Accessibility Features of SAS Decision Manager 2.2

Overview

SAS Decision Manager 2.2 has been tested against the accessibility standards for electronic information technology that were adopted by the U.S. Government under Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (2008 draft proposal initiative update). It was also tested against Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 levels A and AA, part of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C). For detailed information about the accessibility of this product, send e-mail to accessibility@sas.com or call SAS Technical Support.

Documentation Format

Please contact accessibility@sas.com if you need this document in an alternative digital format.

Landmarks

Landmarks are references to the primary areas of an application’s user interface. They provide a quick and easy way for keyboard users to navigate to these areas of the application.

To access the list of landmarks that are available for a specific context, press Ctrl+F6 to open the Landmarks window. Use the arrow keys to select a landmark, and then press Enter to navigate to that area of the application.

User Interface Layout

SAS Decision Manager provides a framework for managing models, business rules, and the workflows that are associated with model projects and rule flows. It enables you to define business rules, connect those rules together into rules flows, and publish the rule flows. SAS Decision Manager also enables you to import models, and then score, monitor performance, and publish those models. With other SAS applications such as SAS Data Integration Studio, you can combine models and rule flows into decision flows and deploy the decision flows.

The top of the window contains the application name and an application bar that includes a menu bar, a Search field, and a Sign Out button.
The left side of the window contains a collapsible navigation pane. This pane can contain one or more category views (depending on your assigned capabilities and roles) that you select using buttons at the bottom of the pane. The views contain either trees or lists of objects. You can open these objects (one at a time) into tabs in the work area next to the navigation pane.
The center of the window (the work area) contains tabs: personal tabs, open objects, system reports, and administrative tools. The work area can be split (either vertically or horizontally) into two groups of tabs.
The bottom of the window contains a status bar that displays information about your connection to the SAS Metadata Server.

To customize the application window and its features, select File

Preferences. For more information about the layout and features of the application window, see SAS Decision Manager: User’s Guide.

Themes

An application’s theme is the collection of colors, graphics, and fonts that appear in the application. The following themes are provided with this application: SAS Corporate (default theme), SAS Blue Steel, SAS Dark, SAS High Contrast, and SAS Light. To change the theme for the application, open the Preferences window, and go to the Global Preferences page. From this page, you can also invert the application colors or configure the indicator that shows where the focus is located in your user interface.

Note: You can use keyboard shortcuts to magnify the contents of the browser window or to invert the application colors. For more information, see the Keyboard Shortcuts table below.

Note: If you have special requirements for your themes, then contact your system administrator or visual designer about using SAS Theme Designer for Flex to build custom themes. SAS Theme Designer for Flex is installed with SAS themes. For more information about this tool, see SAS Theme Designer for Flex: User's Guide.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The following table contains many of the keyboard shortcuts for the application. In the user interface, some shortcuts are displayed within parentheses in tooltips and menu item labels. Some are also displayed in the Keyboard Shortcuts window (press F9 to open that window).

Note: Some application-level keyboard shortcuts do not work when you first open an application. When that happens, press Tab to move the focus to the application, and then try the keyboard shortcut again.

Note: When you use a keyboard shortcut to activate a button, move the focus to the field or section that the button is associated with before you use the keyboard shortcut. For example, if a table has an associated Help button, you must first move the focus to the table before you press Ctrl+?.

