What should the “Evaluation Methods Used” section of our ACR say?

What ITI asks for

“Evaluation Methods Used” is one of the Essential Requirements of the VPAT® template: a description of the methods used to complete the report. ITI’s best practices suggest some combination of:

• whether testing was performed by testers who know the product’s common uses and flows, not only accessibility;
• the testing done with assistive technologies, optionally naming them;
• the testing done with manual and automated tools, optionally listing them;
• the test method: name, publisher and link if published; for a vendor’s proprietary method, the vendor’s name and the non-proprietary details;
• for a product similar to one already evaluated, a link to that report’s description.

Why buyers read it

Arizona State University calls VPATs self-reported claims and tells its staff to verify them whenever practical, with keyboard-only checks, a browser accessibility checker and assistive technology such as a screen reader. A section that names the screen reader, browser and tools lets that reviewer repeat your tests; a vague one leaves every answer in the report open to doubt.

A published method helps: WCAG-EM 2.0, published by the W3C’s Accessibility Guidelines Working Group, is a method for evaluating conformance, from defining the scope to reporting the findings.