Appears In
To better engage and serve Veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Information and Technology (OIT) recently launched a redesigned ‘My VA’ customer dashboard on VA.gov. Previously, when Veterans would use the ‘My VA’ option on the upper right corner of the VA.gov homepage to log onto their own dashboard, it showed frequent user tasks but not all applied to them and they couldn’t easily see a consolidated view of their benefit statuses or the tasks requiring their attention or action.
The new ‘My VA’ design changes all that and succeeds in putting the Veterans’ specific benefit status, information, and actions needed right at their fingertips. The simplified, user-centric, dashboard is set up to grow and change based on Veterans’ needs. The VA.gov design team tested several iterations directly with Veterans and incorporated feedback by adding the following new features to the dashboard:
- Disability rating
- Real time updates and Veteran items related to active disability claims
- A Veteran’s upcoming health care appointments, prescription updates, and unread messages from their doctor
- The ability to continue working on VA.gov benefit applications, picking up right where they left off
- Suggested benefits that Veterans may not yet be aware of
What Veterans are saying
“I like it. I have a similar one for work because I work in finance, so it can pinpoint what needs actions, pending or in progress, so it is a one-stop shop.”
“I think it covers any questions or guides the Veteran where to go if they have any questions. I don’t think they could leave this without finding an answer. “
Oh, my disability rating is just right up top — I love that!
“At VA, our number one priority is delivering excellent customer service to our Veterans,” says Charles Worthington, VA’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO). He applauded the developers who collaborated to bring this innovative digital solution to deployment. “It has been incredible to see VA staff from across the agency come together and quickly deliver creative solutions to new problems. The re-designed ‘My VA’ is a great example of VA’s commitment to using new technologies to improve VA services,” Mr. Worthington said.
Before and After
As usage of the re-designed dashboard grows, the VA.gov design team will monitor the dashboard’s performance. Near-term updates to the dashboard include:
- Information about home loans
- Direct deposit information
- Benefit eligibility requirements customized to the Veteran
- Centralized notifications and messaging from across a Veteran’s entire benefit portfolio
Veterans can access ‘My VA’ simply by logging onto VA.gov and choosing ‘My VA’ from the top of the page. Since the re-designed dashboard’s launch on July 14, 2021, more than 600,000 VA.gov visitors have taken advantage of ‘My VA,’ with more than 400,000 of those visitors using ‘My VA’ for the first time.
The launch of this new ‘My VA’ is one of the ways VA is reaffirming its commitment to provide Veterans with the best customer experiences.
