Report 2015-505 Recommendation 3 Responses

Report 2015-505: Follow-Up—California Department of Veterans Affairs: Better Collection and Use of Data Would Improve Its Outreach Efforts, and It Needs to Strengthen Its Oversight of County Veterans Service Officer Programs (Release Date: July 2015)

Recommendation #3 To: Veterans Affairs, Department of

To determine the most successful methods for informing veterans and their families about the myCalVet website, and to increase the number of registered users, Veterans Services should evaluate myCalVet data to identify which marketing methods were most effective in informing registered users about the website. Veterans Services should complete this analysis on an annual basis, beginning no later than December 31, 2015.

6-Month Agency Response

Calvet has analyzed data from the first year and a half of myCalVet Registered User inputs, to identify the most effective marketing methods for informing veterans and their families about the myCalVet website. See the attached report, CalVet VSD Response Narative, BSA 2015-505, Rec 2, for detailed narration of the analysis and ensuing action plan to ensure the most effective marketing methods for informing veterans and their families about the myCalVet website.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

60-Day Agency Response

CalVet continues to gather demographic information and conduct needs assessments through a variety of channels including the Geographic Distribution of Expenditures report, County Veterans Services Office (CVSO) Subvention Reports, and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs VetPop Data, while continuing to connect veterans and their families with services and benefits through ongoing strategies and partnerships. CalVet understands the significance of the myCalVet site and its potential to supply information statewide in an ongoing and cost effective way. CalVet is exploring the feasibility and cost required to use an external vendor in order to fully implement the recommendation to develop a marketing plan to analyze data from the website to target outreach. The scope of work in development and includes an analysis of the website profile data, development of a targeted outreach plan to increase awareness of benefits and services as well as encouraging veterans to create profiles regionally in the state through a digital marketing campaign. A plan for utilizing myCalVet data will be developed by December 31, 2015.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2015-505

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.