Open steele-lm opened 12 months ago
Hi @steele-lm - in our kickoff, meeting you all mentioned that there's still SME feedback that you all are waiting on across a few screens. Have you all received that feedback and adjusted the designs to reflect any needed changes?
Thanks so much!
@aliyahblackmore We have a meeting scheduled with our burial SMEs on Thursday (11/16). If you have any specific questions, please reach out to @juliepedtke and myself!
@steele-lm thanks for letting me know! I'll tag you both in sketch questions.
Hi @juliepedtk - I'm just flagging that I've started to add comments and questions to the form intro and personal information screens in the Sketch link provided by you all. As we chatted in our kickoff, these comments and questions are on the "Proposed" screens.
Additionally, accessibility and IA finished their review of all of the screens in the form (their teams should have shared feedback with you all - if not, let me know). I'll continue adding my feedback/questions tomorrow and will make recommendations to the content with the purple annotations (in scope for the content review), while also noting any other recommendations based on items flagged by IA and accessibility that impact the content outside of the purple annotations.
Also noting that in the future, we'll want to make adjustments to the static "How to apply" and "After you apply" pages.
cc: @strelichl @laurwill
Hi @juliepedtke @steele-lm from the IA side, we recommend updating the base URL so that the form is up to date with standards. The standard is a URL with 2-3 words followed by form number, such as form-name-form-####
. Also, the breadcrumbs are currently Home > Burials and memorials > Burial allowance > Review burial benefits application
but the URL is www.va.gov/burials-and-memorials/application/530/
which is missing the burial allowance page. Updating the URL will ensure it matches the navigation path as well. Would this recommendation fall within scope for the MVP?
@jennymayoco This is a great call out! I think it would most likely fall under a "fast follow" activity given that the first priority is reducing delays in benefits due to missing form fields.
@steele-lm that makes sense! We don't have any additional IA recommendations for the MVP at this moment and understand that further IA work might be until later versions.
cc @aliyahblackmore @SarahKay8
Hi @steele-lm and @juliepedtke !
Just tracking some updates here:
cc @laurwill
Thank you @aliyahblackmore and team for all your work on this! Hope you have a great holiday.
Hi @fiorella-io and @juliepedtke -
I'm seeing that you all are replying to some of my questions in sketch today! When you have all of the answers posted there, could you just let us know in this thread so that we can turn back to making any updated content recommendations?
Thanks for your continued collaboration!
Hi @aliyahblackmore! I've replied to all of your questions. We'd need to ask our SMEs for more clarification for some of them, so I'll ping you when we get their answers. Thanks!
Hi @fiorella-io
Thanks for letting me know. I'll look out for a ping from you when you all get the answers from SMEs and I'll make updated content recommendations. And thank you for sharing the DD214 example via Slack.
Also, it looks like you all are updating Sketch files right now, so I can't reply to your comment on the sketch screen about the "Note" alert content. This is my reply and I'll post it there when Sketch is done updating.
Reply:
This isn't outlined in purple (to review ahead of MVP launch) so this wasn't part of our initial review, but this "Note:" content is fine as is.
Hi @fiorella-io !
I also noticed that there are some other content pieces either on new screens (i.e. this in progress screen) or with purple outlines that you mentioned you didn't include before. Can you just confirm that the designs that include purple reflect what we need to review and that there aren't additional areas that you'll plan to outline in purple?
Hi @aliyahblackmore, can you please review the pages on Step 5, and the Review expanded page to make sure we've captured all field label changes. Those are the only pages we need that I had not labeled with purple before.
Thanks @fiorella-io !
I'll take a look at the Upload (Step 5) and Review screens tomorrow. And just an an FYI - as part of our content process, I'll need to pass my review to our managing editor (Laura) and then I'll post my feedback in Sketch.
Additionally, I compiled the remaining SME questions from Sketch in this list:
For the types of documents that show expenses/costs
Is there a need for us to include "statement of account" here OR would it be accurate to say something like "Any documents or receipts you have for the costs of [type of expense]” and not include “statement of account?” Or do we need to specify that if someone is submitting evidence for transportation costs that they’ll need to include a statement of account, in addition to the other documents?
And if we need to include "statement of account" for the transportation costs option, is the information listed on the How to apply page all the of info that the statement of account should include (i.e. the Veteran’s name, the type of service or item purchased, any credits, and the unpaid balance)?
