What it is
An Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) documents how a website or product meets an accessibility standard, criterion by criterion. The usual format is the VPAT® (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template), published by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI). VPAT is a registered trademark of ITI.
Government agencies, universities and larger companies often ask vendors for one during procurement.
Editions
Audsey produces the VPAT 2.5 format in two editions:
- WCAG edition: WCAG 2.2 Level A and AA (or 2.1 or 2.0, if your standard is set to one of those).
- Section 508 edition: for US federal procurement. Section 508 incorporates WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA for web content.
What’s in it
For each success criterion, a conformance level, as the VPAT format defines them:
- Supports: met, with no known defects
- Partially supports: some functionality doesn’t meet the criterion
- Does not support: most functionality doesn’t meet it
- Not applicable: the criterion doesn’t apply
…plus remarks explaining each one in plain language, based on the same audit as your report.
Drafts
While any Level A or AA criterion is still waiting on a person’s review, the ACR is marked draft. Don’t send a draft to a buyer; ask us to finish the review first.
Using it
An ACR describes your site on a date. It’s evidence, not a certificate. If a buyer asks for a newer one, a monitoring scan plus review gives you a current ACR.