[CAIA Intake] Content and link misalignment for form 21-0781

[mmiddaugh]

Content, accessibility, information architecture (CAIA) new initiative collaboration request

Use this ticket to request collaboration on a new initiative with the sitewide content, accessibility, and information architecture (CAIA) team.

About your team

• Team name: Sitewide Public Websites
• OCTO product owner: Michelle Middaugh
• Product name: Find a form
• Product manager: Fran Cross
• Slack channel: #sitewide-public-websites

About your initiative

Which of these descriptions best fits the work we’ll partner on?

Select all that apply.

• [ ] Digitizing a new form
• [ ] Creating a new digital tool
• [ ] Updating an existing form or tool
• [ ] Translating a form or tool into Spanish
• [ ] Adding new unauthenticated content to VA.gov
• [ ] Updating existing unauthenticated content on VA.gov
• [x] Something else: Form detail page accuracy review

What's the nature of your initiative and desired outcomes?

• Veterans reported confusion and frustration related to Form 21-0781 [Statement in Support of Claimed Mental Health Disorder(s) Due to an In-Service Traumatic Event(s)] in Medallia feedback (Jan-June 2024).
• The Online link points to How to file a VA disability claim which is not a tool.
• The 526 does not include this form.
• Form 21-0781 is an optional form which can be submitted in support of a claimed mental health disorder.

Goals

• The About page for Form 21-0781 should be reviewed for accuracy.
• if there is an online version of the form, the link should be updated.
• if there is not an online form, the link should be removed.

Collaboration timeframe

Note: We work on nearly every OCTO product and manage all unauthenticated content on VA.gov, so we will need to prioritize intake requests based on overall workload and VA and OCTO priorities.

Is this work tied to a Congressional mandate, change in law or policy, or upcoming event with a specific deadline?

• [ ] Yes
• [ x] No
• [ ] I’m not sure

Where are you at in your timeline?

Tell us briefly about what you're working on now (such as initial discovery, wireframing, or usability research planning) and add any known dates for upcoming milestones or deadlines.

Enter your description here

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

• [ ] Yes

• [ ] No

  Note: For an incremental launch, we use React widgets to display dynamic content. We'll need at least 2 weeks of extra time to coordinate the content for this and work with your engineer. Learn more about our process for dynamic content. If your launch plans change, notify CAIA of the change as soon as possible so we can talk about how that will impact the timeline.

If you are releasing incrementally:

• What dates do you anticipate starting and ending your incremental launch? Enter dates
• What is the name of your engineer who will build the React widget? Name

Collaboration cycle

Which phases of the collaboration cycle have you completed?

Select all that apply.

• [ ] Design intent
• [ ] Midpoint review
• [ ] Staging
• [ ] None. This initiative isn’t going through the collaboration cycle.

Collaboration cycle ticket

If you’re going through the collaboration cycle, provide a link to your Collaboration Cycle Request:

• Hyperlinked Ticket Number:

Next steps

• [ ] Review the remaining next steps in the VFS team tasks section here.
• [ ] If you also need engineering support from the public websites team, fill out their intake request form as well: Open a public websites intake request
• [ ] If you're requesting a page/URL redirect, a URL change, or a vanity URL, submit an additional request for this work: Open a redirect, URL change, or vanity URL request
• [ ] If you're creating an experimental design, also contact the design system team: Read more about experimental designs
  Suggest an addition or update to the design system team
• [ ] If you're requesting a11y support for usability research, submit a research support request next: Open an a11y research support request
• [ ] If you are requesting content support, please share your content source of truth (preferably as a SharePoint document).

[mmiddaugh]

FYDA @mnorthuis

[strelichl]

Note for CAIA: we want to look into the reasoning for linking to the page rather than tool (online vs PDF?). A will investigate.

[aprocik1]

@mmiddaugh, thanks for submitting this intake ticket.

Shannon recently asked us to update the About VA Form 21-0781 page in this related intake ticket. Shannon and SMEs reviewed the page before it was published, so it should be accurate.

That said, I agree with the Medallia feedback--this experience is very confusing.

It's my understanding that the online VA Form 21-526EZ includes the outdated VA Form 21-0781. The only way for a Veteran to submit an up-to-date VA Form 21-0781 is to complete a PDF. Correct me if I'm misunderstanding!

If that's true, I think this may be a product team decision. Should we update the online VA Form 21-526EZ to match the up-to-date VA Form 21-0781? Or, should we remove the link to the online VA Form 21-526EZ on the About VA Form 21-0781 page?

cc @jinaryu @katherine-fung @shannonkford

[mnorthuis]

Having an H3 for the online tool and an action link to it under an H2 heading stating that the pdf is recommended is conflicting. If the online form does not fully support the 0781, we shouldn't be referencing it as an online tool for this form.

My recommendation would be to remove the online tool heading and action link and replace it with general content about the what they can/can't do within the online 526. A text link to the 526 could still be provided in this, but it wouldn't be the primary CTA on the page - the focus would be on the recommended downloadable pdf.

A couple other suggestions:

• This form is not impacting a person's health care benefits, so that should be removed from the "Related to" line at the top
• Under "When to use", there is a significant amount of information that seems like it should be part of the benefit eligibility page, not here...unless it is already somewhere in the disability benefit info and I'm not seeing it. Either way, I would suggest the info live within eligibility, and this page points to it. The purpose of this page is to describe the form, not provide eligibility info.

[katherine-fung]

Thanks @mmiddaugh @mnorthuis @aprocik1!

I'm in the process of drafting updates to the page:

• replacing the online tool link for the "How to file a VA disability claim" with a link to the disability claim application. The online disability claim application does include the 0781 online questions.
• replacing the H2 and body copy recommending the PDF with an information alert. I'll need some support with this because the alert header is still an H2 that should be an H4.
• editing the copy about the PDF
• removing eligibility information under the "When to use" header

@shannonkford - given Veterans' negative feedback via Medallia, Mikki's guidance and Michelle's request, can we communicate to the SMEs that we need to make these updates?