Standards Compliance

Professional Services

Document Security

PDF Section 508 Managed Services

The managed services provide organizations with a lower total cost of ownership option to achieve Section 508 compliance for their PDF holdings. The service can involve any desired combination of verification and remediation.

Benefits

• Best-of-breed service performed by expert resources using the industry-leading CommonLook tool.
• Accurate budgeting for Section 508 compliance. No hidden or overhead costs.
• Online management reports make it possible to view the state of S508 compliance at a glance
• Accurate results that rely on a thorough analysis of the PDF structure- as opposed to relying solely a simple test using screen readers.
• Comprehensive tests against all the federal Government section 508 standards related to 1194.22 (Web-based intranet and internet information and applications).

How does it Work?

• You provide NetCentric with the root URL of the web site(s) you want managed (either for verification or remediation).
• We will scan your web site(s), identify and test all the PDF documents present.
• We will correct any compliance issues (remediation option only) and return the document for you to post to the site.
• You can access the periodic compliance reports and certificates via our customer portal to view the status of the web site.

What does the service include?

NetCentric Technologies’ managed services provide you with a high degree of confidence that your PDF holdings will be compliant with section 508 requirements.

For each of the PDF files present on your website our service includes the following:

• Review Scripts; verify and fix inaccessible script functionality (for example functionality dependant on the mouse).
• Mark items as lists. We create list tags and list item tags within which we put the text.
• Review form elements. Change any radio buttons (inaccessible by definition), to mutually exclusive checkboxes.
• Fix Content Order view.
• Fix Tags view.
• Verify/fix tabbing order.
• Properly tag callouts and other annotations.
• Run CommonLook plug-in for Adobe Acrobat on each document, identify and fix accessibility problems. Generate a Section 508 conformance certificate for each document.
• Test each document with Readout loud of Acrobat or with JAWS

The NetCentric Advantage

Our comprehensive and methodical approach to testing and remediation has many benefits. For example, by fixing the content order view we ensure that the resulting PDF can be reflowed correctly. This enables the reflow feature of Acrobat to work. The reflow feature helps low vision users to zoom into the document without having to do horizontal scrolling. Unfortunately, while this is part of Section 508 Checkpoint(d) - Readability, often accessibility work concentrates on the tags view -read by the screen reader- and neglects the content order view.

Often testers or authors simply use a screen reader to test PDF’s assuming mistakenly that this is sufficient. At NetCentric, we view this approach as unacceptable as it exposes you to potential complaints and litigation due to non-compliance with the legislation.

“Radio buttons”, inaccessible by definition, is an area where we excel. Since Checkboxes are accessible, we simulate the functionality of radio buttons by creating mutually exclusive checkboxes. This involves removing radio buttons, adding checkboxes and adding scripts for every checkbox so that once clicked, it would uncheck all other checkboxes in the same group.

Another area where we differentiate ourselves is in our handling of lists. When screen readers encounter a list tagged as a “list”, it states that it is about to read a list of elements. Frequently, testers and authors do not mark lists as such, and therefore they will not be identified by screen readers as a list, but rather as a paragraph. While, strictly speaking, this may not be part of Section 508, it nevertheless provides for enhanced accessibility to people with disabilities.

In summary, we provide a comprehensive service of the highest quality which will ensure that people with disabilities will be able to access your PDF documents. When you are ready to move ahead towards section 508 compliance, you will find NetCentric is a logical partner dedicated to meeting your objectives.

How much does it Cost?

The cost depends on the complexity of the documents and the size of your web site. For example, documents that contain tables, forms, scripts or radio buttons require more effort to remediate. However, since we rely heavily on automated tools and highly expert resources, our prices will likely result in a lower total cost of ownership for your organization.

How do I start?

Contact us via email at and provide the URLs of the web sites to be managed. We will get back to you, once we have scanned the sites, with a price quotation.