WCAG 3.0: Conformance model - a different view

1. First the list of functional needs need to be finalized and requirements
(foundational level / supplemental level) need to be mapped to these needs.
2. The goal is to help policy makers determine  if WCAG 3 compliance has
helped to make digital  content accessible  in those various settings
identified as functional needs.
Like in WCAG 2.X an enterprise may choose to meet only Level A criteria (I
know the recommended standard is Level AA) or Level AA or Level AAA, going
forward, organizations should have the liberty to meet only foundational
level requirements or both foundational and supplemental level requirements
as they choose.
The bronze, silver and gold route  for conformance level may become
unnecessary IMO. With that, the complication of associating a percentage
against those levels becomes redundant. Though one can associate some
rationale with the percentages for bronze, silver and gold, at the end
there will still be an element of arbitrariness to the process.

3. So consider a conformance statement  along the lines of a VPAT with one
important caveat . It can be set out  in a format that corresponds to the
organization's accessibility goal: only foundational level if that is the
choice or both foundational and supplemental levels.
The caveat: the conformance statement only tabulates all functional needs
as identified for WCAG 3.0. Against every need there is one value:
Satisfied / partly Satisfied / Not Satisfied.
In other words this statement will not list all the requirements like a
VPAT does but simply the functional needs and state whether the
requirements for the selected level have been met or not based on the
established mapping.
Thanks,
Sailesh Panchang
Principal Accessibility Consultant

Email: sailesh.panchang@deque.com
Deque Systems Inc | - Accessibility for Good | www.deque.com