SAP Accessibility Competence Center – Accessibility for Ben, Iris and Oliver
By Anke Böker, Accessibility Competence Center, SAP User Experience, SAP AG – 06/07/2005
Why Does SAP Care About Accessibility?
There are two main reasons why SAP cares about accessibility:
- Social responsibility: As a global market leader for business applications, SAP also has a responsibility to offer adequate user interfaces to users with various types of disabilities.
- Legal requirements: In many countries, laws exist or are currently being passed to force public entities to only install software that is accessible for disabled users (examples: U.S. Section 508, Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz (BGG) in Germany).
Some figures: According to the World Health Organization, there are between 500 and 750 million people with disabilities worldwide. The Deutsche Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband (DBSV – German Federation of Blind and Visually Impaired People) estimates that there are about 155,000 blind people and half a million visually impaired people in Germany.
Do you know Ben, Iris and Oliver? (Why Do the People from the Accessibility Competence Center Care About Accessibility?)
When we from the SAP Accessibility Competence Center (formed in 2001) think about our customers using SAP software, we always have three people in mind: Ben, Iris and Oliver (great guys).
Ben is blind. He cannot obtain information from his computer by looking at the monitor. He uses a screen reader, a software program that reads out the UI elements on the screen, for example, "save – button – to activate press space bar" or he uses a Braille display. With the Braille display, he can read by feeling the characters.
Ben uses a regular keyboard for data input into his computer. He can't use the mouse or similar pointing devices. Instead of graphics he wants textual information.
He needs information about where he is on the screen and what he can do.
Iris is visually challenged. She can obtain information from her computer by looking at the monitor but needs a screen magnifier, a software program that magnifies a portion of the screen, so that it can be more easily viewed. Sometimes, it is only necessary to use bigger fonts in a program she works with instead of using a screen magnifier.
Iris needs a specific color adjustment. She is able to use the keyboard, the mouse or similar pointing devices.
She wants graphical information. She needs information about where she is on the screen (because of the huge magnification, she easily looses the overview).
Oliver is motion impaired. He can obtain information from his computer by looking at the monitor. Oliver can use the keyboard, but he can't use the mouse or similar pointing devices.
SAP Accessibility Competence Center
Creating accessible products is a top priority for SAP. Thus SAP has established an internal accessibility compliance plan to enable individuals with disabilities to use SAP NetWeaver and other SAP solutions.
The Accessibility Competence Center (ACC) works as part of the User Experience department to:
- Define SAP internal Product Standard according to legislation and industrial standard like WCAG
- Ensure that SAP products meet the SAP Standard where technically and economically feasible
- Inform SAP development communities about techniques for creating accessible applications with SAP NetWeaver
- Define technical infrastructure
- Promote the proliferation of accessibility design in SAP development communities
- Participate in international accessibility committees
- Cooperate with corporate leaders in IT accessibility
- Cooperate with vendors of assistive technology
- Work with organizations committed to making software accessible
Figure 1: The ACC Team in Walldorf, Germany
SAP's GUI Strategy, Front-End Requirements, and Infrastructure for Accessibility
SAP's GUI strategy and related technical requirements are summarized in the document Frontend Requirements and Infrastructure for Accessibility.
The most important requirements mentioned in the document are:
- Required SAP GUI: SAP GUI for Windows 6.40 (or higher)
- Supported screen reader: JAWS for Windows 6.1 (or higher) by Freedom Scientific.
- Required Add-on: SAP GUI Screen Reader Extension (provided by SAP)
- Supported operating systems are: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 (also known as Windows XP Server).
To get more technical information, please send an e-mail to accessibility@sap.com.
Want to Learn More?
To learn more about accessibility at SAP, visit SAP's public accessibility Website or https://portal.wdf.sap.corp/go/acc (SAP-internal only), or contact the SAP sales office nearest you.
