1. 1 Accessibility: An Industry Case Study Jennifer Burrowes Kate Walser American Management Systems, Inc.

2. American Management Systems 2 AMS Corporate Overview ›International business and IT consulting firm ›2000 revenues of over $1.25 B ›Clients: Government (Federal, State, Local), Healthcare and Insurance, Telecommunications, Financial, and Utilities ›Center for Advanced Technologies, Best Practices

3. American Management Systems 3 Accessibility Efforts ›Started as research in the usability group ›Separate efforts emerged in response to client requests, RFPs ›Formed group with representatives from business units to create resources ›Participation in ITAA working group

4. American Management Systems 4 Challenges ›Different interpretations of guidelines, standards ›Rapid advancement of technologies ›Appealing vs. accessible debate ›Finding development tools ›Partner accessibility ›Knowing when you’ve achieved accessibility

5. American Management Systems 5 Project Strategies ›Educate developers, analysts about standards OBJECTIVES and guidelines ›Identify and address standards that will impact other design ›Spend more time on design Identify users, their needs Determine technologies to use and support ›Provide interpretations and examples for standards and guidelines ›Conduct iterative reviews

6. American Management Systems 6 Organizational Strategies ›Form corporate team with expertise, resources to advise project teams ›Educate executives, business developers ›Develop relationships with vendors ›Participate in industry groups working on accessibility Gain insight on challenges Create network of expertise

7. American Management Systems 7 Benefits ›Thinking differently to create new and better solutions Intellectual capital that can be reused Challenge promotes growth and skill development ›Increased usability ›Expanded market, workforce Opens up product to new customers, potential employees

8. American Management Systems 8 Medicare.gov ›Requirements Web site for unique audience with special needs Meet accessibility objectives ›Challenges Technology limited Meeting accessibility standards while complying with other agency regulations ›Strategies Alliance with client to incorporate standards Spent more time on design

9. American Management Systems 9 Medicare.gov ›Strategies (cont.) Feedback from National Federation of the Blind, Web user comment logs Checked with screen readers to identify problems Approached as iterative process with ongoing usability, accessibility checkpoints ›Results Innovative approach led to other benefits, including advice for other projects Resolution to technical issues resolved other usability issues Traffic to site doubled, won awards

10. American Management Systems 10 Momentum Financials ›Requirements Multi-platform financial application Develop accessible product in preparation for 508 ›Challenges Limited choice of tools that supported accessibility At time of design few guidelines for developing accessible products Use of new tool, assistive technologies

11. American Management Systems 11 Momentum Financials ›Strategies Worked with Sun’s accessibility team to advance Java accessibility Used Sun’s accessibility tools to identify areas to fix Approached as iterative process with development standards for continued accessibility support ›Results Accessible financial application that meets 508 standards Lessons learned, examples shared with other project teams

12. American Management Systems 12 Final Thoughts ›Education and planning will be critical ›Cooperation essential to achieving objectives ›Much to gain with efforts, much to lose with ignorance ›Accessibility efforts benefit everyone