Document types by government function

Board agendas and minutes

Board materials are recurring documents published on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly cycle. For a typical entity, they accumulate fast: a board meeting twice a month for a decade produces 240+ agendas plus 240+ minutes plus often a packet of supporting documents per meeting.

Typical issues:

• Agendas exported from Word or board management software without tagging
• Minutes posted as scanned signed copies after the meeting
• Embedded staff reports, exhibits, and attachments that have their own accessibility issues
• Tables of action items that lose structure when exported to PDF

Remediation approach: address the authoring workflow first (agenda template, board software export settings, scan-and-sign workflow for minutes). Retroactive work on historical minutes is a candidate for the archived-content exception analysis depending on use, with current and recent meetings as Tier 1.

College catalogs and class schedules

College catalogs are among the largest single documents most community colleges publish: commonly 300 to 500 pages, republished annually, often produced in InDesign or similar design software for print and exported to PDF for web.

Class schedules vary: some entities publish them as tabular data on the website (preferred), some as a downloaded PDF per term, some as both.

Typical issues:

• Catalogs exported from InDesign without accessibility setup: untagged, no alt text on diagrams, table structure lost
• Multi-column catalog layouts with reading order issues
• Schedule PDFs with course tables that lose row and column relationships
• Embedded campus maps without alt text or accessible alternatives

Remediation approach: for catalogs, invest in the InDesign accessibility workflow so future annual editions are produced accessibly from the start. Historical catalogs are often candidates for the preexisting-electronic-documents exception unless still actively used (current and prior year typically remain Tier 1).

For schedules, evaluate whether HTML on the website (with the underlying course data as the source) is a better delivery format than republished PDFs each term. See HTML vs. remediation.

Financial and audit reports

Financial documents include Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFR), audited financial statements, budget books, expenditure reports, grant financials, and Single Audit reports under OMB Uniform Guidance.

Typical issues:

• Dense tables of financial data with complex header structures
• Charts and graphs without accessible alternatives (data tables, text descriptions)
• Footnoted references that lose their connection in untagged PDFs
• Auditor letters and certifications added as scanned image pages

Remediation approach: financial reports are documents of record. PDF is typically the right format, and remediation rather than HTML conversion is the correct path. The high investment in correct table tagging pays off because the table structures are reused year over year. Build an accessible CAFR template once and reuse it.

Accreditation and policy manuals

Accreditation documents (Institutional Self-Evaluation Reports, follow-up reports, accreditation responses) are long, infrequently published, and reviewed by accreditation bodies that have their own accessibility expectations.

Administrative and Board Procedures (AP/BP) manuals are long, durable, and updated section by section. Many entities maintain hundreds of individual procedures, each its own document.

Typical issues:

• ISERs assembled from contributions by multiple authors, with inconsistent formatting and inconsistent accessibility
• Policy manuals exported from policy management systems that do not produce tagged output
• Embedded organizational charts, process diagrams, and other visuals without alt text
• Cross-references between procedures that break when documents are republished individually

Remediation approach: AP/BP manuals are strong HTML conversion candidates. They are text-dominant, frequently referenced, and benefit from per-section linking. Many policy-management vendors now offer accessible-by-default HTML publication. For ISERs, treat as document-of-record PDFs and remediate carefully; accreditation bodies notice when their materials are inaccessible.

Forms and transactional documents

Forms include admissions applications, registration forms, financial aid forms, employment applications, permit applications, public records request forms, and the long tail of program-specific forms.

Typical issues:

• Fillable PDF forms with form fields that lack labels or have unhelpful labels
• Forms designed for print-and-mail with no digital equivalent
• Forms that require signatures with no accessible signing alternative
• Form fields with poor focus order or no keyboard navigation

Remediation approach: forms are typically the highest complaint-exposure documents because they directly gate access to programs and services. For high-use forms, the strongest move is converting to a web form (HTML form on the entity's website) submitting to the same downstream system. For lower-use forms, accessible fillable PDFs are workable if produced through a workflow that tags form fields correctly.

Grant and public notice materials

Grant materials include the entity's own grant applications, awarded grant documents, sub-recipient agreements, and grant reports posted publicly. Public notices include CEQA filings, public hearing notices, RFPs, and required-by-law postings.

Typical issues:

• Grant documents drafted by a funding agency and posted as received, without remediation
• RFP attachments combined into a single PDF where each attachment has its own accessibility issues
• Statutory notices reproduced as scanned images for "authenticity" of the original posting
• Environmental and engineering reports with dense diagrams and unaccompanied charts

Remediation approach: prioritize current and active grant materials (Tier 1) and current public notices. Historical RFPs and closed grant cycles are typically lower-tier candidates. Build procurement language so future incoming documents from funders and vendors arrive accessible (or at minimum trigger an accessibility review on receipt).