VPAT or ACR — what is the difference?
The VPAT is the blank template. The ACR is what you get when it is filled in. Almost everyone uses the first word to mean the second, and no buyer will mind.
The distinction, in one table
| VPAT | ACR | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An empty template | A completed report about one product |
| Who publishes it | Information Technology Industry Council | You, or an evaluator working for you |
| Contains findings | No | Yes |
| Has a date and a signature | No | Yes — and both matter |
| What a buyer wants | The ACR, whichever word they used when they asked | |
“VPAT” is a registered trademark of the Information Technology Industry Council, which is part of why the industry moved toward “ACR” for the finished document. The distinction matters to lawyers. It does not matter to the person who asked you for one.
The editions you will see named
The template has versions, and a buyer may name one. VPAT 2.4 and 2.5 are both in wide circulation; each comes in four flavours — WCAG, Revised Section 508, EN 301 549, and an INT edition covering all three at once.
If a buyer names an edition, we use that edition. If they do not, we use the current one and say which it is on the cover. Nobody has ever rejected a report for being on a newer template.
What actually matters about the document
- The date. A report describes a product on the day it was evaluated. Ship a material change and the report ages. Most buyers treat anything over about a year as stale.
- Who signed it, and whether they are independent of the product.
- The explanations, which is the only part that shows whether an evaluation happened.
- What a VPAT is, in fullThe document, the conformance levels, and which standard goes in it.
- See a finished ACROurs, on our own product, with the failures left in.