Link [edit 12/7 after Fiorella shared the direct SME notes via Slack]
Based on my interpretation of this note, does this mean that the "services rendered" field only needs to be filled out (with the service dates under that previous name) if the deceased Veteran’s death wasn’t service-connected - but they’re (the claimant) requesting a burial allowance for a service-connected death?
Later in the form flow, you all ask the claimant to select the type of burial allowance (whether that's a non-service-connected or service-connected allowance), but from your description in the sketch comment and from the direct notes, it seems like the services rendered field only needs to be filled out if someone had a name change while they were serving and their death wasn’t service-connected, but the claimant still requests a service-connected burial allowance?
Regarding the question "Are you responsible for the Veteran's [expense type]?"
Does the person responsible for the burial expenses and the claimant need to be the same person?
Using your example, if the child is filling this out (as the claimant who wants a burial allowance), but their parent is the one who is "responsible" for the burial expenses, when they submit documents or receipts as the claimant - do those documents still need to show that they (i.e. the child) paid for expenses?
(PRODUCT question) If the claimant selects "No" on this question, what screen will they get next?
Regarding using "tribal Veteran's cemetery" Link
Regarding postal codes for VA cemeteries Link
What kind of statement does the claimant need to submit? Is this a letter or is this a receipt or document that has certain types of information it (like the claimant's name)? This question applies on the service-connected screen.
Does the claimant also need to submit documents that certify these things (from the How to apply page): The Veteran died while getting VA care, either at a VA facility or at a facility contracted by VA, or The Veteran died while traveling with proper authorization, and at VA’s expense, either to or from a facility for an examination, or to receive treatment or care,
From the PDF form (Evidence table 2 on page 4):
"If your claim is based on a disability that was not established as service-connected during the veteran's lifetime or for which the veteran did not file a claim during his or her lifetime, the evidence must show: • An injury or disease that was incurred or aggravated during active military service, or an event in service that caused an injury or disease; AND • A physical or mental disability that was either the principle and contributory cause of death. This may be shown by medical evidence or by lay evidence of persistent and recurrent symptoms of a disability that were visible or observable; AND • A relationship between the disability associated with the cause of death and an injury, disease, or event in military service. Medical records or medical opinions are generally required to establish this relationship."
Cross posting here
Julie/Fiorella shared the invite to the VBA stakeholder call (this afternoon) a few minutes ago. I won't be able to join, but they have the outlined questions above and Fiorella flagged that they'll share some of the lower impact questions via Teams. I asked them to include me on the Teams messages.
I'll be OOO 12/8, but I'll review the SME replies early next week and make any needed content adjustments.
Hi @aliyahblackmore! Here are my responses.
A Tribal Veterans Cemetery is a type of tribal trust land. They chose to use tribal trust land because it had to do with how some of these tribal cemeteries are laid out and how we might not have every tribal cemetery listed/tracked like we do with state vet cemeteries.
The VA does not administer cemeteries outside of US territories. There are US war cemeteries and memorials located on foreign soil but they are overseen and maintained by an entity separate from VA.
They also mentioned that a claimant doesn’t need to submit evidence for plot or burial allowance. Only if they are claiming transportation allowance they would need an itemized receipt. They mention that most of the rejection is failure to send an itemized receipt, so we’ll need to emphasize this on the Transportation upload page. We will delete the non-service-connected burial, serviced-connected burial, and plot allowances pages since they don’t need to submit evidence for those.
Also since you are now on the Team chat with our SMEs feel free to ask them any additional questions you may have. Thanks!
@fiorella-io Thanks so much, Fiorella!!
I was OOO on Friday, so I'll catch up on these replies today and I'll take a look at any additional replies on Teams and ask questions there directly.
Hi @fiorella-io - following up here!
I checked my Teams chat and VA email and I'm not seeing a chat or thread with SMEs. Could you loop me in?
Hi @aliyahblackmore, I added the responses to the "Intro page screen" and "Plot or internment allowance screens " sections.
Thanks @fiorella-io ! And as we chatted on Slack, I'm now on the Teams thread so I'll send any follow up SME questions there.
Hi @aliyahblackmore let me know if there are any additional content changes. We need to schedule our midpoint review, and they prefer all designs to have the final copy.
As I mentioned before, we have made some changes to Step 5, the document upload page, since transportation is the only benefit that needs evidence, we have removed the non-service-connected burial, serviced-connected burial, and plot allowances pages
Hi @fiorella-io Laura and I are meeting tomorrow to review the content changes - I'll share them with you all in Sketch after.
