Revised Maturity Model: Case Study of the CIA

Presenter:  Benjamin Wilson from the CIA

This was my sixth session at the CSUN conference on Thursday, March 5.  I don’t think I’ve heard about a maturity model in the accessibility arena yet (they’re fairly common in IT), so I expect this presentation to be educational.  Frankly, I’m a little surprised there are so few people in this session.

Comes to this from a project management, change management and IT perspective.

Why is the CIA Here?

• Primary goal of the agency is to provide as objective a perspective of the world as we can.  We try to avoid groupthink as much as possible.
• Goal:  we want to be the Employer of Choice in the Intelligence Community for People with Disabilities
• Goal:  employees with Disabilities have Independent Access to the information and data needed to accomplish their mission.

It takes 10 years to make culture change, and you should always consider that you’re in year 5

What is a Maturity Model?

• Measurable
• Clear, external benchmarks
• Best practices
• Business Disability Forum’s Accessibility Maturity Model
• CIA revised this to better suit their needs
• CMMI process area

Change Management

• Management:  is there managerial buy-in and commitment to accessibility?
• Pervasiveness:  how thorough is accessibility being applied in the organization?
• Competency:  is workforce seeking competency in accessibility and disability awareness?
• Adoption:  is the workforce actively adopting common tools and solutions?
• Socialization:  is there employee buy-in and commitment to accessibility?

Capacity Levels in CMM

• Incomplete > Performed > Managed > Defined

Business Drivers to Change Management

• Senior commitment
• Understanding
• Awareness
• Stakeholder engagement

2014 Accomplishments

• CIA Accessibility program chartered
• New accessibility policy
• Leadership outreach (CIO annual conference, vendor’s quarterly, DAAC 2014)
• Piloting processes
• Communication

Standards & Guidance

• Organization Process Definition
• Organizational Training:  AT demos, disability awareness, developer training, IT support training
• CIA Accessibility Standards:  WCAG 2.0 AA
• Risk management for remediation:  scoring of applications on a Likert scale of 1-5; a 4.4 indicates a functional level of accessibility.

Programmatics – Key Process Areas

• Organizational Process Performance
• Organizational Performance Management
• Risk Management
• Acquisition:  vendor self-assess, agency audit contenders
• Development:  self-assess, report, selective audit
• Service Delivery
• Annual report to executive director
• Business process studies:  2013 accessibility, 2014 improvement of RAS

Acquisition/Development/Service Delivery

• Objectively evaluate processes and work products
• Provide Objective Insight