[CAIA Intake] Benefits and Claims Non-Disability Experience: Review Burial Form Updates

[steele-lm]

About your team

• Team name: Benefits and Claims | Lifestage Benefits Crew | Non-Disability Experience
• OCTO-DE product owner: Emily Theis
• Product manager: Laura Steele
• Designer: Fiorella Glavez
• Accessibility specialist: none
• Content writer: none
• Slack channel: benefits-non-disability

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.

  • We intend to fix defect-0 and defect-1 level A11y errors, but we would like to limit those fixes to the pages we are touching with these field updates.

• 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.

Which are you doing?

• [ ] Launching a new page, tool, form, or app
• [x] Making changes to an existing page, tool, form, or app

Types of Support

What areas does your team need support in? Check all that apply.

Content

• [x] Collaboration on content written by your team’s dedicated content writer
• [ ] Collaboration on content if your team does not have a dedicated content writer

  Accessibility

• [x] Accessibility review of wireframes and/or prototypes
• [ ] Accessibility issue (general request)
• [ ] Accessibility PDF review request
• [ ] Accessibility user research support (submit a separate, additional request)
• [ ] #91543
• [ ] Something else

  IA

• [x] User Flows
• [ ] Page placement
• [ ] URLs
• [ ] Breadcrumbs and Left Nav placement
• [ ] Redirects

  Multilingual content

• [ ] Translating content

Timeframe

We guide and work alongside teams across nearly every OCTO digital product. We also work with partners across VA to lead content migration and manage all unauthenticated content on VA.gov. And we're always working to expand the VA.gov content style guide and our IA and accessibility documentation. We need to prioritize all intake requests based on our overall workload and VA and OCTO priorities.

Tell us about your product's timeline. And we'll work with you to meet timeline needs as best we can.

Have you worked with CAIA before?

• [x] Yes
• [ ] No

What's your team’s next step and its timing?

• Our next step is collaborating with VBA SMEs to answer a few outstanding questions and updating the 530 form after CAIA sign-off.
• Provide date if available: ASAP

Timing for your next step:

• [x] Next week
• [x] This month
• [ ] Next month
• [ ] This quarter
• [ ] Next quarter
• [ ] 6 months
• [ ] 1 year

Is this timing related to a specific event or Congressionally mandated deadline?

• [ ] Yes
• [x] No

If you're conducting research, when is that starting?

Provide date if available: xx/xx/xxxx

• [ ] Next week
• [ ] This month
• [ ] Next month
• [ ] This quarter
• [ ] Next quarter
• [ ] 6 months
• [ ] 1 year

Will you release this new product incrementally (for example, release to 25% of users to start)?

• [ ] Yes
• [x] No

Note: If you checked yes, we’ll reach out to discuss details about the content in the react widget (we use these widgets to display entry points for new products to a certain percentage of users who visit our static pages).

When do you expect to launch your product to 100% of users?

Please provide an estimated date so our team can create other relevant tickets.

• We expect to launch our product to 100% of users on: December 2023 - January 2024

Collaboration Cycle

Will this work be going through the Collaboration Cycle?

• [x] Yes
• [ ] No

If no ...

• Skip to the supporting artifacts section, below.

If yes ...

Please provide the link to your Collaboration Cycle ticket:

• Ticket (number): #65251
• Collab. Cycle Ticket Opened (date): 9/08/2023

Please check all of the phases in the Collaboration Cycle you have completed:

• [x] Design Intent
• [ ] Midpoint Review
• [ ] Staging

For planning purposes, please check all of the phases in the Collaboration Cycle you feel you might need CAIA support and guidance:

Design Intent

• [ ] Accessibility
• [ ] Content
• [ ] IA
• [ ] Translation
• [x] Already completed, no assistance needed
• [ ] Unknown at this time

  Midpoint

• [x] Accessibility
• [x] Content
• [x] IA
• [ ] Translation
• [ ] Already completed, no assistance needed
• [ ] Unknown at this time

  Staging

• [x] Accessibility
• [x] Content
• [x] IA
• [ ] Translation
• [ ] Already completed, no assistance needed
• [ ] Unknown at this time

Supporting artifacts

Please provide links to supporting artifacts as available.