Perfect! All the changes we have made are in the V2 section of our Sketch file. We don't have a v2 of Step 5, since you had additional questions regarding evidence. I've highlighted the sections that you can review.
Thanks @fiorella-io.
The section label that was previously "MVP" is now "V1" - are you all no longer launching the MVP version?
Yes, we are still launching an MVP. This whole file is the MVP. We just wanted to have a section for the new version with the final copy, which we named v2
Hi @fiorella-io! Review of content is done (as of 12/15)
Notes:
All of my updates to the content based on your notes and SME replies are in the V2 sketch screens and the V1 sketch screen for Step 5.
As we chatted, to remain in scope, I reviewed the content with the purple annotations. But I also included a few other recommendations to better align content across screens with VA style standards and to accurately frame the question around burial expenses.
I also noticed that there was a new piece of content on the benefit selection screen. I made recommendations there.
A few last things:
There’s one error message that you still need to confirm with engineers. When you have that info, I can adjust that content. It’s on this upload screen.
There's a question on the DD214 or other separation documents upload screen. I adjusted the content to include information about "all service periods," based on your above note, but I noticed in the flow that there's no an additional upload button. You all will need to confirm with SMEs that the content recommendation is an accurate interpretation and I can make any adjustments, if needed.
And I pinged you again on the other evidence screen – based on the previous upload screens I’m not sure that this additional screen is necessary. I included content recommendations just in case.
(edit 12/21) And there's a comment in this screen about "services rendered." We'll need to circle back to SMEs early in January to clarity a few things. First, I want to clarify whether "services rendered" refers to the deceased Veteran's military service under that previous name or does this refer to services - like benefits - the Veteran received from VA under their previous name? I also want to get a bit more clarity about what specific information someone should enter here. "Services rendered" isn't a specific field on the DD214 (based on the sample Fiorella shared), so we'll need a plain language version here or we'll need to better explain the types of information they can enter.
I need to sign off for this evening, but I'll check in on this ticket next week.
Thanks for the continued collaboration.
Thank you so much @aliyahblackmore! I'll review everything and get back to you.
Thanks @fiorella-io !
Also flagging here that the entire content side of the CAIA team will be OOO Dec 25 to Jan 2.
Hi @fiorella-io! Happy New Year!
I pinged you on a few comments in Sketch (V2). It seems like there are some new adjustments to the flow and content on the military service (branch of service drop down and previous name "services rendered" changes) and upload screens (transportation costs and DD214 upload screen are not longer there).
Are all of the recent flow/content updates ready? If so, I'll take a look at the content and make any needed adjustments.
Hi @aliyahblackmore Happy new year! 🎉 We've been updating some pages based on the midpoint review feedback we got.
The DD214 upload now resides right after the DD214 question. The transportation upload page has stayed on Step 5. Feel free to take another look at everything. We just finished implementing all the MUST and SHOULD feedback for our MVP.
Thanks @fiorella-io I'll take a look tomorrow!
Could you link the MUST and SHOULD feedback here?
Updates here:
Tracking some updates here:
Tracking some updates here:
Cross posting and tracking some updates here:
Some content next steps:
Tracking some updates here:
Hi @steele-lm @fiorella-io I created an IA spec to document the entry point for the about form page . We're also updating the best bet so it links to the online application instead of the "how to apply" page. I've also tagged the IA tracker in the task list and this also houses the IA spec for reference. Other than that, we don't have additional IA feedback.
In addition, we had previously suggested updating the form link so that it's up to date and follows URL standards and that this work would begin in a later version. This form will eventually be moving to the family benefits hub and so as not to duplicate the work, we can plan to update the URL then. Looping in @mnorthuis in case you have any other questions about the family benefits hub.
Tracking a general notes here for awareness (this was already communicated via Slack and Figma):
FYSA @aprocik1 @fiorella-io and @steele-lm
About your team
CAIA Support Request
Describe what you need in a few sentences:
We would like CAIA to review the critical updates we are making to the 530EZ burial form, so it can be successfully processed.
We ask that the scope of CAIA's review be limited to the form pages we are touching, so we can quickly release a working MVP version of the updated form. Future work will focus on taking a more comprehensive look at the form to determine additional enhancements, replace depreciated design components, and address accessibility issues.
The current online form is missing critical fields that were added to the paper form over the last 2 years. These missing fields are causing significant processing delays and putting additional burden on Veterans.
The changes include adding missing fields and removing depreciated fields.
Fixing the 530 form is a high-priority for OCTO and the VBA.
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