A VPAT, or Voluntary Product Accessibility Template, is a document that assists a business or organization through a comprehensive analysis of their products’ or services’ conformance to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act accessibility standards.
A VPAT describes the key accessibility requirements and provides a structure for the vendor to describe the level of compliance for their products or services, as well as provide explanatory remarks.
The VPAT has been revised several times to reflect changes in standards; including corrections to the US Revised Section 508 final rule, the WCAG 2.1, and the EN 301 549 V2. The most recent version of VPAT, VPAT 2.4 template, was released in February 2020. The provisions of EN 301 549 V3 were incorporated into this version.
Why a VPAT?
Before purchasing an information and communication technology (ICT) product or service, a VPAT assists buyers to make informed decisions. It specifically assists them in:
- Understanding the product’s or service’s level of accessibility compliance.
- Comparing the levels of compliance of similar products or services.
- Choosing the product or service that best meets the accessibility standards established by the organization purchasing the product or service, as well as the applicable legal requirements.
- Planning for equally effective accessible products or services when a desired accessible product is not available.
How to go about creating a VPAT?
You can create a VPAT for your product or service on your own because there is no requirement that you hire an unbiased third party to conduct a VPAT audit of your website to assist you in creating your VPAT.
However, unless you or your product development team includes a dedicated accessibility specialist, you are unlikely to have enough in-house accessibility domain knowledge or WCAG/Section 508 testing capacity to do the best job possible.
Here are the steps you take to create your VPAT:
- Navigate to the project dashboard containing the report or reports you want to include in your VPAT certification.
- Check the box next to the report or reports you want to include in your VPAT. Now, click the “Create VPAT” bulk action button.
- In the resulting dialog box, enter your VPAT name and click the “Make it Happen” button. Please keep in mind that you can’t publish your VPAT until you publish the reports within the template.
- You will see a dialog box with instructions on how to edit the VPAT you created to include the support level supported, remarks, and explanations of the standards and laws included in the VPAT.
- Make sure you finish the VPAT because an incomplete VPAT can create liabilities, and cause you to lose business opportunities. However, it does not accurately reflect how accessible your digital property is.
Once you’ve finished creating your VPAT, you can publish it by following the steps below:
- Navigate to the project dashboard, which includes the VPAT.
- Navigate to the “VPATs” navigation tab.
- Choose the VPAT you want to publish.
- Choose the ‘Permissions’ action icon, which looks like a padlock. The icon usually appears in the upper-right corner of the VPAT.
- Check the ‘Publish this Report’ checkbox after selecting ‘Show Advanced.’
- Choose ‘Submit.’
The preceding steps will result in the publication of your VPAT. A VPAT that has been published will have the word “Published” below the “VPAT Details” box. Even after you’ve published the VPAT, you can change your mind.
Need more information or help creating your VPAT?
Connect with us today to learn more about, or get help with, creating your VPAT, VPAT certification, and VPAT audit, among others. You could also contact us by calling (626) 486-2201.