Case study
Simplifying Accessibility for Government
McLennan County’s Journey to Digital Accessibility Compliance with AudioEye
Summary of Key Benefits
Time Savings
Automated and expert fixes have drastically reduced the development workload for McLennan County staff, freeing up time for additional high-impact priorities.
Improved Compliance
Since implementing AudioEye, the county has received positive feedback and no compliance inquiries from the Department of Justice.
Simplified Reporting
Straightforward issue reporting allows the team to prioritize and manage fixes.
Located in central Texas and home to 24 cities, McLennan County oversees several community systems, including law enforcement, courts, infrastructure maintenance, and public records. The county’s IT department, led by IT Director John Carter, is comprised of a 21-person team providing desktop, server, application, and network support for county employees. IT Support Manager, Chaquinta Fisher, serves as the central hub for managing desktop support for county employees and maintaining the county’s website.
McLennan County has long prioritized compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). However, a lawsuit from the Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed significant gaps in their website’s accessibility. Despite implementing basic best practices like alt text and named URLs, the in-house team struggled with the complexity and breadth of standards in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). When the county transitioned to CivicPlus to streamline its website operations a few years later, the team recognized that maintaining and enhancing digital accessibility demanded ongoing, hands-on attention.
Before AudioEye, I spent countless hours outside of my normal work duties manually checking our website for accessibility issues—reviewing every page with free online tools to catch formatting errors, missing alt text, improper headings, or missing video captions. It was the most time-consuming and stressful period of my career. It became clear we couldn’t keep up with the demands of managing accessibility on our own.
Chaquinta Fisher
IT Support Manager at McLennan County
Solution
Not long after McLennan County partnered with CivicPlus, they were introduced to AudioEye’s digital accessibility platform. Recognizing an opportunity to further streamline and support digital accessibility efforts, Chaquinta and the team leveraged AudioEye’s automation and managed services to transform the county’s approach and capabilities. Doing so drastically reduced the burden on county staff, enabling the team to:
- Automate Fixes: AudioEye's platform automatically fixes most accessibility issues, ensuring ongoing compliance with the latest standards.
- Streamline Reporting: AudioEye provides comprehensive reports with actionable insights, reducing report analysis time from weeks to minutes.
- Enhance Accuracy: The platform flags issues with direct URLs, showing resolved and outstanding items, and even identifies design-specific limitations that require CivicPlus intervention.
- Support Training: AudioEye’s insights helped train county employees to incorporate accessibility best practices into their workflows, ensuring lasting improvements.
Results
With AudioEye, McLennan County has streamlined accessibility management while scaling efforts across all digital aspects of its organization.
Key benefits include:
- Significant Time Savings: Tasks that once took weeks are now completed in hours, alleviating stress, reducing workload, and allowing staff to focus on other high-priority areas of work.
- Increased Compliance Confidence: McLennan County has had no inquiries from the DOJ since implementing AudioEye. Accessibility reports are also regularly shared with the DOJ, earning positive feedback from McLennan’s internal legal team, other government agencies, and the Texas Association of Counties.
- Better Visibility: Quarterly reports and on-demand access via AudioEye’s portal provide detailed snapshots of flagged issues, including direct links to affected pages. This proactive approach simplifies tracking and resolution, offering clear metrics on pages that require fixes versus those already addressed.
Since implementing AudioEye, a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders. I trust them to address accessibility issues, which has allowed me to focus on other priorities. It’s so important to have a tool that not only improves your position on accessibility but also alleviates the heavy workload that comes with maintaining compliance at a high level. AudioEye has truly been a breath of fresh air in this regard.
Chaquinta Fisher
IT Support Manager | McLennan County
With CivicPlus and AudioEye providing a best-in-market solution for local government accessibility, McLennan County has created a website that not only meets compliance standards but exceeds expectations, earning praise from department heads, elected officials, and industry peers, including the Texas Association of Counties and the City of Plano. Their work continues to inspire others, driving broader conversations about accessibility and raising the bar for municipalities.
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