Strategic Plan
Strategic planning work began in March of 2024 to identify the goals, strategies, and associated action steps for the final plan. From July through August, Board members participated in the research phase to gather insights on digital accessibility across the Executive Department to assist with goal and strategy development. The Board reviewed the final draft of the digital accessibility strategic plan in September to provide feedback. Nava, the primary firm leading the plan development work met with the Board to collect feedback on the plan in October. The research insights and Board feedback were collected, reviewed, and incorporated into the final plan deliverable in November.
Implementing Executive Order 614
Secretariat Information Technology Accessibility Officers
Secretariat IT Accessibility Officers are integral to ensuring leadership and representation with appropriate expertise, influence, and authority within each Secretariat. They are the cornerstone of formal governance and a programmatic structure for the Commonwealth’s digital accessibility and equity program. To date, The Executive Office of Administration and Finance, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, and Executive Office of Health and Human Services have hired SIAOs.
EOTSS has plans to hire four additional Accessibility Officers to lead the remaining 6 Secretariats. The hiring process is in progress. The Executive Office of Education and Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development will each have a dedicated SIAO. In order to have full coverage across all Secretariats, it was decided that the Executive Office of Economic Development and Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities have a single SIAO covering both Secretariats due to their previous unification. A similar pairing has also been decided for the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security and Executive Office of Veterans Services due to the size and having military-serving units. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation plans to promote their existing Accessibility Lead to the SIAO role in the future.
EOTSS plans to retain the four SIAOs until they can transition to a Secretariat. Secretariats can choose to have the current Officer transition from EOTSS or post for the role. These SIAOs will report to the CIAO with dotted line reporting to the Secretariat’s Chief Information Officer or designee. With support from the Board, the ACCESS team at EOTSS, and the SIAOs, Secretariats can begin structuring and executing a digital accessibility implementation plan in earnest.