• Product outline: https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/blob/master/products/pension/2019%20files/README.md
• User flows: https://sketch.com/s/de782a35-e147-4c32-a2a8-ba53071ec8e7
• Prototype or mockups: https://sketch.com/s/de782a35-e147-4c32-a2a8-ba53071ec8e7
• If this is in Sketch, which version or specific page should we focus on? Within each section, provide feedback on the "proposed" version of the screens.
• Content source of truth: Within Sketch file.
• Research plan: DNA
• Any epics/issues that may be helpful: Update Burial 530 Online Form
• Link to testing accounts (please do not paste them in this ticket): https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/blob/master/products/burials-memorials/burial-allowance/530-staging-test-accounts.md

Additional Support: Collaborative Sessions

Have you already worked with someone from OCTO leadership?

• [x] Emily Theise, Julie Strothman
• [ ] Danielle
• [ ] Beth
• [ ] Mikki
• [ ] Martha

How do you plan to work with us on this request?

• [ ] I’ll take this to Beth or Danielle’s office hours.
• [ ] I’d like to schedule time to talk about this.
• [x] Let’s work async and meet as needed.
• [x] Schedule a kick-off call with your team and CAIA for your project (Recommended)

Accessibility Help in Slack

The #accessibility-help channel in the DSVA Slack, is also available to you as a resource. Everyone is welcome to ask questions or get help from our a11y (accessibility) specialists. Tag @Terry Nichols to get a11y help asap.

Next steps

Once you’ve submitted this ticket, please post a link to this issue in the #sitewide-content-ia Slack channel and tag @Terry Nichols.

• If you also need engineering support from the Public Websites team, fill out their intake request form.

• If you need a page/URL redirected, a URL changed or a vanity URL set up, please submit a Redirect, URL change, or vanity URL request

  • If you are creating an experimental design, please also contact the DST.

• If you are requesting a11y support for user research, please complete this form, next.

### CAIA Ops Tasks
- [x] Scheduled Kickoff Meeting - Mon Nov 6th - 4:30 PM ET
- [x] https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/69301
- [x] Recording Link from Kickoff [Needs Added to Deliverable](https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/blob/master/teams/CAIA/meeting-notes/2022-11-06-Kickoff-Meeting-Burials-Form-Updates-Non-Disability-Experience-Team.md) by @coforma-terry

### CAIA a11y Tasks
- [ ] https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/69302
- [ ] [a11y Support] Benefits and Claims Non-Disability Experience: Burial Form Updates: Midpoint Prep `Midpoint Date TBD - Convert Task to Ticket Pending`
- [ ] [a11y Support] Benefits and Claims Non-Disability Experience: Burial Form Updates: Staging Prep `Staging Date TBD - Convert Task to Ticket Pending`
- [ ] [a11y attend meeting] Benefits and Claims Non-Disability Experience: Burial Form Updates: Watch or Attend Midpoint `Date TBD`
- [ ] [a11y attend meeting] Benefits and Claims Non-Disability Experience: Burial Form Updates: Watch or Attend Staging `Date TBD`
- [ ] [a11y Support] Communicate Midpoint Prep Finidngs to the VFS Team via Slack and Ticket tags

### CAIA Content Tasks
- [ ] https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/73370
- [ ] https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/74092

### CAIA IA Tasks
- [ ] https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/78479

[sara-amanda]

CAIA Update

• [x] 11/6/2023 Kickoff Meeting Deliverable
• [x] Recording Link: @steele-lm or @coforma-terry to add when available

[steele-lm]

@sara-amanda @coforma-terry I added the recording link here

[aliyahblackmore]

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!

[steele-lm]

@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!

[aliyahblackmore]

@steele-lm thanks for letting me know! I'll tag you both in sketch questions.

[aliyahblackmore]

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

[jennymayoco]

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?

[steele-lm]

@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.

[jennymayoco]

@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

[aliyahblackmore]

Hi @steele-lm and @juliepedtke !

Just tracking some updates here:

• Our content feedback and outstanding question are in the sketch screens. When you all reply to our questions, we need to make adjustments to content before MVP launch.
• When you all update the designs based on the SME feedback that you all got from your meeting last Thursday, let us know and we can make any needed adjustments to the content (the areas with the pink notes) before MVP launch.
• I'll be OOO starting tomorrow (11/21) until Friday (11/24). If there are any urgent questions tomorrow or early on Wednesday, you all can tag Laura here.

cc @laurwill

[juliepedtke]

Thank you @aliyahblackmore and team for all your work on this! Hope you have a great holiday.

[aliyahblackmore]

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!

[fiorella-io]

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!

[aliyahblackmore]

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.

[aliyahblackmore]

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?

[fiorella-io]

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.

[aliyahblackmore]

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:

Intro page screen

Link

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)?

