VBA Design Iteration #5

[thejordanwood]

Description

Had an internal design review meeting on 5/19 and discussed what updates are still needed for this.

Link to Sketch design

Design Changes

• [x] drop (Ask VA) from the top task link
• [x] check spacing under limited services alert
• [x] Double set of hours changes: change the en dash to "to", show each hour set on separate lines, add timezone to both lines
• [x] Only keep appointment information in the accordion, remove the high level appointments overview
• [x] For "Don't see the services you're looking for?" banner, add phone number in addition to facility locator link
• [x] Update "Get updates from VA benefit section" to Veteran Benefits Administration
• [x] In the Get Updates section, all regional office mentions should be changed to VBA
• [x] Make a separate accordion for arriving at our office
• [x] Other nearby locations: show the nearest VAMC hospital, nearest vet center, nearest VA national cemetery (in this order) (look at facility locator to pick the example nearest Boston for each). Put real phone numbers in these examples.

• [x] Make a note that there is a security screening, need to confirm with @davidmpickett where that note should be

  @davidmpickett to implement these AC:

• [x] I expect service accordions are updated to incorporate work done in this card: https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-cms/issues/11266
• [x] To update Revisit FE design for multiple service locations per service department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-cms#10687 as necessary based on completing above AC
• [x] To update https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-cms/issues/13822 as necessary based on completing above AC

PM Follow Up:

• [x] Ask of Office of Strategic Engagement; is it a good idea to say all of the main numbers have to be the number, not the hotline (Tanekwa and Kenyana)
• [x] May need to design showing separate hours for the benefits number (look to vet centers)
• [x] content just needs to look at intro paragraph before collab cycle review
• [x] which fields to harden via collab cycle
• [x] @kmariepat-cityfriends to talk to Tanekwa about main phone vs. VA benefits hotline

UX Research Notes:

• what does the Veteran expect when clicking ask a benefit question need to test what their expectation is when clicking this
• See if people open the appointments accordion unprompted and understand that appts. can be virtual or in person
• Test if appointments information belongs below that low on the page, we think they could belong closer to the address information

Open Questions

• The banner at the top of the page - what are we interested in tested for banners vs operating status from a Veteran perspective? What content should go in the banner to support that?

• How are we distinguishing multiple service locations within service accordions

Team

Please check the team(s) that will do this work.

• [ ] CMS Team
• [ ] Public Websites
• [x] Facilities
• [ ] User support

[davidmpickett]

The Service accordions can be heavily revised with the output of this ticket: https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-cms/issues/11266

[mmiddaugh]

I don't know that testing banners or banner content is necessary as part of this effort but it is reasonable to display an operating status and associated more info.

[cindymerrill]

@davidmpickett I've incorporated these design changes into my research plan.

@thejordanwood I'd like to see the revised design, which doesn't seem to be linked in this ticket.

[mmiddaugh]

@thejordanwood @davidmpickett I noticed the hotline availability is expressed like this on various pages throughout the benefit hubs and wonder if it might be an option for the RO pages (it would help us avoid the potential confusion from two sets of hours)

You can call us at 800-827-1000 (TTY: 711). We’re here Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET.

[thejordanwood]

@cindymerrill Thanks for pointing that out! I just linked the Sketch file on the ticket.

[cindymerrill]

@thejordanwood Could you let us know when your design revisions are all made? Looks like it's the same Sketch URL as before (correct?). I noticed "Ask VA" in the design, so I assume you're not done yet.

[thejordanwood]

@cindymerrill No, the design revisions on this ticket haven't been made yet. The Sketch file I linked earlier has the most recent designs and will be where the revisions are made. I'll let you know when that happens!

[davidmpickett]

@kmariepat-cityfriends @mmiddaugh

I took a first pass at updating the Service accordions with the term names, "type of care" and "common conditions" from last sprint. You can see more detail in Sketch but here's a quick screenshot

I realized as I was doing this, that we need to populate "common conditions" for more than just a few accordions for usability testing. So I quickly filled them out for the first section. Would love your thoughts and reactions to this approach.

[mmiddaugh]

A few things to confirm with the content team

• based on the VA Design system, I think Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) is capitalized as the name of a program and should be followed by its acronym
• we probably should spell out "and" rather than using the & in service names/titles

I generally agree with your "type of care" categorization, with a few thoughts

• I'd expect to find Veterans pension under Veteran benefits
• Grief and bereavement counseling might be expected under Family and caregiver benefits (unless we're not planning to include it in the prototype and/or at all)
• I suggest Financial services might be more applicable under "Other" since it might contain tasks for a broader audience, such as financial counseling or applying to become a fiduciary
• Tasks related to State and local benefits are also relevant to a wide audience
• Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) is tricky as it applies to both service members and Veterans with service-connected disabilities

[mmiddaugh]

IDES and Pre-discharge claim help

• I need to get more clarity about IDES and pre-discharge claims since I see them used interchangeably across the benefit hubs. Also, since Veterans are referred to IDES (rather than applying), I'm unclear whether this is a service to be displayed on VA regional offices or just for specific IDES sites located at military installations.

