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The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Office of Information and Technology (OIT) is taking an exciting new approach to designing and implementing cutting-edge information technology (IT) products and services. Our newly appointed Chief Information Officer (CIO), Mr. Kurt DelBene, recently defined a fresh vision upon which we can continue our digital transformation efforts, and we can’t wait to show you what’s in store.
Executives across our organization are rallying behind this vision to prepare their service lines for the innovative projects just over the horizon. Each service line will have a specialized approach to enacting the CIO’s vision, and we’ve asked leaders from each service to reveal their plans in the Vision 2022 video series.
Our vision has four priorities, each building on the others and connected by the heart of our mission at OIT: to deliver world-class IT solutions to Veterans, their families, and caregivers.
The first priority outlined in OIT’s vision is vision-driven execution. Each of our Product Lines and Portfolios will have a two- or three-year plan from which we can guide and measure our success. In taking this route, we align our efforts with our partners’ and customers’ priorities from day one.
“When Mr. DelBene talks about vision-driven execution, he also talks about a clear one-to-N priority list,” said Brad Houston, Acting Deputy Chief Information Officer for the Account Management Office. “What that means is we get to work with our business partners and say, ‘What’s your first priority, second priority, [all the way] to your last priority.’ So, we can create that clear list of the things that are most urgent and make sure we focus on those first.”
Identifying our partners’ priorities is an essential first step, but our core function at OIT is to deliver unparalleled IT products and services. Our second priority – operational excellence– speaks to that primary function. Operational excellence wraps into one package efficient stewardship of taxpayer dollars, effective engineering, and airtight security.
We see operational excellence on display with the acquisition and implementation of software as a service (SaaS) models such as OIT’s SaaS Software Factory.
“A lot of our growth has really been in SaaS products, and we need to be able to scale our processes, our staffing, and our resources around that growth in SaaS,” said Dan McCune, Executive Director for Software Product Management. “SaaS Software Factory does that for us. It brings engineering excellence to the intake and management of SaaS products, and I’m super excited about releasing that shortly.”
Despite being broken into four priorities, OIT’s vision really comes down to one major theme – “delighting” Veterans, families, and caregivers who depend on VA for a range of critical services. We don’t wait for challenges to arise and then scramble to overcome them; we anticipate users’ needs, incorporate their feedback, and deliver products and services that transform how they live.
“We take delightful end-user experiences seriously,” said Carrie Lee, Acting Executive Director for Product Engineering. “We assign user experience researchers and designers who go out and meet with Veterans where they are to get feedback on the tools as we design them. We do this so we can provide excellent end-user experiences.”
There’s a lot of work to be done, and there’s a whiff of change in the air. So how do we enact this change?
It starts with us. Our fourth priority, people excellence, grants employees both the responsibility and the opportunity to be public servants. We will be an “on ramp” for talented and diverse recruits – especially Veterans – and an “off ramp” that prepares every employee for whatever he or she pursues after serving our nations Veterans.
Whether it’s streamlining benefits processing in response to the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 (Pact Act), or releasing one of the countless mobile apps developed for Veteran or business partner use, the end goal is the same – satisfied users that can depend on VA services to be streamlined and secure.
We invite you take a few minutes to check out what’s next in store by watching the Vision 2022 video series.