Keyboard Shortcuts
Action	Keyboard Shortcut
Open the Keyboard Shortcuts window.	F9 Note: The Keyboard Shortcuts window might not contain all of the shortcuts for your application.
Open a Help pop-up window from the Help button.	Ctrl+? Note: This shortcut does not work on some keyboards (for example, the Italian keyboard).
Zoom in.	Ctrl+plus sign
Zoom out.	Ctrl+minus sign
Reset the zoom state.	Ctrl+0
Maximize view (collapses the category pane and the tile pane, and hides the status bar and the application bar, which includes the menu bar and the workspace bar). or Exit maximized view (expands the category pane and the tile pane, and shows the status bar and the application bar).	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M Note: This shortcut does not work when the focus is on the workspace bar.
Open a pop-up menu.	Shift+F9 (if a menu is available in that context) Note: If you use Shift+F9 to display the pop-up menu, then it is always displayed in the top left corner of the user interface control that you are using.
Open the Landmarks window.	Ctrl+F6
Temporarily invert or revert application colors (for the current session only). Note: You can set the Invert application colors preference in the Preferences window if you want the color change to persist across sessions.	Ctrl+~
Rename the selected tab.	Make sure that the focus is on the tab. Press F2, and specify the new name. To commit your changes, press Enter. To cancel your changes, press Esc.
Close the selected tab.	Make sure that the focus is on the tab, and then press Delete. Note: Some tabs cannot be closed.
Switch in and out of Edit mode for a table cell.	To enter Edit mode, select a cell, and press F2. To exit Edit mode, press Esc.
Navigate between table headings and table content.	For a two-dimensional table, make sure that the focus is on the table and that you are not in Edit mode. Press Ctrl+F8 to switch the focus between column headings and table cells. Use the arrow keys to navigate from heading to heading. For a multidimensional table, make sure that the focus is on a table cell and that you are not in Edit mode. Press Ctrl+F8 to switch the focus between column headings, row headings, and table cells. Use the arrow keys to navigate from heading to heading.
Navigate the content rows of a table.	When table cells are in Edit mode: Press Tab and Shift+Tab to move from cell to cell horizontally across columns. Press Enter and Shift+Enter to move from cell to cell vertically across rows. When table cells are not in Edit mode, use the arrow keys to move from cell to cell.
Sort columns in a table.	To sort a single column, navigate to its column heading (press Ctrl+F8). Press the spacebar to sort the column. To sort additional columns, navigate to the column heading of each additional column that you want to sort. Press Ctrl+spacebar.
Change the width of the current column.	Navigate to the column heading (press Ctrl+F8). Then press Ctrl+left arrow or Ctrl+right arrow to change the width of the column.
Move the current column.	Navigate to the column heading (press Ctrl+F8). Then press Shift+left arrow to move one column to the left, and press Shift+right arrow to move one column to the right.
Automatically re-size the current column to fit its contents.	Navigate to the column heading (press Ctrl+F8). Then press Enter.
Open a drop-down list or drop-down menu.	Make sure that the focus is on the control, and press Ctrl+down arrow.
Change the month or year in a calendar control.	Move the focus to the calendar control. To change the month, press Page Up to go to the previous month, and press Page Down to go to the next month. To change the year, press the minus sign key to go to the previous year, and press the plus sign key to go to the next year.
Exit a single application in the SAS Visual Analytics home page.	Tab to the application’s button at the top of the browser window, and press Delete.

Exceptions to Accessibility Standards

Some exceptions to accessibility standards are documented in the following table.

Note: The JAWS issues occur when JAWS is used with Internet Explorer. Other browsers were not tested with JAWS, unless noted.

