SAS Visual Analytics Data Platform

Version 1.0

Published: 29/11/2019

How you can use this website

This website/data platform is run by the NHS Counter Fraud Authority. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen

We’ve made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

Some of our content is technical, and we use technical terms where there is no easier wording, we could use without changing what the text means.

If you have a disability, then AbilityNet has advice to help you make your device easier to use.

How accessible this website is

The main navigation and control features of this data platform is fully accessible, and we run regular audits to identify any new problems.

We know that some parts of the website aren’t fully accessible:

  • we have many data widgets that haven’t been designed for accessibility that we use as data visualisation tools in the website.
  • some content is embedded in our website, and you cannot easily scale these on screen (but you can open a full screen version)

How to get information in an accessible format

If you have problems accessing information on this website, or would like any of our work in a different format like a more accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording, or braille:

We’ll consider your request and aim to get back to you within 3 days.

Reporting accessibility problems

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of the website.

If you find any problems which aren’t listed on this page, or think that we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations then please email accessibility@nhscfa.gov.uk to let us know.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

NHS Counter Fraud Authority is committed to making all its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Issues with images

The use of images within the data platform are for illustration purposes only and do not portrait consumable data within them. Where images are used an alternative text (alt) is provided using a visual description of the image contents.

Issues with interactive tools

  • The main elements of the web pages used in these analytical reports use visual analytics to display data, in all cases this information is not easily available to users in an accessible format. We are currently investigating accessible visualisation tools for future use. If you require information from these tools, then please contact accessibility@nhscfa.gov.uk
  • Data visualisation widgets portraying analytical data are not currently compatible with common assistive technologies such as braille interpreters and screen readers.
  • Some areas of the data platform can become locked when navigating and traversing the site using only keyboard functionality.

The NHSCFA will not be modifying the display or use of these data widgets to make them conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard at this time as it would require migration to a new hosted platform and service. The NHSCFA is still under contractual agreement with the current vendor (SAS Institute Inc., USA) and would be of disproportionate burden to renew the service before the end of the licencing period November 2020 with a conditional extension to November 2021.

When investigating future data visualisation platforms NHSCFA is committed to undertaking guidance provided under EN 301 549 (Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe) and will include accessibility as part of the contract evaluation for future phases of the platform.

Issues with technology

Most of our data platform works correctly on any web technology.

How our site looks, and works is based on HTML5, and we test for and support the following browsers:

You may experience unexpected behaviour in other browsers, although we use fully validated code which should work on modern browser. Legacy browsers and depreciated versions of browsers may not work in the anticipated way. They may also contain vulnerabilities that could put your system or device at risk. For more information on the very latest browsers visit http://www.browser-update.org/update-browser.html for more information.

Issues with responsive technology and mobile devices

  • The current layout of the data platform is not responsive and does not adjust in size, order, perspective or layout to adapt responsively the width of the user’s device. It is recommended that this platform is only viewed on a device equal to or greater than 1024 pixels in width. Viewing on devices below 1024 pixels wide will produce individual widgets to form their own scrollable regions which can cause difficulty viewing for all users of the service.
  • Text areas of the data platform do not scale accordingly to be viewed on mobile devices and can cause difficulty due to text size being too small.

How we test this website

This website undergoes automated testing against the W3C WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 using an automated tool called Siteimprove. This tool scans 100% of our web pages, and tests against all the criteria in the guidelines which are possible to automate.

The weekly report is reviewed by the development team, with any actions taken and prioritised into our future work. We aim to fix all high priority issues as soon as is possible from them being identified.

In addition, we conduct internal testing against known accessibility issues which are not able to be found through automated testing, on a sampled basis. We last conducted an accessibility check on these areas in October 2019.

Automated testing

We use automated testing to inform most of our improvements to accessibility on the site.

Automated testing can’t find everything that could be improved but we are confident about what it does find.

This means we have fixed many of accessibility problems which manual checking may of overlooked.

Manual testing

There are several accessibility features which we test manually, which include:

  • ease of navigation
  • suitability for cognitive disability, including aiming for a reading age of 12
  • manual check against the W3C validator
  • checks of colour contrast
  • examining microdata mark-up and alt text using special tools
  • checking content in a text-only browser
  • using screen readers to read text aloud (NVDA, Voiceover)
  • using disability simulation tools to browse the website

Test conducted by the platform vendor

This data platform is hosted using SAS Visual Analytics. NHSCFA is using version 7.9 which has since been superseded by version 8.2 software for SAS Visual Analytics alode the Viya platform. An accessibility conformity report has been conducted by the vendor (SAS Institute Inc, USA) for this most recent version. A copy of this report is available from their site https://www.sas.com/en_us/industry/government/accessibility/accessibility-compliance.html

What we are doing to improve

We are actively looking to improve the accessibility on our websites and data platforms.

The improvements below have been identified on our current work schedule.

Target date Item of work Type of work Status Next Review
Jan 2020 Review accessibility criteria within SAS VA Developer Ongoing Jan 2020
Apr 2021 Upgrade SAS VA to 8l2 and Viya, with the accessibility improvements with this update Developer Ongoing Jan 2020
Dec 2019 Produce accessibility checklist for all future product design Developer Ongoing Jan 2020
Apr 2020 Make VA reports accessible on mobile devices via the SAS App. Developer Ongoing Jan 2020
Jan 2020 Remove SAS Visual Analytics logos from the Report viewer Developer Ongoing Jan 2020