The US Department of Justice (DOJ) added digital accessibility requirements to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for Minnesota’s state and local government entities. This new rule puts into writing practices that the DOJ has followed for decades. Our Update to ADA’s Title II series digs deeper into preparation and implementation resources for state and local governments as they work toward compliance.

In the article "Update to ADA’s Title II," we outlined what the new rule means for government staff and how to begin the accessibility journey. We are following that with a series of articles on preparing for the new rule.

In this “Preparation for Update to ADA’s Title II Series,” we have covered:

• Scope: A high-level understanding of your agency’s current support for accessibility.
• Planning and priorities: obtaining executive support, convening a team, and setting priorities to address accessibility issues.

This article, the third in the series, explains how to develop an implementation plan by addressing high-priority issues, assigning roles and responsibilities, setting timelines, and incorporating retesting to confirm that the fixes work.

Accessibility as a program

The first step to implementation is for your organization to recognize that digital accessibility must be a program – not a project or task. It must have funding and structure that ensures long-term, ongoing success. The return on this investment will include:

• Better, more cost-effective technology.
• Reduced rework, with development focus on new features rather than backlog remediation.
• Ensuring every valid user is able to access and use your services.
• Reduced risk profile.

Every organization is different, so a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work. Viewing implementation as an ongoing program helps ensure your plan is tailored, adaptable, and effective.  This article shares examples from Minnesota’s program—launched in 2010 and developed over many years—along with other general observations.

Getting started

Your implementation plan combines the initial scoping and planning activities (mentioned in the introduction) with a strategic process to:

• Set a vision and high-level strategic goals.
• Codify why you’re doing this in a purpose statement.
• Start  a Gap Analysis (this can be ongoing as you learn more). 
• Create an action plan.

Here’s the State of Minnesota’s implantation plan template (Word) | (PDF) we used in 2010.

Making it happen

Any plan you develop will require time, funding, and executive support. An experienced project manager or product manager can help you define the details of the implementation plan. For example, the sample template above breaks down action plans into objectives, then each objective into the following components:

• Success criteria
• Assumptions
• Dependencies
• Constraints
• Policies and procedures
• Training strategy 
• Communications strategy

Having a project or program manager on your team can help determine the level of detail needed for each step and decide which actions to start now and which can be scheduled for later.

Next steps

You can design an implementation plan in the way that works best for your organization. Keys to success include:

• Designating a Chief Accessibility Officer. Grassroots efforts will only take you so far.
  • Get funding to go with the title and responsibility.
• Convening a team. This gives the plan credibility and sustainability.
• Define a shared vision for accessibility.
• Draft a plan.
  • Include both short-term achievable goals and longer-term strategic goals.
• Measure progress toward the goals.

Defining accessibility as a program, then crafting a plan with measurable steps, will greatly increase your chances of making it a reality.

Future articles in this series

• Make it ongoing: Build accessibility into your agency’s workflow from the beginning
• Recap & final resource guide: Gather all resources into one place, including links to each article in the series.

Resources

A list of resources related to this second part.

• Conduct a self-audit (first part of this series)
• Strategic planning and prioritization (second part of this series)
• Minnesota’s 2010-2012 implementation toolkit
• Title II Rule Fact Sheet