Pattern proposal review: Help users to...Manage benefits and tools

[amycole501]

This issue will be considered done once the Help users to manage benefits and tools pattern proposal has been thoroughly evaluated for accessibility and usability criteria.

Discussed in uswds/uswds#6441

^{Originally posted by bellepx0 March 13, 2025}

Component name

Manage benefits and tools pattern

Component description

Related Resources

Service List Item component proposal
Design: Figma
Veterans Affairs Design System Documentation on Service List Item
Veterans Affairs Design System Documentation on "Help users to…Manage benefits and tools" pattern

The "Help users to… Manage benefits and tools" pattern provides Veterans with a clear, actionable way to track and interact with their benefits and tools. By streamlining the presentation of benefits-related information, this pattern ensures Veterans can easily view their current benefits, take necessary actions, and discover additional benefits they may qualify for.

This pattern tackles two major challenges in the Veteran digital experience:

• Veterans don’t know to come to VA.gov. Many Veterans are unaware of the full range of benefits available to them, leading to underutilization of essential services.
• Once they are here, Veterans don’t know where to go. Navigating VA’s complex systems to find relevant services can be confusing, making it difficult for Veterans to take full advantage of the benefits they’ve earned.

Additionally, this pattern addresses key usability barriers, including:

• Difficulty finding benefits information in one place
• Inconsistent presentation of benefits data across VA systems
• Lack of personalized recommendations for additional benefits (not in scope currently)
• Unclear, erroneous, or redundant information that increases cognitive load and discourages engagement

By providing a structured and reusable framework, this pattern ensures that benefits information is:

• Consistently formatted across VA digital products
• Easily scannable to support quick decision-making
• Actionable, helping Veterans navigate benefits-related tasks with minimal effort

This pattern ultimately enhances the Veteran experience by reducing friction in accessing, understanding, and managing benefits, fostering greater engagement with VA services.

Why USWDS needs this component

The "Help users to… Manage benefits and tools" pattern fills a critical gap in USWDS by providing a structured, reusable framework for presenting personalized benefits and tools to users in a clear and actionable way.
While USWDS provides foundational components for general content display and navigation, it lacks a standardized approach for displaying user-specific, dynamic benefits information in a way that supports both quick scanning and direct action. This pattern introduces key interactions that USWDS does not currently offer, including:

• Personalized benefit tracking – Displays benefits and tools relevant to the individual user, helping them understand their current status at a glance.
• Actionable guidance – Encourages users to engage with their benefits by providing clear next steps and relevant calls to action.
• Consistent information architecture – Ensures that benefit-related data is structured uniformly across different applications and platforms.

Without this pattern, agencies relying on USWDS must develop custom solutions, leading to inconsistencies, duplicated efforts, and usability challenges.

How "Help users to… Manage benefits and tools" Pattern Supports Federal Laws and Policies

• 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA) – Ensures government websites are modern, easy to navigate, and user-friendly. This component improves service accessibility and usability in line with IDEA’s requirements.
• OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 (Customer Experience Guidance) – Aligns with best practices in digital service delivery, focusing on clarity, simplicity, and user-centered design.
• Executive Order on Transforming Federal Customer Experience (CX) and Service Delivery – This component supports the White House's initiative to improve public trust in government services by making service information more accessible, actionable, and user-friendly.

Additional federal agencies that could use the "Help users to… Manage benefits and tools" pattern

While developed for VA, this pattern has broad applicability across other federal agencies that provide personalized services, such as:

• Social Security Administration (SSA) – Tracking disability claims or Social Security benefits.
• Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) – Displaying coverage details, renewal statuses, or prescription benefits.
• Federal Student Aid (FSA) – Helping students track loan repayment statuses or grant eligibility.
• Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – Managing housing assistance applications and renewals.

How the component works

A core component of this pattern is the Service List Item, which provides a concise summary of key benefit details, statuses, and next steps. When multiple Service List Items are stacked vertically, they form a structured Service List, offering a clear and organized way for users to track and manage their benefits.

This pattern enables:

• Clear Information – Veterans can quickly understand their benefit status, required actions, and next steps.
• Reduced Effort – Veterans spend less time searching for information and can complete tasks efficiently.
• Enhanced Trust – A transparent and standardized presentation builds confidence in the accuracy of VA’s digital tools.

Please refer to the Service List Item component proposal here for more information

Display order of service list items

• List items should be displayed in an order that best suits the content. Common options include ordering alphabetically or by date. Check with subject matter experts and consider running usability studies to confirm the most appropriate display order for your content.
• Note that when list items include a Critical information component (coming soon), these items should be displayed at the top of the list, regardless of the chosen display order. This avoids burying items that need review or action at the bottom of a list or on a subsequent page.

Real-world examples

No response

When to use this component and when to consider something else

When to use this pattern

• When you are using the Service list item component.
• When you want to show benefits or tools the user is currently enrolled in or has access to.

When not to use this pattern

• When you are representing items that are neither a benefit nor a tool. Do not use the same visual appearance or structured data to represent items that are not a benefit nor a tool.
• When you want to show benefits within a form. Do not use this pattern to show benefits or services in an interactive list with checkboxes or other selection methods.
• When you want to display content in an unordered list. Content that can be shared with bullet points should use an unordered list. Find more information in the List component and the Bulleted list style guide.

Usability considerations

No response

Accessibility considerations

No response

Who’s involved

VA Authenticated Experience Design Pattern team

Adam Whitlock @adamwhitlock1 - Engineering Lead
Belle Poopongpanit @bellepx0 - Engineer
Christine Rose Steiffer @ChristineRoseSteiffer - Design Lead
Lynn Stahl @msbtterswrth - Product Manager
Becky Phung @beckyphung - Product Owner