Business Case for ATAG General Comments

To EOWG:

After reading and re-reading this document my impression of the concept is that this document is designed to help managers within Authoring Tool Development Companies build a business case for implementing ATAG based on the identified needs of customers to be able to build Accessible Web content (through legislation or social responsibility).  

If this is the case, I would like to make the following suggestions (bearing in mind the Changelog): 

1) The Background section should be moved to the bottom of the page to form an Appendix or removed entirely (as it inhibits the flow of the document).

2) In the second sentence under 'Executive Summary'(or 'Introduction') the phrase 'Web Accessibility in their tools' be changed to 'Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines' (and linked to the new Appendix section).

3) Under Executive Summary remove the entire section 'This demand is due to changing legal environments around the World (U.S.A., the European Union, Canada and Australia among others), increasing market pressure from disabled and elderly persons, and also to the introduction of mobile devices which offer interfaces completely different from the traditional desktop computer. Further details on the benefits of implementing the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines can be found in the document Auxiliary Benefits of Accessible Web Design.'

As we will build up the reasons for this demand later in the business case. 

4) Restructure the document from 'Introducing Accessibility in a business case' to mirror the sections required in a business case (The information is there it just needs to be categorised).  This means that the manager is given the business case structure (in the right order) along with the facts, figures or techniques needed to fill in the information.

I believe the business case must be able to answer the following 3 questions:

What are the benefits of implementing ATAG?
What are the costs involved?
Can we choose whether or not to implement ATAG? (Not if customers won't buy a non-compliant product or Legislation requires it). 

A suggested structure might be: (Remembering this comes after 'Introducing Accessibility in a business case'.) 

Executive summary (now...): How strong is the need and is ATAG implementation absolutely necessary?

The need...

1. Market Assessment: What are our customers asking for now in the countries we provide to and what will they be asking for in the near future with regard to authoring accessible content?
2. Current Practice: What is the company currently doing with respect to Accessibility in these countries?
3. Legal Situation: What is the related legislative requirement in these countries now and in the near future? 
4. Competitor Analysis: What are our competitors doing now and what moves will they be making in the future?

The solution...

5. What guidelines currently exist? Only ATAG...
6. Benefits of Implementing ATAG - Current SWOT Analysis for product, near future SWOT Analysis (which indicates strength of need for ATAG implementation).
7. Proposed implementation plan method???
8. Proposed costing method???   

With the Conclusion based on the above.

Please let me know your comments...

Very Best Regards

Alistair 

Alistair Garrison 
Accessinmind Limited
www.accessinmind.com
+44 (0) 207 252 2746