Homeland Security October 20, 2015 2015 Interagency Accessibility Forum: SHARING ACCESSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR EVERYONE Panel: The Trusted Tester: Implementation in agencies beyond DHS October 20, 2015 Office of Accessible Systems & Technology
Panelists Cheryle Greenaugh, Department of Labor Director, IT Policies and Procedures Division, Acting Director, IT Administration Christopher Ashe, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Section Chief, Division of Information Technology (DIT) Holly Anderson, Department of Education Policy Liaison for Individuals with Disabilities, OPE Rodney Dunwoody, US Mint (Treasury) QA IT Specialist, Quality Management Branch in the Customer Support & Quality Division
Facilitator & Moderator Cynthia Clinton-Brown, Interagency Trusted Tester Program (ITTP) Manager DHS Office of Accessible Systems & Technologies (OAST) Chris M Law, PhD, Senior Accessibility Analyst New Editions Consulting, Inc., & OAST
Format Introduction to Trusted Tester Introduction to the process for implementing Trusted Tester beyond DHS UTAP: The Unified Testing for Accessibility Project Panelists presentations & audience questions US Mint Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Department of Education Department of Labor Other questions and discussion
1. Trusted Tester
Inconsistent Approaches to 508 Testing No two agencies implement Section testing 508 the same way: Some rely solely on VPATs Some use only Assistive Technology (AT) Some rely solely on automated testing tools Some use code inspection-based testing A few mix it up (do a little of everything above) Some do no testing at all This leads to inconsistent results and vendor frustration
DHS's response: The Trusted Tester Approach 508 code-inspection-based testing Creates reliable and repeatable test results Documented procedures Easy to learn and easy to use testing tools Minimizes subjectivity Document and share test failures Utilize agency-wider repository to store and share test results
Clear conditions for marking results: What you're testing Clear conditions for marking results: Does Not Apply; Not Compliant; or Compliant Why you're testing it Specific step-by-step test instructions Failure conditions, along with the standard(s) that fail
Trusted Tester Courses Online courses to achieve "Certified Trusted Tester" status Hundreds of people have become certified TTs by going through the DHS-OAST courses Other agencies were reaching out to OAST wanting to send their staff to TT training...
2. The Unified Testing for Accessibility Project (UTAP) Pilot
UTAP 508 Program Maturity Areas Policy Staffing Acquisition IT Development Lifecycles IT Testing Training Outreach Technical Assistance Complaints Process "Trusted Tester" training and certification is only about the test process The test process is impacted by, and impacts, all the other program areas Implementation of TT requires methodically addressing these areas
UTAP Overview: Stages UTAP Pilot: 4 agencies, 1.5 years OAST Team: 1.Goals & Executive support 2. DHS familiarization with agency 3. Agency familiarization with options 4. Organizational design 5. Implementation Plan UTAP Pilot: 4 agencies, 1.5 years OAST Team: Norman Robinson & Chris Law
3. UTAP participant panelists
4. Questions and discussion
Additional Resources Resource Location DHS Accessibility Help Desk Email accessibility@hq.dhs.gov DHS Accessibility Trusted Tester Conformance Test Processes The Unified Testing for Accessibility Project (UTAP) Pilot: Report, Case Studies & Guide Interagency Trusted Tester Program information & resources dhs.gov/accessibility #2 and #3 are coming soon - sign up sheet for notification when available