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Accessibility statement for Sage X3

Version 1.1 - Updated 5 November 2020

This accessibility statement applies to Sage Business Cloud X3, Enterprise Management ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software for medium to large business owners - find out more on the Sage Business Cloud X3 website.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use Sage X3. For example, that means you should be able to :

  • Use the web product on tablets with landscape (horizontal) orientation, and on larger screens than this, without the need to scroll the page horizontally. (Separate mobile apps are available which will be covered by their own accessibility statements.) Navigate using consistent menus, a visual process map, by searching for a feature, or by entering a feature code. Zoom in to 200 %, or change the size and spacing of text, without the text spilling off the screen. Listen to most of the product using a screen reader (such as VoiceOver).
  • We have made the text in the product as simple as possible to understand.
  • Use the search feature to quickly access content.
  • Use a high contrast visual theme for people with visual impairments, available in Settings.

AbilityNet also has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

Important notes:

  • Sage X3 is currently updating the technology that it is built on. We’re bringing in improved accessibility support as we go, but not all features benefit from this technology yet.
  • Sage X3 is a highly customizable, including by third party developers. Your implementation of Sage X3 may differ from this statement.

How accessible this product is

We know some parts of this product are not fully accessible.

  • If you use the web product on tablets with portrait (vertical) orientation, or on smaller screens such as smartphones, you’ll need to scroll horizontally to see all content.
  • When editing some content in tables using the keyboard, sometimes people might become trapped and are unable to continue.
  • You may have difficulty interacting on some pages using the keyboard alone.
  • When using the tab button to move around, the sequence of movement is sometimes unusual.
  • If you use a screen reader, you may not be informed of error messages.
  • Error messages may not provide suggestions on how to correct the error.
  • Some text may have poor visual contrast against the background.

There are several other improvements we could make to our code to help the product work as well as it can for everyone.

Feedback and contact information

If you need support, you find any problems not listed on this page, or if you think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us:

We’ll consider any requests and get back to you as soon as possible.

Technical information about accessibility

Sage Business Cloud Accounting is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-compliance with the accessibility guidelines

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-text Content

We would like all objects on a page that have meaning to have a text alternative. However, sometimes text alternatives aren’t available, they aren’t easy to understand, or they don’t match what is presented visually. We’re working to fix this by replacing older code and resolving identified bugs.

WCAG Reference 1.1.1

Info and Relationships

We would like to make sure that information and relationships implied by visual formatting are clear to people using assistive technologies. However, headings aren’t marked up correctly in code. We’ll review our code to make improvements.

WCAG Reference 1.3.1

Meaningful sequence

Where the sequence of content on a page is important, we’ll make sure the sequence is preserved for users of assistive technologies like screen readers. If CSS is disabled, some content may be read by assistive technologies in the wrong sequence. We'll fix these instances.

WCAG Reference 1.3.2

Identify Input Purpose

We use ARIA landmarks to identify page regions, but some might be missing. We will work to ensure the consistent use of ARIA landmarks going forward.

WCAG Reference 1.3.5

Contrast (Minimum)

We would like the visual presentation of text to have good contrast against background colours to support people with visual impairments. However, in some places, this isn’t the case. To fix this, we’re working on improved visual styles and phasing out the use of placeholder text.

WCAG Reference 1.4.3

Keyboard

We would like everything that’s interactive to be accessible using the keyboard alone. However, sometimes pages may be difficult to navigate with the keyboard. We plan to allow users to set their own keyboard shortcuts to help with this.

WCAG Reference 2.1.1

No Keyboard Trap

We would like to avoid situations where you might get stuck if using the product with the keyboard alone. Right now, users can escape from a table using the escape key, but there’s no way for them to know this up-front. Going forward, we’ll rebuild our tables to fix this.

WCAG Reference 2.1.2

Bypass Blocks

We would like to provide features in code to allow users to bypass repeated blocks of content, for example, navigation that appears on every page, as this may help some users. These features aren't present in the product today, but we’ll add them.

WCAG Reference 2.4.1

Headings and Labels

We provide concise and meaningful descriptive headings, but some are missing or unclear. In some cases, there is only one label for several fields, or read-only fields are used as labels. We will resolve these cases when we update or replace pages.

WCAG Reference 2.4.6

Language of Page

We would like to set the language of each page in code so content is always presented correctly. This code isn’t present in the product today, but we’ll plan to add it.

WCAG Reference 3.1.1

On Input

Users may encounter situations where interacting with items causes unexpected behaviour. We’re working on resolving these situations.

WCAG Reference 3.2.2

Error Suggestion

We would like people to receive appropriate suggestions for the correction of an error if possible. However, some error messages are worded broadly, and many don’t include specific suggestions for correction. We'll review our error message content.

WCAG Reference 3.3.3

Name, Role, Value

We would like each field on the page to be associated with a label in code, however in some situations this isn’t the case (for example, checkboxes indicating table row selection, or fields in tables). To fix this, we’re working on updating how cases like this are coded.

We would also like all icons to have text descriptions in code so it’s clear to all users what they do. We found some that don’t have descriptions, and we’ve logged them to fix.

WCAG Reference 4.1.2

Disproportionate burden

Reflow

Without the need to scroll the page horizontally, it is possible to use the web product on tablets with landscape (horizontal) orientation, and on larger screens than this. (Separate mobile apps are available which will be covered by their own accessibility statements.)

However, if you use the product on tablets with portrait (vertical) orientation, or on smaller screens such as smartphones, you’ll need to scroll horizontally to see all content.

All pages of the product would need to be fixed, including many pages with large tables of data. This would be costly, it’s often difficult to offer responsive variants of large tables without losing meaning, and some WCAG guidance suggests that ‘two-dimensional layout for usage or meaning’ may be acceptable.

We believe that offering support for smaller screens would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make regular further assessments.

WCAG Reference 1.4.1

Old X3 pages

Sage X3 is a complex product containing more than 3,000 features which have one or several pages each.

We believe that resolving all the issues above across all legacy X3 pages due to be replaced would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make regular further assessments.

Nevertheless, Sage X3 is currently refreshing the technology it relies on, and we will deliver the best value improvements that we can, given their benefit to users.

How we tested this product

  • This product was last tested in July 2019. The test was carried out internally by Sage employees.
  • The product contains thousands of pages, but they are built with the same technology and templates. We tested a representative sample of pages listed in the primary navigation of the product.
  • We did not test add-ons and extensions, third party or partner implementations, or help content.
  • Although the product is available in several countries and much of the user interface is the same, we tested the UK version specifically.
  • Testing was conducted using Chrome version 79.0.3945.130 on Mac OS, and VoiceOver included with Mac OS 10.14 (Mojave).

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