Great Accessibility drives Great Service
Why is the Great Service Programme embedding accessiblity from the beginning?
At Imperial we pride ourselves on our community having some of the brightest minds, coming up with innovative and exciting ideas. However, every person and every mind is different. A diversity of thinkers makes us who we are and allows us to excel as an institution. One of Imperial’s five core values is respect, which asks we treat each other with kindness and respect, valuing each person’s individual experience, perspectives and contribution. So, it goes without saying that ensuring our systems work for everyone is vital, and this is why the Great Service Programme has been considering accessibility of the new system it is delivering from the very start. Diversity always gives the best outcomes.
There are many reasons that someone may directly benefit from accessibility being inbuilt in the new people, finance, procurement and research administration system from day one. They may have a diagnosed condition, or an undiagnosed one, or they may have a temporary impairment due to an accident or illness. But the reality is we all benefit from accessible systems as they make useful tools available for all, and they allow us to work amongst the diverse community we are proud to be a part of, that drives our success at Imperial.
I spoke to a few people involved about how Great Service has embedded accessibility in the project from conception and how it plans to continue to respect the value it brings.
Bouquette Kabatepe
“The team behind the programme are not seeing accessibility as an additional chore, or a box ticking exercise. Instead, the people I worked with were equally passionate about accessibility. Wanting to do the right thing, not because they have to, but because they want to”
I am a Digital Accessibility Officer within ICT, when we are bringing in new suppliers or updating our systems, my role is to ensure that these meet accessibility requirements - and ideally go beyond the minimum requirements. I also work to raise awareness around accessibility across the university. I always say if I'm made redundant one day because Imperial doesn’t need me, that will be a big victory for me! That would mean all our digital presence is accessible for all, and that a lot of people who are in key positions are aware of accessibility requirements and are doing for themselves everything that I can do for them.
The majority of my time is spent approving new products and challenging vendors to ensure they are compliant with accessibility needs. Not everything comes to me for validation but with the Great Service Programme it did, and I think that’s purely because the decision makers on the project were willing to include accessibility from the start. I was also asked to come in and validate at key decision points, even though this is not standard practice at Imperial.
I found the sessions I've been involved with for the Great Service to be useful, however I can't highlight enough how attitude made a difference. The team behind the programme are not seeing accessibility as an additional chore, or a box ticking exercise. Instead, the people I worked with were equally passionate about accessibility. Wanting to do the right thing, not because they have to, but because they want to. During the project the Great Service team have kept in touch with me at every stage, about things like what questions should be asked and what testing should be done. They have allowed some members of Able, our disabled staff network, to input early on in the project and then again quite recently. Discussing things like brand options and accessibility functions of the new system. It is not an official testing, however it is probably better, more useful than an external testing company. As this is real feedback from real users. It was the first time in the five years I have been at Imperial I have seen Able network being involved and having a say in a project.
When we consider what difference this kind of involvement makes to the university, first of all it saves a huge amount of time and money. By minimising or even mitigating the risk of non-compliance, let's not forget it is to do with law. There is a regulation that all our digital platforms, especially those who have so many users such as this one, must be accessible because we are recruiting people – and we are a disability leader. It takes one person to go back to the Equality, Human Rights Commission and complain for us to be in legal trouble.
That is the most obvious implication, but the less obvious is still very important, and that is the risk posed because people don't always declare their disabilities. So, if we were to implement something that is not accessible, those people will suffer in silence. It will affect their performance, which is even more risky because it's impossible to measure that loss. And also remember, we're getting older, we're working longer, on average around 25% of people have some form of an additional need (reference Family Resources Survey), and a good majority of us acquire a disability during our working life. As we work longer, we may develop conditions. If and when this happens, we don't have to adapt if accessibility is already in place. Legal wise, we have our obligations sure, however, I think the loss we can't measure is the even bigger risk. Accessibility doesn't only benefit those with additional needs because it makes a better experience for everyone. If you are able to zoom in when you have to. If you're able to switch off audio because you can utilise subtitles, you are having a better experience already. If we do not provide such alternatives people will simply quietly suffer or leave. Those cases are the ones you can't measure the loss of, and it's a huge amount. You'll never know, and the level of loss these cases create, is always much bigger than what you would think.
The new system is provided by Oracle who are one of my favourite companies to work with because they are big on accessibility. Oracle Corporation has participants in the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AG WG), the W3C committee responsible for developing the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). WCAG are the accessibility foundations of the digital world. They don’t make everything fully accessible but set basic standards to ensure you’re on the right path. Oracle know what we are talking about when we talk about accessibility. Similarly when choosing the delivery partner, Namos, accessibility was also factored in. It is not the only decision point but it is one of the considerations, and they delivered on my expectations. The next step before the launch will be an external audit, this will ensure we have covered all bases in terms of WCAG compliance.
