PLAN Frameworks and planning tools to help achieve accessibility across the press. Our Planning Tool - 10 SOAPT The 10 Step Open Accessibility Planning Tool Our custom planning tool has been developed by Open Book Futures to help small presses achieve accessibility across their organisation. It consists of 10 steps organised into 4 sections A-D. For each step, we have developed guidance that is hosted here on our Copim Compass area that will help you understand it fully. Our guidance is organised into 5 areas: Plan, Check, Learn, Communicate and Evidence, and we link to the exact areas of each of those that are relevant to each of the 10 steps below. Each of the 10 steps are given a list of tasks, with each task given a label of mandatory and optional. For this reason, the model is presented twice below - once in chronological order, and then again split by mandatory or optional tasks. You can use the model as a self assessment tool, by giving each of the tasks a grading as below: 0 - Unaware     1 - Aware but not actioned     2 - Trying to action but some barriers     3 - Starting to action     4 - In the middle of actioning     5 - Actioned and achieved And you can return to this self assessment at multiple points in your journey. We suggested assessing your Current Level, Desired Level and Achieved Level (after some improvements are made). You can also access 10 SOAPT formatted as a spreadsheet:  10 SOAPT [Google Sheets] View this information as a video. 10 SOAPT Section A Preparation  Step 1 Accountability Appoint a person to co-ordinate accessibility, who could be a dedicated accessibility professional or someone who has a wider portfolio of work that includes accessibility too. However, it's also important to remember that some accessibility work will be completed by almost everyone at an organisation. Task A. Appoint a person to co-ordinate accessibility (recommended) Task B. Ensure the whole press is aware they need to engage with accessibility tasks (recommended) Task C. Consider external certification services (optional) Step 2 Training Plan technical digital accessibility training and support the identified staff to develop skills. See our Courses and Training Materials and Guidance pages. You can also look up a summary of your country's legislation and learn more about available standards in our section Learn. Task A. Identify sources of suitable accessibility training (recommended) Task B. Consider custom paid for accessibility training (optional) Task C. Support the identified accessibility co-ordinator to develop skills (recommended) Step 3 Identify Objectives Once relevant staff have been identified and trained, some organisational accessibility objectives can be devised through requirements gathering exercises. Any organisation should aim to meet legal minimum requirements , but it's possible to be exempt from that (this requires work to evidence), and you may decide to go beyond in some areas if it fits with your organisational values. Also, your readership might already have made accessibility requests you haven't been able to meet yet, or you could survey your end users to capture this 'reader voice' in terms of accessibility requirements. Finally, it's possible there are some community or discipline specific considerations to include as well. Task A. Consider applicability of legislation and whether the press is exempt (if so, plan to evidence this) (recommended) Task B. Complete requirements gathering from readership (optional) Task C. Capture community / discipline specific considerations (optional) Task D. Consider where you might decide to go beyond legal minimum (parts of WCAG AAA or other accessibility features requested by readership or research discipline) (optional) Section B Analysis and Auditing  Step 4 Baseline Auditing  Audit the current accessibility of all aspects of the organisation, including the frontlist and backlist book files, the website functionality and the backend submission platform. You could complete this yourself using self auditing, or employ an external auditor. You could also look at assessing current organisational knowledge, attitudes towards and motivations for engaging with accessibility work. You can find our overall guidance on auditing, including our custom Checklist OARC here: Check . Task A. Consider capturing current organisational knowledge, attitudes towards and motivations for engaging with accessibility work (optional) Task B. Complete Automated Testing (recommended) Task C. Complete Manual Testing (recommended) Task D. Complete Assistive Technology Tests (optional) Task E. Complete End User Testing from Print Disabled People (optional) Task F. Consider external auditing services (optional) Step 5 Available and Required Capacity and Budget  Improving accessibility requires dedicated time and money, and a full consideration of where this can be diverted to accessibility goals will help with planning. It is likely that you will have some idea of how long book production tasks take, and how much extra work accessibility improvements will add to that, but it could be that you will need to understand more about the relative simplicity or complexity of individual accessibility requirements (like ALT text, or checking colour contrast). You can see our estimation of this within our custom Checklist tool OARC here: The Open Accessibility Review Checker (OARC) . Task A. Frontlist: Use checklist with complexity and current knowledge of workflows to estimate time required to complete accessibility tasks (recommended) Task B. Backlist: Use checklist with complexity and current knowledge of workflows to estimate time required to complete accessibility tasks (recommended) Task C. Plan and assign budget (recommended) Section C Implementation  Step 6 Documentation  Capturing the results of identifying objectives, auditing, and analysing resources might happen across a range of documentation that could include: an accessibility policy, roadmaps, strategic plans, updated author guidelines, or other documentation. We offer guidance on producing documentation in our sections on Author Guidelines  and Accessibility Policy . Task A. Plan documentation that could include: an accessibility policy, roadmaps, strategic plans, updated author guidelines, or other documentation (recommended) Task B. Create an Accessibility Policy (optional) Task C. Update Author Guidelines to include accessibility tasks (mandatory) Step 7 Plan Work  We recommend that frontlist and backlist/remediation are considered separately, and separate plans are made for the website including the backend submission process. Task A. Front list / Born Accessible - Create accessible book files (recommended) Task B. Back list / Remediation - Upgrade the accessibility of existing book files (recommended) Task C. The Website functionality - Improve accessibility of HTML books and whole website (recommended) Step 8 Statements  Publish accessibility statements and roadmaps on the organisation's website, and include VPATs  and public policies if that is decided on. Our guidance on each is available at the links.  