All reporting entities in this category test internet pages, but all reported very low conformance rates (22% or less).

• All 4 reporting entities responded that they lacked the resources to test the digital content requested by the Assessment (Q78-81) (See FY23 Data Dictionary (XLSX)).

Overall Recommendations

All reporting entities in the High-Very Low category performed better than expected in Communications, Content Creation, and IT Accessibility Program activities. Reporting entities in this category should focus on developer capabilities and allocating proper resources for Section 508 testing . Reporting entities should also make incremental improvements across all dimensions with particular focus on Testing and Technology Lifecycle Activities.

High Maturity - Low Conformance

Highlighted Category Statistics

• 4 of 5 of the reporting entities in this category (80%) indicated that their web content testers almost always adhere to the required Section 508 conformance validation test process and have adequate training and tools to reliably produce consistent test results .

• All reporting entities in this category frequently or almost always include Section 508 requirements in solicitations .

• All reporting entities in this category include IT Accessibility in at least some of their relevant policies .

• 4 out of 5 reporting entities (80%) said they do not have the resources to test web pages, electronic documents, and videos .

Overall Recommendations

All reporting entities in the High-Low category performed as expected in all dimensions on trend except Technology Lifecycle Activities where they slightly overperformed. Incremental improvement particularly in Training and Human Capital, Culture, and Leadership activities should be considered to improve report entity maturity . Additionally, reporting entities should allocate adequate resources to properly test .

High Maturity - Moderate Conformance

Highlighted Category Statistics

• 2 of 8 of reporting entities in this category (25%) frequently distribute formal communications from leadership regarding ICT accessibility; all others either only sometimes or do not distribute communications regarding ICT accessibility or Section 508 requirements.

• All reporting entities in this category sometimes, always, or almost always test electronic documents prior to posting or do not have any online documents at all .

• 7 of 8 reporting entities in this category (88%) provide a link to guides, templates and tools for many types of electronic content on their intranet and internet. The other reporting entity provides a few guides, templates, and tools by request only.

• All reporting entities indicated they test internet pages, with 6 of 8 respondents reporting conformance of at least 75% of the internet pages tested.

Overall Recommendations

Overall, reporting entities in the High-Moderate category reported relatively close to expected on trend . Reporting entities should consider making incremental improvements across all dimensions, but particularly in Content Creation and Training. Given relatively higher conformance reporting in most areas, we recommend a focus on accessibility maturity.

High Maturity - High Conformance

Highlighted Category Statistics

• All reporting entities in this category frequently or almost always conduct comprehensive manual tests on web content for Section 508 conformance before deployment, with 3 of 5 of respondents (60%) employing comprehensive manual Section 508 validation testing for web content before it is integrated into development and deployment.

• All reporting entities in this category had the highest rating regarding accessibility requirements in solicitations. This indicates that Section 508 requirements are almost always included in solicitations according to respondent’s procurement standards . Additionally, the reporting entities perform regular audits and reviews to ensure solicitations include appropriate accessibility requirements, or they do not issue solicitations .

• All reporting entities in this category either include accessibility metrics for some ICT leadership and management positions or do not at all .

• All reporting entities reported that they test their internet pages and 4 of 5 (80%) reported conformance of 70% or above.

• Two reporting entities reported no resources to test intranet web pages and one reporting entity reported no resources to test internet web pages for the requested for the Assessment.

• Conformance of the top 10 intranet pages tested by the three reporting entities was very low, however full conformance was reported for the top 10 internet pages, for those submitting results.

Overall Recommendations

Reporting entities in the High-High category should focus on improving Content Creation, Human Capital, Culture, and Leadership activities, with particular consideration given to increasing the tracking of accessibility-related metrics for ICT leadership and management personnel. High maturity led to relatively good conformance results. However, since the results were mixed (some tests resulted in low conformance, some resulted in full conformance), we recommend focusing on improving testing and remediation to improve ICT conformance.

High Maturity - Very High Conformance

Highlighted Category Statistics

• All reporting entities in this category indicated ICT Accessibility requirements are regularly, frequently, or almost always included in solicitations according to procurement standards, with approximately 6 of 9 reporting entities (67%) indicating they almost always include these requirements.

• All reporting entities in this category indicated electronic documents are regularly, frequently or almost always tested for Section 508 conformance before posting, with approximately 6 of 9 reporting entities (67%) indicating that they almost always test documents prior to posting.

• 7 of 9 reporting entities in this bracket (78%) only offer optional Section 508 awareness training that employees sometimes take, but generally on an ad hoc basis, or do not offer Section 508 awareness training at all.

• All reporting entities reported testing for internet pages, with all reporting entities reporting 80% or above conformance; 6 of 9 (67%) reported over 90% conformance.

• 8 of 9 reporting entities (89%) reported that their most viewed or taken training course was 100% conformant.

Overall Recommendations

On average, the reporting entities in the High-Very High category performed below trend in Training, Testing, Human Capital, Culture, and Leadership activities dimensions. Reporting entities in this category should consider investment in these areas to improve overall reporting entity maturity, especially Section 508 awareness training offerings that could be improved for almost all reporting entities in this category . Though testing maturity was below trend on average and could be improved, conformance was relatively high.

Reviewed/Updated: December 2023