VIP Help - General Help
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Terms and Concepts |
Below is a list of common questions about the VIP portal. Click on a question to find out more, or see the "Answers" section for a complete list of FAQ answers. For specific questions, e-mail the VIP Help Desk at vip@vba.va.gov.
General Veterans Information Portal (VIP) Questions:
- What is Veterans Information Portal (VIP)?
- Who is eligible for a VIP Portal account?
- What is a portal?
- What can I find at the VIP Portal?
- Does this site use cookies? What is a cookie?
- What if I do not accept cookies?
- How do I log in?
- How do I log out?
- How do I register for a portal account?
- I am using Netscape 4.x browser. Why does my portal look different?
- Where can I receive more help?
Navigating Veterans Information Portal (VIP) Questions:
- What is a VBA Service Division?
- What is a VBA Business Line?
- What are Communities?
- What is the "My VBA" community?
Personalizing Veterans Information Portal (VIP) Questions:
- What is personalization?
- I am having trouble with certain Personalization functions. My browser does not accept cookies. What can I do?
- What is a personal page?
- How do I create my own portal pages?
- Can I create a Community page?
- How many personal pages can I create?
- Can I change the background colors and fonts of my personal pages?
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
General Veterans Information Portal (VIP) Questions:
What is Veterans Information Portal (VIP)?
Veterans Information Portal (VIP) is a gateway to personalized information relevant to VBA's stakeholders, including veterans, employees, lenders, appraisers, etc. VIP is accessible from any Internet connection, and provides web-enabled access to all of VBA's applications using a single username and password. VIP provides you with powerful tools of personalization to enhance your experience, and allows you to quickly search all of VBA's web sites to find the latest knowledge on subjects of your choosing.
Who is eligible for an VIP Portal account?
VIP has two basic types of accounts: Internal VBA Employees and External VBA Stakeholders (e.g. Veterans, Lenders, SARs). Many Internal VBA Employees already have accounts that can be accessed through their existing VBA user id and password. External users must register for a portal account by successfully completing a registration process through one of VBA's integrated applications (e.g. TAS, CPTS). To register for applications, click on the 'Registration' button on the main login page.
What is a portal?
A portal is a web site that organizes and displays information in a particular format. One of the most common features of the portal is the ability to pull content from many existing VBA web sites into one centralized location. The content and navigation change depending on your location within the portal, guiding you to the most relevant content.
Each gear has a unique function and displays different information. For example, the "VBA Wide Announcements" gear on the home page of the MyVBA Community contains announcements tailored to the individual. In addition, VIP allows users to search for other users of the system, maintain up-to-date user profile information, and have single sign-on access to VBAs applications.
What can I find at the VIP Portal?
The VIP Portal is a web site designed for all of VBA's stakeholders, including veterans, employees, lenders, SARs, appraisers, servicers and the general public. It contains information on VBA organizations, news, and announcements, and provides many useful web features for users. For example, the following is the Home page you see when you first log in to the VIP Portal:
Does this site use cookies? What is a cookie?
The VIP Portal uses cookies for two reasons. First, cookies make it possible to evaluate the use of VIP, helping us to make improvements. More importantly, cookies are what allow you to use the advanced features of the VIP portals, such as the single sign-on feature that allows you enter your login information once and have access to all parts of the portal, including your WebMail. Disabling cookies will disable several advanced user features.
A cookie is an electronic message sent to your web browser (Netscape, Internet Explorer, etc.) from a web server - the machine that serves the web page you are viewing (VIP portal). Each time you look at an VIP web page, the message, or cookie, is sent back to the server to let it know that you are still the person who initially logged into the portal.
It is important to note that cookies DO NOT store personal data that can identify the user, and they CAN NOT search your system for information.
What if I do not accept cookies?
It is recommended that you allow the use of cookies. By not accepting cookies, you will limit your access to content on this site. Certain personalization and appearance features will not be available to you without accepting cookies. The cookies used by this site are harmless, and pose no security threat to your computer.
How do I log in?
Click on the Login button, located in the upper right-hand side of the portal screen. VBA's login page will be loaded, providing a form to input your username and password. Additionally, this login page provides information on what to do if you have lost your password or how to register for VBA applications.
How do I log out?
