How CollegeSource Streamlined Procurement with a Sustainable VPAT® Strategy
Summary
- CollegeSource, a provider of software solutions for degree completion and transfer processes, faced increasing demand from prospective customers for Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) reports proving the accessibility of their products.
- Initially, responding to these requests meant suddenly diverting resources away from other projects, a reactive approach that disrupted operations.
- Seeking a more proactive, efficient, and sustainable process for VPAT reporting, CollegeSource partnered with Level Access.
- Level Access not only provided CollegeSource with credible, up-to-date VPAT reports, but also technology and expert support to advance their accessibility efforts.
- CollegeSource can now efficiently deliver VPAT reports to buyers—strengthening customer trust, streamlining procurement, and maintaining a competitive edge in the education technology market.
Objective:
Adopt a proactive approach to VPAT reporting for buyers
As a leading provider of higher education software solutions, CollegeSource is committed to offering every customer an exceptional user experience. While accessibility has always been a priority for the company, growing demand from prospective customers for VPAT reports highlighted a challenge—the company lacked a sustainable process for meeting buyers’ requests.
“The requests for VPATs often came unexpectedly,” says Melissa Brooks, User Experience Manager at CollegeSource. “We had to drop everything, retest our products for accessibility, and complete VPATs for prospective customers on demand.”
Aiming to shift to a more proactive approach, CollegeSource set out to integrate accessibility into its product development life cycle from the start—reducing the need for last-minute fixes during the VPAT process. However, it soon became clear that the team required additional tools and expert support to make accessibility and conformance reporting a seamless part of their operations.
“We knew we needed to build credible VPAT reports and bake accessibility into our products from the beginning. But we didn’t have the internal resources to meet our accessibility goals alone.”
Melissa Brooks
User Experience Manager, CollegeSource
Solution:
Embed accessibility into product development with expert support
To create a proactive and sustainable VPAT reporting process, CollegeSource partnered with Level Access. Level Access not only provided the team with accurate, credible VPAT reports—based on expert-led manual testing and validation—but also technology and guidance to integrate accessibility seamlessly into their workflows.
By embedding accessibility into their product development life cycle, CollegeSource established processes that ensure their products remain accessible as they evolve. That means the team no longer needs to divert resources away from other projects to make time-consuming, retroactive fixes when their buyers request a VPAT—their products are already accessible by design.
“Working with Level Access gives us the support and expertise to make smarter, more efficient decisions as we design and build. It makes the whole process easier and keeps us on the right path.”
Melissa Brooks
User Experience Manager, CollegeSource
CollegeSource ultimately transformed accessibility from a reactive task into a built-in practice. “With any new feature or major enhancement, accessibility is baked in right from the beginning,” says Brooks. “It isn’t an afterthought—it’s part of the process from day one.”
Results:
Enhanced customer trust and a competitive edge
CollegeSource’s proactive approach to VPAT reporting has become a powerful trust signal for buyers. By ensuring their VPATs are regularly updated to reflect new product features and evolving accessibility standards, CollegeSource has strengthened its position as an accessibility leader in the higher education technology space. Institutions can be confident that CollegeSource will help them not only uphold compliance requirements, but also stay ahead of regulatory changes, including recent rulemaking under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The fact that CollegeSource’s VPAT reports are authored by a reputable, third-party expert adds to their credibility, further underscoring the company’s commitment to accessible product design.
“I know our sales team is happy they can say our VPATs are produced externally with outside expertise. It reinforces to prospective customers that we truly take accessibility seriously—we’re not just saying it, we’re proving it.”
Melissa Brooks
User Experience Manager, CollegeSource
While CollegeSource began their digital accessibility journey by focusing on their products, accessibility has since become a company-wide priority. Teams across the organization are invested in making continued progress. “At first, conversations about accessibility were mostly among product developers,” explains Brooks. “Now, it comes up in product planning conversations. It comes up in sales and marketing conversations. It’s really blossomed into a core part of our culture.”