University of Maine

 

The Business Problem

The University of Maine is the state’s Landgrant and Seagrant university. It is the flagship institution of the seven-campus University of Maine system.

The University of Maine is the principal research and graduate institution of the State of Maine. It offers a comprehensive program of undergraduate and graduate study. The University is one of seven institutions in the University of Maine system; each institution complements and collaborates with the others in the System to fulfill the needs of public higher education in the State of Maine. The University of Maine has statewide responsibility for those educational, research, and public service programs associated with its designation as Maine's land-grant university and sea-grant college.

The University System requires that each campus develop and implement an accessible web policy. The University of Maine responded by setting a deadline of April 2005 for all sites to be accessible, based on Section 508 guidelines. Details of the University’s policy and accessibility help site can be viewed at www.umaine.edu/insider/accessibility

The University of Maine Web Advisory Group (WAG) sponsors the Universal Design for the Web Subcommittee. The University’s webmaster and chair of the WAG, Howard Mosher, is a member of the Subcommittee. The Subcommittee is chaired by Alan Parks, Coordinator of dissemination and technology at the University’s Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies. Subcommittee members are representative of diverse units of the University, such as the Cooperative Extension Service, Library, Student Services, Office of Equal Opportunity, etc. The Subcommittee’s charge is to develop and implement the University’s web accessibility policy and to provide training and support to the University community.

The University of Maine has been undertaking a systems change effort to implement a fully accessible web policy. University websites, like the University administrative structure, are highly decentralized. While there is an Information Technology office that supports the networks, and a web manager who oversees access to the primary University web servers and manages the top-level pages, every department is capable of setting up web servers and developing its own web presence.

The University sought a global software solution to help implement accessibility in hundreds of websites, managed by hundreds of staff and faculty. They selected HiSoftware Solutions based on their cost and effectiveness.

The Solution

The University of Maine purchased a campus wide site license for AccVerify DS2 2005 and AccRepair DS2 2005 from HiSoftware along with AccMonitor Compliance Server 2005. AccVerify provides for the verification of accessibility policy and standards required for Web sites under the Rehabilitation Act Section 508 and W3C® Priority 1 guidelines. As information is added to a Web site, AccVerify reports on whether all elements are in compliance. AccRepair uses the reporting and verification components of AccVerify to launch a repair “wizard” interface, which prompts the user to correct accessibility errors. AccRepair also uses a library that “learns” as repairs are made. Corrections of the same error (for example, associating "alt-text" behind an image) need only be made once. The library then stores the corrected information and auto-corrects the images each time a page is encountered with that image.

AccMonitor is an automated accessibility testing solution for Web sites or for use in conjunction with Intranet Servers or File Servers. Using a crawler, AccMonitor tests sites for compliance with Section 508 and W3C accessibility standards. AccMonitor spiders, or crawls over, entire Web sites and reports on their accessibility status. AccMonitor particularly benefits organizations that need to monitor multiple servers that host information via the World Wide Web. AccMonitor is a server solution that is designed to run with no user interaction once configured. AccMonitor can be scheduled to crawl Web sites daily, weekly, or monthly. It also allows users to log-on for on demand reports on the accessibility status of their Web pages.

HiSoftware’s solutions provided the comprehensive testing and reporting features that the University required through a simple to use interface. Additionally, HiSoftware’s applications provided the greatest flexibility in user-driven and automated reporting, and also provided the flexibility for Enterprise Wide deployment and mass distribution.

The Bottom Line

The University did a careful and comprehensive analysis of the leading accessibility testing tools on the market, before choosing HiSoftware’s solutions. AccVerify and AccRepair will provide Web managers with consistent accessibility review and analysis, as well as a standard format for feedback on their Web sites. It will be used not only as a tool to educate Web managers in the creation of accessible sites, but also as a quality assurance mechanism for the maintenance of accessible Web site content. AccMonitor provides an easy to rollout tool that can perform a variety of quality checks. "Because HiSoftware’s software solutions have worked so well for us, we recommended HiSoftware to the State of Maine’s Web Accessibility Committee," said Alan Parks, Coordinator of Dissemination and Technology at the University’ of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies. "As a result, the State has purchased a similar package from HiSoftware."

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