Click on the Logout button, located in the upper right-hand side of the portal screen. A pop-up window will prompt you to close all portal-related browser windows.
How do I Register?
VBA employees may login with their existing usernames and passwords. The first time you login, the portal creates your account for you and may prompt you for additional information.
External users (e.g. Lenders, Appraisers) gain access to VIP by registering through one of VBA's existing applications. (e.g. The Appraisal System 'TAS') External users can find links to these applications registration pages by clicking on the 'Registration' button located on the VIP login page.
I am using Netscape 4.x browser. Why does my portal look different?
Some older versions of browsers do not support the complete functionality and formatting of the VIP portal. For best results, use Netscape 4.5 and higher or Internet Explorer 5.0 and higher. To find out what browser type you are using, open a browser window. Click "Help" in the menu bar at the top of the screen. Click on the option beginning with "About." This will pull up browser version information. I you are using an older version, try upgrading to one of the versions listed above for best results.
Where can I receive more help?
You can contact the Help Desk at the following e-mail address:
vip@vba.va.gov
Navigating Veterans Information Portal (VIP) Questions: What is a VBA Service Division?
VBA is divided into five major service divisions: Loan Guaranty, Compensation & Pension, Life Insurance, Education and Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment. To facilitate ease of use and to provide the most intuitive user interface, the top level navigation of the portal is broken down into these five Service Divisions.
What is a VBA Business Line?
VBA Service Divisions, described above, are broken down into business lines representing distinct areas of functionality. The second level of VIP navigation breaks VBA Service Divisions into their respective business lines, allowing a user to quickly find information relevant to him. For example, below is a screenshot of the business lines within VBA's Loan Guaranty Service Division.
What are Communities?
Communities represent sections of content within the VIP portal. Each VBA business line represents a community of content. Similarly, a VIP administrator can create new Communities and provide permission to those communities to groups of users. Communities can be used to create a central place for VBA stakeholders to collaborate on projects.
How do I return to the portal Home page from a Community Home page?
After clicking on a link to view a different portal page, the tabs for the other VBA Service Divisions remain at the top. To return to the portal Home page, simply click on the 'VBA Home' tab at the top left of your screen.
What is the "My VBA" community?
Authenticated users of VIP will notice a 'My VBA' tab included in the top level navigation. When this tab is clicked, the second level of top level navigation opens with the communities that the user has access to. Under MyVBA every user has MyPages, a web page with announcements and a calendar that are tailored to the individual. In addition, the user may have access to other communities of content, including Intranet content (for VBA employees).
Personalizing Veterans Information Portal (VIP) Questions: What Is Personalization?
Personalization is a powerful tool that enables you to select the content, presentation, and functionality of the portal according to your unique needs and preferences. The Personalization interface allows you to select your options, which will be saved and used to format the content of the portal every time you log in.
See Personalization for more information on how to personalize your portal.
I am having trouble with certain Personalization functions. My browser does not accept cookies. What can I do?
You may be using a very old browser version that does not support cookies. See the question above for more details. It is likely that you do not have cookies enabled on your browser. See your browser's help section to find out how to turn on cookies. If you are using a shared computer, for example, in a computer lab, your cookie settings may be set by an administrator. Ask your administrator to change these settings.
What Is a Personal Page?
Personal pages are custom portal pages that you create, name, and populate with any content you choose. As you create and save them, they appear within the 'My Services' section of the left-hand navigation.
While the content of the portal's Home page and Community pages is predetermined and constant, personal pages are customizable to serve any unique needs or interests you have. The Personalization options allow you to choose the 'gears' that will reside on your personal pages. These gears include weather, Mapquest, calendar and announcements.
How do I create my own portal pages?
An authenticated user of VIP can create his own portal pages by accessing the wizard, which is available from the 'Customize' link under the 'My Services' section of the left-hand navigation.
Can I create a Community page?
Only community leaders with assigned privileges are allowed to create and modify community pages. if you have suggestions on how to improve a community page, contact the VIP Help Desk or talk to your community leader.
Although you can not alter the existing community pages, you can create your own personal page and include any gears that you would like.
How many personal pages can I create?
Six.
Can I change the background colors and fonts of my personal pages?
You are able to select the background colors and fonts of your personal pages through the wizard available from the 'Customize' button within the 'My Services' section of the left-hand navigation.