Returning service member care and Transition help

• Are these actually the same? The existing "Veteran friendly" labels for Returning service member care is: Post-9/11 Veterans (OEF, OIF, OND) transition and care management services

@davidmpickett, I've added other top task thoughts to the VBA services working sheet on Sharepoint. They'll likely need to be culled, given character counts and practicality.

[mmiddaugh]

I'd like to move toward displaying top tasks for all the services at launch (if possible) but we don't necessarily need to fill everything in before testing.

Veteran input will be valuable to inform some of the labels and associated top tasks. If we're able to incorporate this line of questioning into the upcoming round of usability, we may not want the prototype to include top tasks at the closed accordion level for those services we want to learn more about.

Possible areas of research:

• Where do Veterans expect to find Burial and memorial tasks? (Veteran benefits vs Family member and caregiver benefits?) Is there an expectation for different tasks or labeling?
  • i.e., For Veterans: Plan in advance, find cemetery, file for pre-need eligibility determination vs For Family members: scheduling a burial, request memorial items
• Where do participants expect to find Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E)? Are the tasks different for a Veteran vs Service member? (Service member participation is necessary to support this question)
• What tasks are expected for Service members transitioning to civilian life? How would they name this service/benefit?
• Where would they expect to find tasks such as updating direct deposit or dependents, downloading benefit letters, applying for Veteran ID cards, or requesting military records (DD214)?

[cindymerrill]

@davidmpickett @mmiddaugh Note that this design is supposed to describe one specific benefit office, which may or may not provide services for ALL possible benefits. I do want a task that involves a benefit TBD that's not covered on this page to see what people will do.

[cindymerrill]

Some other feedback I have about the service offerings:

1. I don't think that "Veteran Readiness and Employment" needs its own accordion AND a listing under "Careers and employment"
2. I don't know what "State and local benefits" are. They lack specificity--what kind of benefits are they?
3. "Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES)" is a mouthful. Is there a plain language version of what it is? "Disability evaluation"?
4. "Update Veteran profile information" is the only service that contains a verb. Maybe drop the word "update"?
5. Typo: cemetery is misspelled

@davidmpickett @mmiddaugh

[cindymerrill]

@mmiddaugh @davidmpickett Do service members go to benefit offices? I assume that Veterans, family members, and caregivers do.

[davidmpickett]

@mmiddaugh @davidmpickett Do service members go to benefit offices? I assume that Veterans, family members, and caregivers do.

I don't think they are a large percentage of visitors, but from what I heard they are non-zero. It would mostly be service members who are preparing to transition out. Could be chatting to an IDES coordinator or working on pre-discharge claims.

[davidmpickett]

2. I don't know what "State and local benefits" are. They lack specificity--what kind of benefits are they?

@cindymerrill We only have a pretty small sample size of data from Public Contact Staff research, but basically this is a catchall for benefits that are offered to Veterans by states or municipalities (rather than national VA benefits). Public Contact staff at Regional Offices help Veterans apply for these programs by providing copies of VA documents needed for applying or general awareness about the programs and eligibility. There are some common themes like transportation and compensation, but my favorite "how would you categorize that?" example is definitely "hunting and fishing license"

State & Local Benefits

• annuity
• compensation (state) | chapter 115
• driver's license
• hunting & fishing license
• license plate
• public transit benefits
• reduced taxes (property, home sale)
• toll road pass
• welcome home bonus

https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/blob/master/products/facilities/regional-offices/research/2022-9-public-contact/research-findings.md#benefits-mentioned

[davidmpickett]

IDES and Pre-discharge claim help

• I need to get more clarity about IDES and pre-discharge claims since I see them used interchangeably across the benefit hubs. Also, since Veterans are referred to IDES (rather than applying), I'm unclear whether this is a service to be displayed on VA regional offices or just for specific IDES sites located at military installations.

@mmiddaugh My understanding is that IDES is a specific program for service members who are being discharged because of a condition that makes them not fit for continued Military service. The goal of IDES is to streamline and fast-track this group of service members getting connected with VA benefits. Unclear how much IDES participants are actually interacting with Regional Offices.

Pre-discharge claims (or Benefits Delivery at Discharge) is a way to start a claims earlier that service members can opt into.

Returning service member care and Transition help

• Are these actually the same? The existing "Veteran friendly" labels for Returning service member care is: Post-9/11 Veterans (OEF, OIF, OND) transition and care management services

Returning service member care was written from a VAMC perspective, so trying to reuse it for VBAs might be overextending a term. Transition help is possibly referencing TAPS https://benefits.va.gov/transition/index.asp, but it's definitely not clear as written.

[davidmpickett]

I made v2 of the service accordion interior. Tried to focus on clearly distinguishing the 2 service locations. Looking forward to discussing tomorrow!