MyService is innovative because:
Increased digital information sharing across Australian Government Departments. By sharing data, we removed the burden from our clients, speed up our processing and have continued to iterate
Undertaking research into service conditions that affect the Defence Force globally has removed the need in some cases for individual clients to prove their claims. It is already done for them.
Implemented an end-to-end digital process for clients to, prove their identity, provide critical information, automatic update of legislative instruments, and adopting a risk-based approach through evidenced-based policy development and application of AI/ Machine Learning to provide instantaneous determinations to clients in specific cases, improving consistency and speed of claims processing, allowing more time to deal with complex case management.
For some claims types the need to lodge a claim has been removed and eligibility is advised when it is met through service.

Importantly, the project has started to change the culture within DVA, moving the focus from claims to clients. The new perspective to help veterans be healthy and productive has gained significant traction with the DVA leadership group. At a department-wide executive forum, over 25% of those present listed this as a critical takeaway, despite not having heard the expression ‘to be healthy and productive’ before the forum.
Apart from the client benefits the most telling outcome has been MyService has moved from being a demonstration project to becoming the new DVA client Portal with no changes required. The lack of change can be attributed to engaging with and understanding the users. This was to be a separately funded project for the Department and has meant a savings of millions of dollars.
Riding on the success of this project, future projects are flagged to commence using the same approach and has led to the adoption of an agile, client-centred and multi-disciplinary approach.

MyService is a joint effort between multiple Australian Government Departments in partnership with private sector consultancies and our end users. Government departments provide subject matter expertise, infrastructure development, information sharing capabilities, and experience in project delivery. The collaborative user design approach has been supported by service/ interaction design and user research expertise and is enabled by innovative policy development.

MyService improves client experience streamlining the paper-based process into an online system with a minimum number of intuitive questions designed to be specific to a client’s circumstances and provides clients with instant access to health providers. Reduced effort, improved efficiency and consistency of decision making supports staff to take a client-centred approach and aligns to the whole of government strategic directions.

In April 2017 the 3-month MyService Beta trial was completed. Claims processing reduced from 117 days average to 33 days, with a needs assessment compliance rate going from approximately 30% to 90% completion. This success resulted in the adoption of MyService as the future client facing portal.
As at 14 March, 2,808 clients were registered, with 2,739 claims submitted. In December 2017, 54% of MRCA claims received were lodged through MyService, an increase of over 150% of the previous incidence of electronically lodged claims.
Flash forward to October 2018, 33,590 clients had registered to submit 11,255 claims lodged electronically. 217 instant determinations have been made since the implementation of this feature in July 2018.

The project team included all disciplines necessary for success. Engaging the policy and operational sections of the department needed to be better. The policy sections were initially involved in the earlier stages of the project. However, this level of engagement decreased throughout the project. Operational subject matter experts were embedded in the project and as a result communication with the business areas was reduced. A critical consequence of this reduced engagement resulted in significantly delaying the considerations regarding policy change and slowed business changes. Change management to operationalise business process also proved to be difficult.

The Australian Government is making a significant investment in transforming veteran services to provide the community with a higher standard of service. DVA is doing this by improving business processes and culture, to shift the focus to the veteran and away from the claim process, identification and implementation of best practice service options and targeted ICT redevelopment.
MyService was initiated in response to a growing need for DVA to modernise its service delivery to veterans. Senior executive support and buy-in the broader Australian government to endorse and fund this provided the impetus to work in a very different way to previous attempts to transform veteran service delivery.

Following the Digital Service Design and Delivery methodology delivered a simple, accessible way for clients to digitally navigate the complicated administrative claims process in a repeatable method. The innovations in ICT and evidence-based policy development can be and are encouraged to be replicated by other Australian Government Agencies. The Policy and legal innovations developed are directly relevant to several other international governments who leverage the same legislative instruments in determining liability for their government for veterans health and compensation services. DVA is adopting the same approach for other benefit types not already available by MyService.

There continue to be lessons learned as part of the MyService project ranging from the importance of listening to clients lived experience, building team capability, to lack of easy access to clients to undertake user testing.
Clients expect Government agencies to work together sharing data to benefit clients. Where Government can proactively source data and information it should removing the burden on individuals. Defence know what its members experience and information should be available to DVA when required. Forcing individuals to source this information is inefficient, costly and demonstrates a lack of empathy to individuals by Government. This is unacceptable in an environment such as for Veterans where the Government has a moral obligation to help.
Multi-disciplinary teams achieve far more than individual business and ICT project teams. The cross-agency collaboration was a key strength with all team members co-located allowing the team to develop a united culture focused on delivering better outcomes for veterans.
There is value in all team members engaging with our clients and staff, and IT iterations cannot be carried out in isolation from users. This creates empathy and reaps huge dividends later. An additional finding was it is vital for all team members, regardless of their skills and role, to participate in user engagement.
Keeping staff skills and knowledge up to date ensured the team had the capability to deliver the project. Too often we look to outsource technological risks instead of owning them. We try to solve the easy problems, instead of taking on the difficult ones, doing it right, to begin with. MyService showed this is possible to do but also this way of working can be challenging and does not suit everyone.
Another important lesson was the importance of engaging the policy section of the department. Initially engaged early in the project, this was allowed to lapse. Continued consultation could have enabled earlier outcomes.