Our Section 508 Compliance Process

For 508, we use the latest version of the Trusted Tester Section 508 Conformance Test Process for Web to test according to all the guidelines provided. This allows our development team to implement and address any non-conformant items that could appear. Once we reach a major milestone, like Alpha/Beta/Gold, we have our dedicated 508 certified team do a full pass to ensure that, on delivery of these milestones, the product follows and passes the accessibility guidelines. We then provide a VPAT report for each project.

We use the following tools which are recommended from the DHS testing processes:

  • ANDI is a powerful tool to test all our web applications. ANDI is a testing tool that is used by our certified 508 testers to ensure full 508 accessibility that allows us to test for keyboard accessibility, screen reader outputs, and logic/hierarchy behind each page structure.
  • Color Contrast Analyzer is used during our design phase, we check our user interfaces against this tool to ensure that our UI has the correct acceptable conformance for contrast ratios. Color Contrast Analyzer is a testing tool to ensure 508 compliances for Level A, AA, or AAA requirements. We ensure that all interfaces and elements of any product meet the necessary contrast ratios relevant to 508 accessibilities.
  • Accessibility Insights for Windows is a combination of tools we use for accessibility testing. It works on web browsers or desktop apps. Accessibility Insight for Windows is used to check on contrast and to provide other information relevant to 508 testing. This allows us to test each product in multiple ways to ensure full 508 compliance.
  • Freedom Scientific – JAWS is used during our Quality Assurance process; we include screen reader testing to ensure that all programmatic outputs for each of our products are accurately registered and read properly to the user. JAWS is a screen reader software that is used by our team of trusted testers to ensure that screen readers detect the prompts that have been programmatically set and verified in ANDI.