Summary 

Xentity Corporation partnered with History Colorado’s Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (OAHP) to execute comprehensive web accessibility upgrades for the Compass platform. Utilizing bi-weekly agile development sprints, Xentity modernized the application’s front-end interfaces, underlying software development kits (SDKs), and data workflows to achieve full compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 A/AA standards while proactively aligning with WCAG 2.2 benchmarks. The initiative established compliance across the applications. This included landing pages, user administration tools, metrics dashboards, and complex geospatial mapping interfaces. All without compromising underlying system performance or spatial processing capabilities.

Problem and Solution 

The OAHP Compass platform contained persistent accessibility barriers that restricted public and institutional users with disabilities. Key issues included missing ARIA labels, visual focus failures, screen reader incompatibilities, and invalid form messaging across core web utilities. Crucial mapping and database search functions lacked keyboard navigation options, accessible GIS attribute controls, and screen-reader-compatible spatial tools. To resolve these structural deficits, Xentity performed our Accessibility workflow centered on auditing, code transformation, and systematic verification. To do so, we used testing suites like WAVE, ANDI, and ARC Toolkit. The development team refactored spatial components, map layer contrast, corrected keyboard deficiencies, and introduced expanded administrative controls to modify the platform content.

Outcome and Benefits 

The modernization project successfully eliminated key operational barriers. It achieved a 95% reduction in critical and high-priority accessibility issues across the Compass environment. The upgraded system delivers an inclusive user experience featuring complete screen reader compatibility, keyboard-navigable mapping tools, accessible export formats for data search spreadsheets, and streamlined accommodation request workflows. System stability and maintainability were significantly strengthened through modernized application drivers, structured version control repositories, and optimized page performance metrics.