Exceptions to Accessibility Standards
Accessibility Issue	Workaround
Sometimes, you cannot use the keyboard to sequentially navigate through the interface and move the focus in a meaningful order.	No workaround is available.
The SAS High Contrast theme has a few unresolved focus and contrast issues.	For contrast issues, select a different theme, and then press Ctrl+~ to invert the colors.
The SAS Light theme and SAS Dark theme might not provide sufficient color contrast for some users.	Use the SAS Corporate theme or the SAS High Contrast theme.
JAWS cannot read some of the controls in the application, such as images, icons, and buttons.	No workaround is available.
JAWS cannot read the tooltips of items in trees, lists, and menus.	No workaround is available.
JAWS refers to table controls as list boxes.	When JAWS reports that a control is a list box, keep in mind that it might actually be a table.
JAWS sometimes reads controls that are not available to users.	No workaround is available.
The keyboard shortcuts that are used to interact with editable tables can conflict with keyboard shortcuts for the Forms mode in JAWS.	As a best practice, disable the JAWS Virtual PC cursor when you work with tables. Tab to the table, and press Insert+Z to disable the Virtual PC cursor. When you finish interacting with the table, press Insert+Z to re-enable the Virtual PC cursor.
JAWS cannot read two-column property tables.	No workaround is available.
JAWS does not correctly read the information in a table: JAWS cannot read the column headings of a table. When table cells are not editable and the focus is on the body of the table, JAWS reads an entire row at a time instead of cell by cell. When table cells are editable and the focus is on the body of the table, JAWS reads only the first row of the table. If you use the arrow keys to select a cell or row, then JAWS does not read anything. If you press Enter to edit a cell, then JAWS reads the row that contains the edited cell.	No workaround is available.
When a table cell is selected and you press Home, End, Page Up, or Page Down, the focus moves to the first displayed column, regardless of which column you were in.	Use the arrow keys to navigate through the cells of the table.
You cannot use the keyboard to scroll to the left and the right in some tables.	No workaround is available.
You cannot use Shift+F10 to open a pop-up menu.	Use Shift+F9 to open pop-up menus that are created for the SAS application. The generic menu that is provided by the Flash player cannot be opened by Shift+F9. Note: If you press Shift+F10 in Internet Explorer and no pop-up menu is available, the browser moves the focus to the File menu for the browser tab. To return focus to the application area of the browser window, press Esc.
You cannot use the keyboard to access the close (x) button that is in the top right corner of a tab.	Make sure that the focus is on the tab, and then press Delete to close the tab.
You cannot use the keyboard to access the close (x) button that is in the top right corner of a tile in the tile pane.	Make sure that the focus is on the tile, and then press Delete to close the tile. (The object that is displayed in the tile is not deleted.)
Visual focus for the menu bar is indicated with an outline around the entire menu bar instead of around individual menus.	To select individual menus, use the left or right arrow key.
Sometimes, you cannot use the Tab key to move the focus to the application area of a web browser (that is, the part of the browser window that is controlled by the Flash player).	The following workaround is applicable to Internet Explorer only. Press Ctrl+number, where number is the ordinal position of the application’s tab in the set of tabs that are open in your browser window. Then press Tab to move the focus to the application area.
You cannot use the Tab key to move the focus outside of a code or expression editor. Pressing Tab within the editor only inserts tabs.	For Internet Explorer, press Shift+F10, and then press Esc to move the focus outside of the editor. For Firefox, press Alt+Tab to switch to another application. When you switch back, the focus will be outside of the editor.
If you tab to an item that is partially or entirely off-screen, the item is not automatically scrolled back into view.	Sometimes, you can use the arrow keys or the Tab key to scroll the item back into view.
When you use the Ctrl+plus sign keyboard shortcut to zoom in, some portions of the interface can become hidden from view.	Use the keyboard to access the hidden parts of the interface.
The Ctrl+plus sign and Ctrl+minus sign keyboard shortcuts for zooming in and out do not work on some menus unless the menus are first opened.	Open the menu before you use the keyboard shortcut.
The Ctrl+plus sign and Ctrl+minus sign keyboard shortcuts for zooming in and out do not work on all elements in the application window (for example, tooltips and button labels).	No workaround is available.
You cannot use the keyboard to navigate in the Layout section because it is a Read-Only interface that is used for the visual verification of the elements that have been created.	Use the test button that is in the Layout section to preview your elements in a secondary window. The items that are displayed in the secondary window are identical to the items that are displayed in the Layout section, but unlike the items in the Read-Only Layout section, you can interact with the items in the secondary window. Note: After the application opens the secondary window, press Tab to move the focus to the window.
JAWS does not explain how to operate a drop-down list and drop-down menu.	JAWS refers to these controls as either "button", "button menu", or "combo box". In addition to using Ctrl+down arrow to open these drop-down lists and menus, you can also activate buttons and some button menus by pressing spacebar. Pressing spacebar either opens the control or selects the default item.
When you use the down arrow to scroll through the items in a "combo box," any item that opens a secondary window will do so when you scroll down to it. This prevents you from navigating to items that are farther down in the drop-down list.	Press Ctrl+down arrow to scroll through the items in the drop-down list, and then press Enter or Tab to make a selection.
JAWS cannot read the contents of a tree table (that is, a table that contains a tree) unless the table is in Edit mode.	Make sure that the focus is in the tree table, and press F2 to enter Edit mode.
JAWS cannot read the workflow diagrams.	No workaround is available.
JAWS cannot read the content selection tree in certain windows such as the Choose a Location window.	No workaround is available.
If the list of additional search options contains a secondary level of options, you cannot use the keyboard to select the check boxes that are associated with that secondary level of options.	No workaround is available.
JAWS incorrectly states that you should use Ctrl+Tab to switch tabs.	To switch from one tab to the next, press the left or right arrow key and then press Enter or spacebar.
You cannot determine which cell in a table row has the focus unless the cell is in Edit mode.	No workaround is available.
When a date field with a calendar button is displayed in a table cell or selection list, sometimes you cannot move the cursor into the field or move the focus to the calendar button.	No workaround is available.
In the date field, you cannot use the keyboard to change the plus operator to a minus operator.	No workaround is available.
JAWS reads the minus operator in the date field as a “dash”.	No workaround is available.
When JAWS is running, some drop-down menus do not work correctly with the keyboard.	Changing the JAWS cursor mode (press Insert+Z) can sometimes help.
Color is the only means by which missing values are denoted in a decision tree diagram. Also, the default background color of the tree nodes and the default fill color that represents missing values in the nodes are very similar and can be difficult to distinguish between. A horizontal white line indicates where the fill color stops. However, sometimes the line can be obscured by the node label.	No workaround is available.
In some charts, graphs, and diagrams, color is the only means for conveying certain types of information.	You can use SAS Theme Designer for Flex to create custom colors that are easier for low-vision and color-blind users to discern.
In the Manage Columns window that is opened from the toolbar in the category view, JAWS does not announce the labels of the Available columns and Displayed columns list boxes.	No workaround is available.
You cannot use the keyboard to move the focus to the buttons that are used for changing the month and year in the calendar control.	Move the focus to the calendar control. To change the month, press Page Up to go to the previous month, and press Page Down to go to the next month. To change the year, press the minus sign key to go to the previous year, and press the plus sign key to go to the next year.
Using the Alt Gr key in certain key combinations sometimes causes an action instead of displaying a character. For example, if you use the Alt Gr key with the plus sign (+) key, the grave (`) key, or the question mark (?) key on some keyboards, you zoom in, invert colors, and open Help (respectively) instead of displaying the expected character.	Use the Character Map feature in Microsoft Windows to copy the character that you need.
You cannot use the keyboard to move the focus to the drop-down menu for the IF, OR, and ELSE operators for a rule.	No workaround is available.
You can use the keyboard to expand the Details section of the Versions pages for rule sets and rule flows.	No workaround is available.
The radio buttons for selecting recurrence lengths in the New Schedule window do not receive focus.	No workaround is available.