[Epic] VA Claims - Supporting Forms: CAIA Audits of Supporting Forms (PDFs)

[strelichl]

Issue Description

We need to audit the site for supporting form PDFs--we'll need to go through each of the forms on the supporting forms page and check for other links on static pages to the PDFs or form detail pages (like the "About form X" pages). Additionally, these forms will need to be audited for PDF accessibility.

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Tasks

• [x] Audit of forms (7) via Supporting forms for VA claims page.
  • [x] Audit for accessibility (refer to the a11y task list in this ticket)
  • [ ] Audit for content (refer to the content task list in this ticket)
    • [ ] Audit for other links on static pages
• [x] Inquire if additional audits are needed
  • The "More Helpful Information" Section - links to disability claim forms
  • Do these need audited as well?

Acceptance Criteria

• [x] Full list of supporting form PDFs created
  • [x] Form 21-4142 Authorize the release of non-VA medical information to VA
  • [x] Form 21-10210 Submit a lay or witness statement to support a VA claim
  • [x] Form 21-0845 Authorize VA to release your information to a third-party source
  • [x] Form 21-0972 Sign VA claim forms as an alternate signer
  • [x] Form 21-0966 Submit an intent to file
  • [x] Form 21P-0847 Request to be a substitute claimant for a deceased claimant

  • [x] Form 20-10206 Request personal records

### A11y Tasks
- [ ] https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78734
- [ ] https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78735
- [ ] https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78736
- [ ] https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78737
- [ ] https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78738
- [ ] https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78739
- [ ] https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78740

### Content Tasks
- [ ] [CAIA content support] PDF Content Audit - VA Claims - Supporting Forms: [Form 21-4142](https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/#authorize-the-release-of-non-v)
- [ ] [CAIA content support] PDF Content Audit - VA Claims - Supporting Forms: [Form 21-10210](https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/#submit-a-lay-or-witness-statem)
- [ ] [CAIA content support] PDF Content Audit - VA Claims - Supporting Forms: [Form 21-0845](https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/#authorize-va-to-release-your-i)
- [ ] [CAIA content support] PDF Content Audit - VA Claims - Supporting Forms: [Form 21-0972](https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/#sign-va-claim-forms-as-an-alte)
- [ ] [CAIA content support] PDF Content Audit - VA Claims - Supporting Forms: [Form 21-0966](https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/#submit-an-intent-to-file-va-fo)
- [ ] [CAIA content support] PDF Content Audit - VA Claims - Supporting Forms: [Form 21P-0847](https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/#request-to-be-a-substitute-cla)
- [ ] [CAIA content support] PDF Content Audit - VA Claims - Supporting Forms: [Form 20-10206](https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/#request-personal-records-va-fo)

### Related CC intakes

[sara-amanda]

@strelichl @coforma-terry (cc: @SarahKay8 Should Evan take a look at any of the PDFs, when he gets access?

[coforma-terry]

@sara-amanda - Yep - After a delay, we're looking at 1/17 for Evan getting his PIV card.

[EvanAtCoforma]

PDF Audit Findings

Overview

The VA Forms went through a thorough audit to understand the accessibility gaps present within the user journeys and how a screen reader and keyboard only users would experience the forms. This audit produced critical issues that should be addressed by the owners of these forms to ensure assistive technology (AT) users will be able to fill in these forms accurately and efficiently for submission. Each form has its own ticket under A11y Tasks that highlights how it was tested and what was tested, with sub tickets for each remediation need. Since these forms are veteran facing and widely used, remediating these forms is crucial to the veteran user experience.

Critical Issues Found

A high-level understanding of the critical issues found in these forms are listed below:

1. The majority of content within the forms are not tagged properly, or not tagged at all
   • The majority of form fields in each form are not tagged
   • A sizable amount of text is not tagged in each form
   • This leads to text and fields not being read by screen reader users
   • Keyboard only users are unable to tab to or input information in many fields
2. The majority of the content in the forms are not in the correct reading and tab order
   • Form fields are not placed in the correct order within the tag tree if tagged, leading to a confusing user experience
   • Instances of text not ordered correctly in the tag tree
   • Instances of form fields tagged with labels that are not associated with each other

Recommended Solutions

Here are some recommended solutions to bring these forms up to compliance and to create a better user experience:

1. Remediate the master versions of these forms from scratch using Adobe Acrobat and CommonLook PDF and put them through multiple rounds of testing to ensure compliance and optimal usability
   • Ensure forms are reviewed by the VA 508 office for an official stamp of approval
2. Revisit the software/extension/library used to generate these forms and implement accessibility features that can produce higher quality PDF outputs
3. Scrap the fillable PDF option all together and point veterans to a HTML version of the forms that can be downloaded to a PDF/txt file for their records