I think overall the main aim is to be inclusive without the need for users putting in any special adjustment requests. This is what we are striving for with our digital environment at Imperial, that everything is already accessible. Similar to everywhere in the physical environment being equipped with, for example, ramps, so our staff and students don’t have to let us know they need any adaptations, as the environment, be that virtual or real, works for all.
Eve Mutua
Most times, people with accessibility needs have had to adjust to ways of working that are not conducive just so they can get their work done. That is not the case at Imperial. Here, great consideration has been given to platforms so they can work for me and my needs.
I work as a Learning Solutions Administrator in the Executive Education team.
Accessibility is important to me because it allows inclusion for everyone regardless of their needs. I am glad that this accessibility exercise has been carried out at the inception of this platform. Firstly, because it allows for everyone’s needs to be met. Secondly it saves time and money as it will save on changes having to be done once the platform has gone live. Most importantly, it allows a different point of view. Most times, people with accessibility needs have had to adjust to ways of working that are not conducive just so they can get their work done. That is not the case at Imperial. Here, great consideration has been given to platforms so they can work for me and my needs. Personally, I don’t take that for granted. Our voice is heard at Imperial and not only heard, but there’s also action that follows these conversations. I’d love for this to continue at Imperial because inclusivity is very important and giving our input allows for great ways of working, plus ease of working.
Pete Gutteridge-Paye
Accessibility is really important to me because I believe that everyone should have access to the support they need to carry out their jobs of day-to-day activities. My mom was blind since birth and therefore I have been around visual impairment and accessibility support from a very young age.”
I am the VP of Delivery for Namos Solutions, who are the system integration (SI) partner helping Imperial implement Oracle. My role involves ensuring that all Namos consultants deliver to the standard that we expect for our customers (you) and put things right when they need support. In my role I am supporting the programme team in getting Imperial staff ready to use the new technology that will help you to do things easier and quicker. As part of my role I have been helping the Great Service team deliver the accessibility workshops to make sure that you are aware and ready for the change, and that we ensure that any support required is listened to and understood by the project team.
Accessibility is really important to me because I believe that everyone should have access to the support they need to carry out their jobs or day-to-day activities. My mom was blind since birth and therefore I have been around visual impairment and accessibility support from a very young age. This carried through into my early career and volunteering where I spent my school holidays in the care home my mom worked in, supporting and educating day and respite care residents. At work I have been a champion for accessibility as long as I can remember, which has been as simple as testing new systems, right through to working with partners and contractors to measure the impact that systems and process will have on anyone with a accessibility need.
The Great Service Programme at Imperial has engaged with accessibility groups right from the start of the project, which is not always the case with projects I have worked on elsewhere. Early sight of the way the system will look and how it operates was given to a group that volunteered to join a working group. This allowed feedback to be given on how the system looks and feels and to ensure that the feedback was used in discovery workshops that underpinned the design of the system. As Imperial are trying to adopt as much as possible the Oracle system as it comes, rather than make unique adaptations, it is important that we understand what impact this will have on different user communities across the university. Following the initial workshop I have run follow up sessions to keep the group updated on progress and to show more of the system.
Oracle is a global product used around the world by many organisations and therefore it already complies with standards expected from accessibility. However, each person and their needs of the system will be slightly different and understanding these means that the programme can best support you in how you prepare yourselves to use the system. Some people need more time, some need to have written instructions, some need to have processes broken down into manageable and logical steps. The programme has taken the time to do this by engaging early and with the right people. The working group have been open to the new technology and ways of working extremely well. I believe this is due to the early involvement and the fact that there is a way to be heard which is excellent when coping with change and accessibility together.
Don't stop now
Making things accessible at the point of entry benefits everyone. Whether temporary or permanent, life long or new, staff may have conditions that create challenges with certain formats or ways of working, and ultimately ensuring our systems work for everyone benefits all of us.
The next stage of the Great Service Programme is User Acceptance Testing (UAT), where some staff will be asked to run processes in the new system and check it works as expected. We will be ensuring members of the disabled community are involved in this testing and future steps of the project.
Useful links
- Imperial Disability Support for staff
- Workshop on Designing Accessible Learning Content by Bouquette - 11 December 2025
- Oracle Fusion's 'out of the box' accessibility features
- Great Service Programme
- Able network for disabled staff and research postgraduates, and their allies
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