Transforming an Internet domain into an accessible environment is a process that must be integrated into the standard Web development and management practices of an organization. The time it takes to transform an Internet domain into a fully accessible environment varies based on the quantity and quality of the resources that an organization applies to the initiative. Some initiatives fail because due to a lack of expertise, others due to a lack of budget. Some organizations successfully begin their initiatives successfully but fail to follow through and never fully achieve all of their goals.

As the leader of a number of nationally recognized accessible web development initiatives, The Daily-e Corporation has been able to build a network of resources and define a methodology to help organizations to accomplish rapid and permanent transformations. The Daily-e Corporation makes these transformation services available to customers through a subscription to the AlwaysAccessible™ Network.

Although Web accessibility has become a more familiar topic in the federal, state, and local government scene, there are still significant knowledge gaps concerning the subject. The first step in an web accessibility initiative is close this gap by providing the people in an organization with practical exposure to the subject of web accessibility.

The Daily-e Corporation offers a professional training program covering the issues of accessibility, disabled user profiles, assistive technology capabilities, current legislation, technical requirements of accessibility, evaluation and repair tools, and proper life-cycle management techniques. Our training is delivered in a fully accessible format, and tailored to meet the needs of our individual customers.

There are a number of different technical guidelines published concerning Web accessibility, and a wide variety of evaluation tools that perform validation services. The existence of multiple guidlelines and variation in validation reports often creates confusion for an organization that is trying to achieve a state of accessibility. To make matters worse, many accessibility solutions seem to work better in one browser rather than another. It is critical for the organization to be aware of these issues and form policies to help guide the accessibility initiative.

The Daily-e Corporation can help an organization establish the rules for achieving accessibility. These rules are documented in the form of policy statements which are published for both the organization and the end user to access. The Daily-e Corporation provides customers with tailored Web Accessibility Policy documents for the processes of procurement, design, development,testing, and usability monitoring.

Once an organization has expressed their Web accessibility policy it becomes time to perform evaluations of their current Internet domains. These evaluations allow the organization to assess their current level of accessibility of their current and to formulate a strategy for transformation.

The Daily-e Corporation provides an array of web site evaluation services including the "Starter Evaluation", a service performed in conjunction with one of its partners, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). The Starter Evaluation is an affordable professional service that identifies immediate opportunites to improve the accessibility of a web site and a prioritized list of longer term accessibility issues. The findings of the evaluation are documented, published, and reviewed in detail with the customer.

People often draw analogies between the Y2K initiative and the accessibility initiative. Both initiatives address problems existing in all of the deployed software applications of an organization. Both initiatives feature specific technical requirements to achieve a state of compliancy. Finally, both initiatives required changes to all business functions supporting the Information Technology practice of the organization. However there is one major difference, the accessibility initiative does not end at a certain date or point in time. Rather, the initiative becomes deeply integrated into standard Information Technology practice. To succeed, the organization needs a Transformation Plan.

The Daily-e Corporation offers both templates and professional services to create official transformation plans for its customers. The transformation plans created by The Daily-e Corporation rapidly increase the accessibility of an organizations Internet domain, and simultaneously provide a strategy to make fundamental technology changes at a pace that is appropriate for the organization.

Many of the most damaging accessibility violations are the easiest to correct. Identifying and correcting these violations quickly is the first and most important step in the transformation.

The Daily-e Corporation has a staff of accessibility programmer analysts who are experienced in identifying and correcting all types of accessibility violations. Our staff can either make the corrections directly or assist the web development team of an organization.

Accessibility can be a complex issue with a fair share of subjective interpretation. A truly accessible Internet domain establishes a two-way communications channel between the end user and the web development and support team. The channel should provide assistance to end user and feedback to the web master. If properly maintained, the channel can become the single most important component of the accessibility iniative.

The Daily-e Corporation has created a pair AlwaysAccessible™ applications that rapidly enhance any existing Internet domain with online help and a user feedback capability. The Daily-e Corporation can assist the customers in developing context sensitive help content for all users of the site and can also be designated as the technical support coordinators for all issues of accessibility. Domains that feature these applications are officially "under transformation" and on the way to becoming fully accessible to all users.

A transformation plan will identify and prioritize changes required to make an existing Intenet domain fully accessible. These changes are expressed as web service specifications for the end user. Some of these web services will be custom developed, some will be purchased, and still others may be integrated into the domain through a subscription to a third party application provider. In any case, the release of these services must be managed carefully.

The Daily-e Corporation has templates and professional services that assist the customer with their release management process. The release management process of The Daily-e Corporation allows an organization to define and communicate the service development priorities directly with the end user, keeping expectations of all parties synchronized. Each release represents a milestone in the overall transformation, and is announced to the interested parties through web and mail services of the domain.