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SOM Applications and Site Standards

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SOM Applications and Site Standards

When citizens interact with the State of Michigan (SOM), our goal is to make their transition from one platform to another, and from one agency to another, as seamless and easy as possible. Consistent content design and branding across websites, mobile applications, social media, and other digital communications helps build a unified user experience and establishes trust with citizens.

The SOM provides a list of enterprise digital policies on the SOM website, including but not limited to; terms of use policy, disclaimer of warranty, disclaimer of liability, security and monitoring notice, notice on use of the State Seal and Coat-of-Arms, linking notice, disclaimer of endorsement, jurisdiction-governing law, severability, privacy policy, mobile applications license terms of use and more.

When designing, procuring, or proposing digital solutions for the SOM, please be aware of these policies and the below standards and guidelines to ensure they are integrated into your products and digital services.

 

SOM Web Applications Standards

The SOM Web Application Standards were documented to ensure that visitors have a similar experience throughout all state applications, portals, and agency sites.

All SOM applications must adhere to:

1. Applications developed after May 31, 2018, must follow:

Applications in development before May 31, 2018, may follow the:

2. Meet conformance level AA of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0

3. Complete a SOM Digital Standards Review to ensure standards are met

  • In a move to ensure internal and external applications adhere to SOM Digital standards and guidelines, and simplify the accessibility review process, the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB) eMichigan team has updated the SOM Digital Standards Review (DTMB-3533) form. To initiate an application review, submit the DTMB 3533 form to the DTMB eMichigan team at usability@michigan.gov 
  • Reviews can be initiated in the design or development phase to find and fix issues as early as possible.
  • After the DTMB eMichigan team completes the review, results with any identified issues will be returned to the requestor. Identified issues must be corrected and returned to the eMichigan team for re-review. This is an iterative process until all issues have been resolved and verified by eMichigan.

4. Accessibility issues identified during the SOM Web Application Review(s) must be resolved prior to production release. 

5. Adhere to related SOM Native Mobile Application Guidelines, SOM Website Guidelines, SOM Social Media Standard and Guidelines and follow all SOM Accessibility Standards and Guidelines.

 

SOM Native Mobile Application Guidelines

The Native Mobile Application Guidelines communicates important design and development standards for native mobile applications produced and maintained for the purpose of conducting official state business with the SOM.


SOM Website Guidelines

SOM websites are hosted on an enterprise Web Content Management System (WCMS). SOM websites must follow the below website standards and guidelines.

Questions can be sent to eMichigan@michigan.gov.

 

SOM Social Media Guidelines

The SOM encourages the use of social media, social networking sites and emerging web tools to enhance transparency, communication, customer service, collaboration and information exchange among the SOM and the public. To view current social media standards and guidelines visit our social media standard page.

Questions can be sent to socialmedia@michigan.gov.

 

SOM Digital Accessibility Guidelines

The SOM is committed to providing access to public information for all citizens, including those with disabilities, who use state websites, applications, and digital services. In keeping with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the spirit of effective citizen-centric communication, the SOM has adopted:

Effective October 23, 2019, policy updates cover all Executive Branch Departments, Agencies, and Sub-units.

 

Vendor Proposed IT Solution Reviews

The SOM has adopted a formal policy regarding accessibility requirements. The SOM evaluates the accessibility of vendor’s proposed IT solutions through the use of documents called Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPAT) and Government Product Accessibility Templates (GPAT). Vendors use these document to self-assess their products accessibility. To learn more about our standards review process visit the page below:

Michigan Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) Standards Review Process

 

Accessibility - Testing Tools

 

Accessibility - Resources

 

Accessibility for Multimedia

 

Accessibility for PDF and Word documents

Questions on digital accessibility can be sent to dtmb-digitalaccessibility@michigan.gov.