Not sure if a product is accessible? Digital accessibility reviews are expert evaluations of applications, websites, mobile apps, and more. Reviews can be used for products already built, in development, or under consideration for purchase.
When to Use Accessibility Reviews
Expert accessibility evaluations are best for products with a high impact on the University of Michigan community. If your product has a high risk level, request an accessibility review.
In other cases, use our how-to resources, test for accessibility, or work with your unit’s digital accessibility liaison.
How to Use Accessibility Reviews
Read and follow our simple instructions before you submit a request.
Request an Accessibility Review
Describe the Product
You know the product, and we need to know it to do our review. Provide detailed information including:
- User workflows - how people use the product, in detail
- Include expected actions and outcomes for different user types. Provide detail for us to recreate and test each workflow and role
- See for example some typical user workflows
- See a video on how to create a test plan for a simple web page
- See a video on how to create a test plan for a complex application
Provide Access
To review a product, we have to use it. Make sure we can access the product by providing:
- Credentials or access - give us a way to access the product
- Provide access for all uniqnames in the MCommunity group accessibility-reviews
- If the product provides different experiences depending on role (e.g., student or faculty), provide login credentials or a test environment for each role
- If sequences in the product involve multiple roles, describe these sequences in detailed user workflows (for example, “User A Employee submits a timesheet, User B Supervisor denies it, User A Employee edits and resubmits, User B Supervisor approves it.”)
- Configuration and sandbox - set up the product for our review
- Configure and prepare the test environment to provide an experience matching that of actual users.
- Provide a sandbox so we can take actions without changing actual data and reset and repeat workflows during review
Commit to Action
We do the review, you lead the change and improvements. Your role is to:
- Plan for follow-up with the vendor, developers, or other stakeholders
- Use our review to improve accessibility, comply with regulations, and ensure equitable access for everyone at U-M
- Request a review early in your timeline to inform decision making and action before a release, launch, update, or purchase
- Ask for guidance if needed
Stay in Touch
During or after a review, we might have questions. We will ask you to:
- Include a contact person to answer product questions (you or someone you designate)
- Include a stakeholder who can make decisions or changes related to the product in our debrief meeting
- Coordinate an iterative approach if the product is in active development, beginning as early as possible
- Contact us to review product changes or new releases before launch
- Manage vendor relationships, advise on vendor responsiveness, and include us in vendor debriefs as needed