Military history screen

Link

• Is the person filling out the form likely to know the service history information without a copy of the DD214?
• Is the respondent burden lower if the person fills out the fields for service history or if they upload a copy (if they upload a copy)?
• Can you all confirm that if someone uploads the DD214 that they can skip all of the service history questions?

Previous names screen

Link [edit 12/7 after Fiorella shared the direct SME notes via Slack]

• What do they mean by the note "Only applied if they don't have a running service-connected award and are applying to service-connected burial...?" And more specifically, can you all get clarification on what they mean by "running service-connected award" and "applying to service-connected burial?"

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?

Another name button

Link

• Can you all confirm with SMEs if it's likely that someone will enter more than one name previous name? I took another look at the PDF and I'm wondering if there needs to be a "Add another name" button here. On the PDF, there's only one field for another name ("If Veteran served under name other than that shown in Item 1...").

Burial/plot/transportation allowance screens

Link

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?

Plot or internment allowance screens

Regarding using "tribal Veteran's cemetery" Link

• Can you all confirm with SMEs that "tribal Veterans cemetery" is the same as "tribal trust land?" We want to be sure that our recommended change (to align with what's on VA.gov) is accurate before you all change this in the online form.

Regarding postal codes for VA cemeteries Link

• We only use "postal code" when asking for addresses outside of the US. Are there any VA cemeteries that are outside of the US?

Upload screen for non-service-connected death allowance

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,

Upload screen service-connected death

Link

• What type of evidence should they submit that certifies that the Veteran's service-connected disability contributed to their death?
• And does the online version of the form need this information from the PDF about non-service-connected disabilities?

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."

[aliyahblackmore]

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.

[fiorella-io]

Hi @aliyahblackmore! Here are my responses.

Intro page screen

• This is what they mean by statement: Statement of incurrence can just be a check mark on the application. The definition of statement is contextual for VA burials and is dependent on some different regulations. When we are asking them to provide a statement they incurred the expense, there are questions on the application that fulfill that requirement. Transportation is the only allowance that requires a statement not on the application to support the claim. We currently need an itemized burial receipt to support a claim for transportation reimbursement.

Military history screen

• Not without DD214 or other separation papers
• We didn’t touch base on the respondent burden, but we will increase it from 15mins to 30 minutes to match the paper form
• Yes, if someone selects that they have their DD214, they will be able to skip the service history. However, we learned from our SMEs that a Veteran can serve, receive a DD214, and then serve again, so they would have more than one. We need to add that if they are uploading a DD214 make sure it includes all their service periods. We should include this copy in Step 3 where we ask if they have a DD214, and in Step 5, where we ask to upload it.

Previous names screen

• Shouldn’t matter if it’s service-connected. If they served under a different name, they want to know that for service and non-service connected and they want to know what services were rendered under that name. They did mention that this information can be on a DD214. Also, since it’s a question on the paper form, they want to make sure it’s also on the new burial form.

Another name button

• Having served under different names is an edge case, but the existing burial online experience allows for multiple entries. We want to keep this functionality on the new burial form

Burial/plot/transportation allowance screens

• Yes the claimant needs to be responsible for the expenses
• My example was not a good one 😅
• If they answer that they are NOT responsible for the expenses (we ask this responsibility question for plot and burial expenses), they will not receive an allowance for those two benefits. Nothing else will appear or change in the form if No is selected

Plot or internment allowance screens

• 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.

Upload screen for non-service-connected death allowance

• If the claimant has previously applied for benefits VA might already have the Veteran’s medical records. If they haven’t previously applied, they would get a letter asking for medical records after they submit the burial form.
• The death certificate would include this information. They mentioned that the eligibility and evidence table on the paper has the latest content and that the How to Apply page might not.

Upload screen service-connected death

• Just by selecting “Yes” that they are responsible for the expenses, if it’s service-connected, that’s all the evidence they need. 



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!

[aliyahblackmore]

@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.

[aliyahblackmore]

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?

[fiorella-io]

Hi @aliyahblackmore, I added the responses to the "Intro page screen" and "Plot or internment allowance screens " sections.

[aliyahblackmore]

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.

[fiorella-io]

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

[aliyahblackmore]

Hi @fiorella-io Laura and I are meeting tomorrow to review the content changes - I'll share them with you all in Sketch after.

[fiorella-io]

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.

[aliyahblackmore]

Thanks @fiorella-io.

The section label that was previously "MVP" is now "V1" - are you all no longer launching the MVP version?

[fiorella-io]

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

[aliyahblackmore]

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.

[fiorella-io]

Thank you so much @aliyahblackmore! I'll review everything and get back to you.

