Guidance for new teams and team members

Last Updated: December 2, 2024

Welcome to VA.gov! In order to provide appropriate levels of support, Platform onboards new VFS team members and new VFS teams separately. Please follow the instructions below to get started.

New VFS team members

If you’re a new individual on a new or existing VFS team, you’ll need to complete some tasks as part of your Platform Orientation. We’ve separated these tasks into two categories: administrative and educational.

New VFS Team Member Process

User flow with two lanes, VFS team member and Platform. VFS team member starts, then opens New VFS team member ticket. From that ticket, Platform adds new team member to VFS team roster located in Atlas, then grants new team member access to GitHub repos. Meanwhile, VFS team member proceeds watch Platform Orientation session recordings, then completes items in New VFS team member ticket to end the workflow. — User Flow for New VFS Team Member Platform Orientation

Administrative Tasks

You can think of these as housekeeping tasks. Administrative tasks help us gather information on new VFS team members, provide you with access to technologies necessary for your role, and facilitate legal compliance between http://VA.gov and its various contractors.

The first administrative task for all new VFS team members is to open a GitHub ticket using the New VFS Team Member Template. The ticket body contains a list of additional tasks to complete.

*Please note that you will not be able to assign the ticket to yourself as you likely do not have access to the GitHub repos. You will be granted access to the GitHub repos through the New VFS Team Member template, so please be sure to fill out the ticket completely.

Educational Tasks

These tasks will teach you about the various processes in the VA.gov Platform organization, and will help you understand how your role fits into the broader organizational structure. Find a list of required and recommended educational tasks for different roles on the educational tasks page.

New VFS teams

If your team is new to VA.gov, please have your Product Manager or Product Owner complete the New VFS Team Template.

*If you are a Product Manager completing this task, please note that you may not be able to assign the ticket to yourself as you likely do not have access to the GitHub repos. Access to the GitHub repos is granted through the new VFS team members process so please be sure to complete both templates.

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