Task A. Create an Accessibility Statement on a public web page (recommended) Task B. Update your initial VPAT (optional) Task C. Consider sharing the Accessibility Policy openly, if decided on (optional) Section D Improvements and Benchmarking  Step 9 Improvements Incorporate planned accessibility improvements into workflows and complete the plan. Task A. Complete the plan  (recommended) Step 10 Benchmark Auditing Audit the accessibility and organisational knowledge at regular intervals within the plan to showcase improvements. Task A. Audit again at regular intervals (recommended) SOAPT by recommended/optional tasks Recommended Task 1A. Appoint a person to co-ordinate accessibility Task 1B. Ensure the whole press is aware they need to engage with accessibility tasks Task 2A. Identify sources of suitable accessibility training Task 2C. Support the identified accessibility co-ordinator to develop skills  Task 3A. Consider applicability of legislation and whether the press is exempt (if so, plan to evidence this) Task 4B. Complete Automated Testing Task 4C. Complete Manual Testing Task 5A. Frontlist: Use checklist with complexity and current knowledge of workflows to estimate time required to complete accessibility tasks Task 5B. Backlist: Use checklist with complexity and current knowledge of workflows to estimate time required to complete accessibility tasks Task 5C. Plan and assign budget  Task 6A. Plan documentation that could include: an accessibility policy, roadmaps, strategic plans, updated author guidelines, or other documentation Task 6C. Update Author Guidelines to include accessibility tasks  Task 7A. Front list / Born Accessible - Create accessible book files Task 7B.  Back list / Remediation - Upgrade the accessibility of existing book files Task 7C. The Website functionality - Improve accessibility of HTML books and whole website  Task 8A. Create an Accessibility Statement on a public web page   Task 9A. Complete the plan  Task 10A. Audit again at regular intervals  Optional Task 1C. Consider external certification services Task 2B. Consider custom paid for accessibility training  Task 3B. Complete requirements gathering from readership Task 3C. Capture community / discipline specific considerations Task 3D. Consider where you might decide to go beyond legal minimum (parts of WCAG AAA or other accessibility features requested by readership or research discipline)  Task 4A. Consider capturing current organisational knowledge, attitudes towards and motivations for engaging with accessibility work  Task 4D. Complete Assistive Technology Tests Task 4E. Complete End User Testing from Print Disabled People Task 4F. Consider external auditing services Task 6B. Create an Accessibility Policy  Task 8B. Update your initial VPAT Task 8C. Consider sharing the Accessibility Policy openly, if decided on Other Frameworks, Models and Charters The following are a curated list of available planning models or frameworks for achieving accessibility at an organisation through self assessment - there are currently 3 of these, with a short description of their structure. There is also a charter which we have included at the end. AbilityNet  Digital Accessibility Maturity Model  (DAMM) This functions as a 7 step management tool to help leverage all capacity at an organisation to map existing accessibility, devise roadmaps and check in on progress. This model has 5 “dimensions” that are seen as parts of an overall strategy: vision, leadership, processes, capability and procurement, and 5 levels of achievement in each. The free downloadable version of the model includes a list of suggested questions to ask when consulting with stakeholders.  AbilityNet  HE and FE Accessibility Maturity Model The HE and FE maturity model enables you to judge the maturity of your whole organisation's digital accessibility. This again has 7 sections with sets of questions with levels of 'agreement' as a response, which are then automatically scored to give you an overall rating of Bronze Silver or Gold. This interactive resource helps you: Determine where you are in the Accessibility Maturity Spectrum Understand risks; build on benefits Identify support needs W3C  Accessibility Maturity Model  (draft) This describes 7 “dimensions” where accessibility applies, including communications, ICT development lifecycles and the organisational culture, along with suggestions in each dimension of points (or organisational functions) where accessibility can be evidenced, as well as varying levels of achievement in each point. This practical and customisable guidance, with a structure for co-ordinating evidence, is the most helpful method of presenting information to busy, praxis based professionals. Accessible Books Consortium  Charter for Accessible Publishing Our objective is to make our e-books accessible to all. With this objective in mind, we, the signatories to this Charter, hereby commit to: Stating our accessibility policy on our web-site, including adherence to this Charter; Nominating a senior manager who will be responsible for accessibility; Raising awareness among, and provide technical training for, relevant staff; Designating and publicising a point of contact in our organization to assist persons with print disabilities to access our publications; Testing our digital publications for accessibility, incorporating appropriate feature descriptions and metadata; Monitoring our progress in this area; Promoting the adoption of accessibility standards throughout the supply chain; and Supporting national and international collaboration with organisations representing persons with print disabilities so as to increase the availability of publications in accessible formats. Contact us if you wish to become a signatory to the Charter for Accessible Publishing. Certification The following are a short list of service providers, who will certify ebook files as meeting accessibility standards. Benetech’s Global Certificated Accessible (GCA) certification suite of services will evaluate the accessibility of EPUBs against WCAG and the accessible EPUB standard. GCA certification is achieved when three EPUBs from the same workflow receive a qualifying score, and the certification must be renewed annually. Fondazione LIA's Ebook quality assurance  will test both EPUBs and PDFs against a range of relevant international standards, using a team that includes print disabled users, and if compliant will allow an 'LIA label' to be displayed on the book's web page.