VA Forms Library - How to set up Save In Progress (SiP)

Last Updated: 10 Jul 2024

Forms on VA.gov support the ability to save progress to a user’s account and resume them later. Generally, it’s preferable and good practice to provide data to users that VA already has on file for them. Enabling SiP requires:

• Configuring naming and messaging options in the form config

• Making the SiP form retrievable on the User Profile page

• Configuring prefill in vets-api

Form Config

There are several configuration options related to SiP in the form config object:

const formConfig = {
  formId: '28-1900'
  saveInProgress: {
    messages: {
      inProgress:
        'Your VR&E Chapter 31 benefits application (28-1900) is in progress.',
      expired:
        'Your saved VR&E Chapter 31 benefits application (28-1900) has expired. If you want to apply for Chapter 31 benefits, please start a new application.',
      saved: 'Your Chapter 31 benefits application has been saved.',
    },
  },
  prefillEnabled: true,
  savedFormMessages: {
    notFound:
      'Please start over to apply for Veteran Readiness and Employment.',
    noAuth:
      'Please sign in again to continue your application for Vocational Readiness and Employment.',
  },
}

• formId: This key is used to save form data in vets-api. It’s usually set to the VA form number associated with the paper form.

• saveInProgress: An object containing several options, the most commonly used configuration option being messages. For a full list of available settings check out the formConfig options page.

• savedFormMessages: Messages sent to the SiP component.

formConfig Examples:

• Form 28-1900 Vocational Rehabilitation

• Form 20-0996 Higher Level Review

Visual Examples in Production

My VA Page

As of May 17th, 2024, the My VA team implemented an improved method of setting up save-in-progress forms.

Note: This work is still behind the my_va_enable_new_sip_config feature flag.

Instructions for teams:

1. Add the form ID to the VA_FORM_IDS object in the /platform/forms/constants file.

2. Add the URL path of form to getAllFormLinks function.

   • Property name imported from the VA_FORM_IDS object with a value that calls the function getAppUrl. The parameter passed to getAppUrl is the entryName of the application specified in the registry.json file in the content-build repository

3. Add the following information to the MY_VA_SIP_FORMS array of objects:

   1. id: property name imported from the VA_FORM_IDS object

   2. benefit: common name of form

   3. title: common name of form (with form ID)

   4. description: description of form

   5. trackingPrefix: unique abbreviation for analytics

Example:

If we needed Form 526-EZ to display on My VA under the Benefit application drafts section, we would need to add the following:

export const VA_FORM_IDS = Object.freeze({
  ...
  FORM_21_526EZ: '21-526EZ',
});

export const getAllFormLinks = getAppUrlImpl => {
  ...
  return {
    ...
    [VA_FORM_IDS.FORM_21_526EZ]: `${getAppUrlImpl('526EZ-all-claims')}/`,
  }
};

export const MY_VA_SIP_FORMS = [
  ...
  {
    id: VA_FORM_IDS.FORM_21_526EZ,
    benefit: 'disability compensation',
    title: 'disability compensation (21-526EZ)',
    description: 'disability compensation application (21-526EZ)',
    trackingPrefix: 'disability-526EZ-',
  },
];

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