[Research] User Roles Research: Identify SMEs at VBA, VHA, NCA

[ajakabcin]

Project outline

Currently, what defines a “non-Veteran” and their use cases are not well understood across the VA. Each administration—VHA, VBA, and NCA—has their own unique definitions and nuances, which significantly increase the complexity of solving for the “non-Veteran” use case. Delegates, beneficiaries, caregivers, and dependents are a few terms used interchangeably that encompass many different user types relying on many different products and services across VA.

We need to identify SMEs who can help us understand unique definitions and nuances in each administration.

Tasks

• [x] Identify VBA SMEs
• [x] Identify VHA SMEs
• [ ] Identify NCA SMEs

[andaleliz]

@Samara-Strauss Would it make sense to talk to anyone at VEO as a SME for this? I ask because I found a list of people who worked on that Veteran Customer Personas PDF I attached in Slack - Denise Kitts is the only one I can find in the VA address book and it looks like she's still with VEO. Maybe she could be helpful?

[Samara-Strauss]

For VEO, Melissa Rebstock and Laurie Baker might be good people to start with. I can reach out to them and see if there are people they recommend speaking with in each administration. I'll send an email so I can CC you and AJ.

[andaleliz]

@Samara-Strauss I spoke to Dannielle Blumenthal at NCA today and she suggested sending a survey through VIEWS to gather information about what different roles mean to different people. I don't know much about VIEWS other than it's workflow/task management. Thoughts?

Otherwise, she was not able to share any information to further our research.

[Samara-Strauss]

I don't know what VIEWS is either, so I don't know whether that's a good idea or not. :(

[andaleliz]

No problem - I'll ask around a bit and see if I can learn anything without going overboard on effort looking into it.

I'm assuming you haven't heard more from Melissa or Laurie?

[Samara-Strauss]

I haven't, but I know they'll be happy to talk to us when we want to get something scheduled.

I don't think you need to look too far into VIEWS. Let's talk more about steps forward when we meet tomorrow.

[andaleliz]

Oh okay - I thought we were waiting for them to get back to us with any names of contacts at NCA, VHA, VBA, vs us talking to them.

Yep, we'll talk tomorrow and figure out next steps

[Samara-Strauss]

I thought we were waiting for them to get back to us with any names of contacts at NCA, VHA, VBA, vs us talking to them.

Haven't asked about this yet, but let me send a note to Melissa and she if she has any recommendations.

Update: Just sent a q over to Melissa. Will let you know what she says.

[andaleliz]

@Samara-Strauss you did send them an email on Monday, FYI. I'll forward it to you so it's at the top of your inbox.

[Samara-Strauss]

Thanks! I moved the convo over to Teams since those chats seem to get lost less easily than emails. She said she could add me to an email thread related on this topic that might have some POCs, but I don't think she added me yet. I can loop you in once I get that.

[Samara-Strauss]

List of VBA PoCs from email thread:

Compensation Service:

• Scott Fagan
• Hope Coleman
• Reginald Campbell

Pension & Fiduciary:

• Jennifer Feuer
• Terrence Minyard (Out on extended leave according to auto-reply)
• Jennifer Copeland

Office of Business Integration:

• Camille Tello
• Nick Braddock
• Vivian Bogue

[Samara-Strauss]

Per Jennifer Copeland:

Please also include Thomas (Tommy) Lee and Michael (Mike) Hart for P&F.

[Samara-Strauss]

Charles connected me to Meg Kabat, whose title is Senior Advisor for Families, Caregivers, and Survivors within VHA. She said she'd be willing to talk to us

[Samara-Strauss]

I've been connected to Tiffany Puckett, who is an expert in the caregiver space for VHA. Adding her to the list.

[andaleliz]

Thanks @Samara-Strauss ! I've got some time this afternoon - should I just start reaching out to folks and get some time on the calendar? I don't imagine that anything will happen in our Monday meeting that will change the need to schedule time with SMEs.

[Samara-Strauss]

Per this comment, I'll start conversations and pull in your VA email address to handle scheduling.

[Samara-Strauss]

Current status - I sent emails to to the following folks/groups to get interviews scheduled. I also included Liz's VA email address and AJ's and Heather's ad hoc email addresses so they're looped in:

• VBA POCs
• Tiffany Puckett & team (VHA/caregivers)
• Meg Kabat (VHA/Senior Advisor for Families, Caregivers, and Survivors)

We also already have time with Carnetta for Monday to ask questions about MHV.

I didn't schedule a call with Melissa Rebstock re: eBenefits since I think we have all the info we need on how that platform handled non-veteran users.

[Samara-Strauss]

Oh, and I am still working on trying to get a connection to NCA. No luck yet.

[andaleliz]

@Samara-Strauss thanks for all your help in identifying these SME's! I really appreciate it. We'll leave this open until we get an NCA contact.

[Samara-Strauss]

Sounds good -- Charles said he'd ask around to see if he can find anyone. If we don't get anyone by Tuesday, this is complete as far as I'm concerned for sprint purposes. It's not you're fault we're having trouble tracking down an NCA contact.

[andaleliz]

@Samara-Strauss yesterday we discussed that it may not even be worth reaching out to NCA. Did you hear any more thoughts from John/Cody on that?

[Samara-Strauss]

@andaleliz yes, I am so sorry I forgot to update you. We determined that we can hold off for now and move forward with the list of people we have.

[andaleliz]

No prob! Sounds good, I'll close this out.