Testing Methodology

The methodology used to test these PDF forms was a combination of the Adobe Acrobat accessibility checker and manual testing. Manual testing included screen reader testing (VoiceOver) and keyboard-only testing. We also tested for form field functionality. Due to the fields being protected from editing, we were unable to test using CommonLook PDF or any other external checker.

cc: @sara-amanda | @coforma-terry | @SarahKay8

[sara-amanda]

CAIA PDF Audit Findings Next Steps

@tbaker1026 @megansiddle @jeana-adhoc @artsymartha68 - A request was received for CAIA A11Ys to conduct accessibility testing on 7 PDFs on the Supporting Forms Page. Those audits are now complete and have remediation recommendations. We weren't sure who the primary contact for these remediation tickets would be, so we are sharing with the three of you, via this ticket, if you can help point us in the right direction.

cc: @EvanAtCoforma @SarahKay8 @strelichl @coforma-terry

Forms Audited

The following 7 forms were audited.

Expand to view the list of forms audited and access direct links to the form PDFs

**The following links will take you to the forms for quick reference:** - [x] `AUDITED` [Form 21-4142](https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/#authorize-the-release-of-non-v) Authorize the release of non-VA medical information to VA - [X] `AUDITED` [Form 21-10210](https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/#submit-a-lay-or-witness-statem) Submit a lay or witness statement to support a VA claim - [X] `AUDITED` [Form 21-0845](https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/#authorize-va-to-release-your-i) Authorize VA to release your information to a third-party source - [X] `AUDITED` [Form 21-0972](https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/#sign-va-claim-forms-as-an-alte) Sign VA claim forms as an alternate signer - [X] `AUDITED` [Form 21-0966](https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/#submit-an-intent-to-file-va-fo) Submit an intent to file - [X] `AUDITED` [Form 21P-0847](https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/#request-to-be-a-substitute-cla) Request to be a substitute claimant for a deceased claimant - [X] `AUDITED` [Form 20-10206](https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/#request-personal-records-va-fo) Request personal records

Overall PDF Audit Findings

• The overall PDF audit findings can be found in the comment above, in this ticket.
• The audits were completed by @SarahKay8 and @EvanAtCoforma - should you have any questions. They will be reaching out this week.

Audits (7) - Individual PDFs

[!NOTE]
Summary: Within each of the following seven audit tickets, there will be a section of the audit ticket labeled: PDF Remediation Needed - within this section of the PDF audit ticket, if there is an issue needing remediation, it will link to an issue ticket for your team.

About the issue tickets

Expand to learn more about the issue tickets and view an example

- The issue tickets, found in the `PDF Remediation Needed` section of these tickets break down the issue and remediation needed. - The issue tickets are not currently assigned to a pipeline or assignee. - Please advise, who these should be assigned to and what pipeline we should connect the issue tickets to. - **Example of audit ticket structure:** - **Audit Ticket** - https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78734 - **Navigate to the _PDF Remediation Needed_ section of the audit ticket** - There will be a list of issues. - **_The list of issues for this audit ticket includes the following:_** - https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/79039 - _This is an example of an issue ticket that we will need to assign to your team and pipeline._

PDF Audit Tickets

Review these tickets for issues needing remediation.

1. https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78734
2. https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78735
3. https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78736
4. https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78737
5. https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78738
6. https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78739
7. https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78740

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Next Steps

• [ ] Please advise who to assign the issue tickets to.
• [ ] CAIA A11Ys will assign the tickets to the preferred pipeline and assignee.
• [ ] CAIA A11Ys will close the seven audit tickets upon handoff of the issue tickets.
• [ ] This EPIC will remain open, as CAIA Content is currently performing tasks related to this ticket.

[sara-amanda]

Assigning this Epic and child audit tickets to @artsymartha68 per Zoom call on 5/15/2024. The audits are done (child tickets), we just need an official handoff to whomever can remediate them.

[sara-amanda]

[!CAUTION] Epic Status: OPEN

• This Epic remains open; however, I believe, this Epic can be closed?
• It is not currently closed because there is a content task list, so wanting to make sure that is work that is no longer being done, before closing this Epic, since it is a cross-collaboration within CAIA (@NaomiPMC @strelichl)

PDF Audit Next Steps

[!IMPORTANT]

• Audit Status: Completed and provided to OCTO.
• Tickets: Only the items that are checked with tickets are the remediation needs.
• Recommendation: "Unfortunately, these forms are currently inaccessible per our testing, so we believe it is imperative that we or another PDF specialist get access to these forms to fix them."
• PDF Remediation Status: Work not requested at this time.

Ticket Update

@strelichl - Ok to close this ticket, per Martha via Slack on June 3, 2024.

• VA is working through bugs with Adobe.
• Our offer to remediate these forms is not needed at this time.
• PDF audit efforts to be entered in CAIA Closed Ticket Tracking - verified with @EvanAtCoforma (@NaomiPMC and @strelichl )

[strelichl]

Thanks, closing this now!