[aliyahblackmore]

Thanks @fiorella-io !

Also flagging here that the entire content side of the CAIA team will be OOO Dec 25 to Jan 2.

[aliyahblackmore]

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.

[fiorella-io]

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.

[aliyahblackmore]

Thanks @fiorella-io I'll take a look tomorrow!

Could you link the MUST and SHOULD feedback here?

[aliyahblackmore]

Updates here:

• Their team shared that they'll need a content review of a few modal screens Step 3: Service periods Step 3: Veteran’s previous name Step 5: Upload documents
• They made a slight adjustment to the flow - I'll need review the military history screens again and update content.
• They removed the "2 year" information from the form and we'll make updates to the "filing time limit" section of the page. Tracking those content needs in https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/73370.

[aliyahblackmore]

Tracking some updates here:

• Fiorella pinged me last week to let me know their team transferred all Sketch designs to Figma.
• I'm currently heads down on other product work, but I let her know that I'd do a review of the Figma screens this week (2/7) and confirm that all Sketch content recs and any questions are resolved in Figma.
• MVP launch date is TBD.

[aliyahblackmore]

Tracking some updates here:

• Just tracking here that I did a review of all the Figma screens to confirm any content changed are in Figma.
• I noticed there's a new screen in Figma - the confirmation screen. I'll wait for Fiorella to confirm whether they'll need a review for MVP.
• Laura S. shared (2/8) that they have a plan for the launch. She shared details via Slack - I'll take a look next week.

[aliyahblackmore]

Cross posting and tracking some updates here:

• 2/13 we walked through the release plan and flows for auth/unauth users for the V1 and V2 versions of the form.
• The product team will confirm a few questions about showing different confirmation screens. A different screen would need to show for any in-progress V1 forms -- content needs to explain that VBA will contact them with more questions about their application.

Some content next steps:

• I'll reach out to SMEs about how they request additional information for an users that submit V1 of the form. Will they send them a PDF version of the form to fill out? Will they always send a PDF or will they sometimes just request specific documents?
• We'll make updates to the How to apply static page to align with the new form updates (including an alert about the form changes - similar to the pension form). I'll have SMEs review and approve the accuracy of those content changes and I'll share a SharePoint document with you all that includes the content for the incremental launch -- content that users who can use the new form will see
• And we'll also share with SMEs that we'll include an alert on the static page and (TBD) the form intro page, similar to the pension form. Alert will let users know that there are updates to the form and they'll need to review their answers and answer new question.
• Closer to the launch date, maybe in early March, let's set up a meeting with the copy editor to discuss the incremental launch and the review she'll need to do once the content is in staging. You all will have to turn on the flipper and she'll take a look at the content. I'll set a calendar reminder to circle back on this meeting and finding a time in early March!

[aliyahblackmore]

Tracking some updates here:

• I'll plan to turn back to this work next week (I've have to work on a very high priority content item for another team this week).
• Product team is expecting some additional SME feedback next week.
• I'll send a question via Teams about what happens after forms are submitted. For example, does VBA review the application and send a letter in the mail with the decision.
• Still waiting on confirmation from product team about the release plan for saved and in-progress forms. I flagged the content and UX considerations for the team last week. They'll circle back.

[jennymayoco]

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.

[aliyahblackmore]

Tracking a general notes here for awareness (this was already communicated via Slack and Figma):

• I made initial content adjustments (4/30) to the updated FDC flow designs that the product team decided to move forward with. I'm in the process of making additional adjustments based on new information from SMEs.
• On 5/6 and 5/7, SMEs shared via Teams that medical records or authorization for VA to retrieve medical information is only an optional document if the applicant is claiming a burial allowance for a service-connected death.
• Given this new information for SMEs, the form flow should be updated with conditional logic to decrease cognitive load and increase clarity. Currently, all users see information about medical records, but the information is only necessary for users who select "service-connected burial allowance." Because the product team previously decided to leave the flow as it is, the team should decide when and how they will update the flow based on the new SME information from this week.
  • One suggestion - if someone selects that they're claiming a burial allowance for a service-connected death, later in the flow, the supporting documents are shown conditionally, and they're shown an upload screen for the medical records/ an authorization for release of records. On the confirmation screen, details about medical records are shown conditionally. The designers and product team should determine how to integrate some sort of conditional logic in to the form flow and determine when this can happen.
  • And because there aren't specific questions about medical records on the PDF version of the form, the product team needs to confirm how any additional flow updates would impact the back end.

FYSA @aprocik1 @fiorella-io and @steele-lm