- An accessibility system of record is the single authoritative store for audit findings, conformance status, ACRs, and remediation history.
- It should track each product or page set against specific WCAG success criteria, not vague overall scores.
- Ownership, dates, and evidence matter as much as the findings themselves.
An accessibility system of record is the one place where an organization keeps its authoritative accessibility data: what was tested, what was found, who owns each fix, and what conformance claims have been published. Instead of scattering results across spreadsheets, ticket queues, and email threads, a system of record gives every team the same answer to the question of where accessibility stands right now.
Why a Single Source Matters
Accessibility work produces artifacts constantly. Automated scans generate result sets, (manual) audits produce findings documents, and procurement teams request ACRs built on the VPAT template. Regulatory obligations under Section 508, the ADA Title II web rule, and the European Accessibility Act all create pressure to know, and to be able to show, the current state of digital properties. When that information lives in five places, none of them is trustworthy. A system of record fixes the trust problem by making one location canonical.
Core Contents
The following belong in the system of record, roughly in order of how often teams will consult them.
- Inventory of digital properties. Every website, application, document set, and product that falls under an accessibility obligation, with its applicable standard, such as WCAG 2.1 Level AA or WCAG 2.2 Level AA.
- Audit findings. Results from (manual) audits and automated testing, each mapped to a specific WCAG success criterion, with the page or component where it was observed, severity, and reproduction notes.
- Conformance status per criterion. A current statement of whether each in-scope success criterion is met, not met, or not applicable for each property, since WCAG conformance is evaluated criterion by criterion.
- ACRs and their history. Published ACRs, the VPAT edition used to produce each one, the evaluation methods behind them, and prior versions so claims can be traced over time.
- Remediation records. Which findings were fixed, when, by whom, and how the fix was verified.
- Ownership assignments. A named owner for every property and every open finding.
Records Versus Working Documents
Not everything accessibility-related belongs in the system of record. The table below separates records that must be authoritative from working material that can live elsewhere.
| Belongs in the system of record | Can live in working tools |
|---|---|
| Final findings from a conducted audit | Draft notes taken during testing sessions |
| Published ACRs and version history | In-progress VPAT drafts under review |
| Verified remediation dates and evidence | Day-to-day sprint tickets and code reviews |
| Current WCAG conformance status per criterion | Raw automated scan exports before triage |
Practices That Keep the Record Trustworthy
A system of record decays without discipline. A few habits keep it reliable:
- Record the evaluation method for every finding, whether it came from automated tooling, a (manual) audit, or assistive technology testing, since ACRs are expected to describe how results were obtained.
- Date everything. A conformance status without a test date says little, because content changes after the evaluation.
- Map findings to success criteria rather than generic labels, so remediation priorities line up with the standard you are claiming against.
- Never edit a published ACR silently. Add a new version and keep the old one.
- Close findings only with verification evidence, not on a developer's assertion alone.
The Payoff
With these contents in place, the system of record answers procurement requests, supports conformance claims under Section 508 or the EAA, and gives engineering teams a prioritized, criterion-mapped backlog. The record is not a report you produce once. It is the operational memory that every audit, remediation cycle, and ACR draws from and writes back to.