What is a VPAT? Why Are You Being Asked for an ACR?
A Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) is a standardized template that enables product or service owner/operators to document the accessibility of a product or service against technical accessibility standards.
VPAT stands for Voluntary Product Accessibility Template. Once you fill in and complete a VPAT, it becomes an ACR, which stands for Accessibility Conformance Report.
What is the purpose of a VPAT?
To provide a standardized way of reporting the accessibility of products and services.
Because everyone uses the same format, buyers can easily compare accessibility across different products and services. This makes procurement decisions faster and more consistent.
Why am I being asked for a VPAT/ACR?
Government agencies, educational institutions, healthcare organizations, and large enterprises have increasingly adopted accessibility documentation requirements. Many will not consider a product for purchase without an ACR regardless of its actual accessibility status.
This trend has accelerated in both public and private sectors. Organizations face digital accessibility requirements under laws like Section 508, the ADA, and the European Accessibility Act (EAA) so they seek out documentation of any products or services they purchase. Moreover, procurement teams recognize that accessible products and services are highly desirable and reduce legal risk.
What are the different VPAT editions?
There are four editions of the VPAT, each aligned with different technical standards.
The WCAG edition covers Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and works for most products and services. Accessible.org clients usually select WCAG 2.1 AA as their technical standard when using this edition.
The Section 508 edition is required when selling to U.S. federal agencies. It includes WCAG 2.0 AA criteria plus additional federal requirements.
The EN 301 549 edition aligns with European accessibility requirements, particularly relevant for organizations subject to the European Accessibility Act (EAA).
The INT edition combines all three standards into one comprehensive document for products marketed globally.
How does a VPAT work?
The VPAT has two main sections that must be completed.
Get Kris Rivenburgh, Founder Accessible.org’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
The details section captures information about your product or service, including the product name, version, description, contact information, report date, and evaluation methods used during testing.
The accessibility table is where the actual accounting happens. Each row represents a specific criterion from the technical standard. For every criterion, you indicate a conformance level and provide remarks and explanations.
Conformance levels include:
- Supports: The product meets the criterion without known issues
- Partially Supports: Some functionality does not meet the criterion
- Does Not Support: Most functionality does not meet the criterion
- Not Applicable: The criterion does not apply to the product
The remarks and explanations column is required whenever your product partially supports or does not support a criterion. This column explains what specific issues exist and how they affect users.
Who fills in a VPAT?
Anyone can technically fill in a VPAT, but it’s important that a technical accessibility expert is involved in the process of auditing and filling in the VPAT — accuracy and completeness are paramount.
Accurate completion requires a thorough accessibility audit using multiple evaluation methods: screen reader testing, keyboard navigation testing, visual inspection, code inspection, browser zoom testing, and color contrast analysis. Most organizations lack the internal expertise to conduct this evaluation properly so they source work out to an accessibility company.
Buyers and procurement agents also view self-issued ACRs with skepticism. There is inherent bias when a product team evaluates its own work and a tendency to overstate accessibility. Independent third-party ACRs from reputable accessibility companies carry significantly more weight in procurement decisions.
Final Thoughts
The terms VPAT and ACR are used interchangeably in the marketplace, but just know that we fill in the VPAT to create an ACR.
Although some of the details and rules for filling in a VPAT can seem confusing, the concepts involves are very simple and straightforward.
An ACR is just a report that buyers can use to assess the accessibility of our product or service and it’s important that that report be accurate and complete.
If you have any questions about VPAT services, I’m happy to help. Just send me a message at Accessible.org and we’ll be right with you.
