Overview and Benefits

The SoP API is cloud-hosted service provided to DVA by Gov Law Tech to DVA.

The service contributes to veteran wellbeing because it enables faster and more accurate processing of initial liability claims under VEA and MRCA. It enables the MyService client portal to:

  1. Apply rules for straight-through and streamlined processing to DVA’s specifications, speeding acceptance of some initial liability claims.

  2. Identify medical conditions more accurately under Statements of Principle or SoP framework, reducing delay and the need for delegate intervention.

  3. Self-assess how a condition connects to service against current factors in the SoPs, reducing manual and potentially stressful correspondence.

  4. Stay up to date automatically with the frequent changes in the SoPs and declarations of military operations, avoiding decisions based on incorrect and out-of-date law.

The then First Assistant Secretary for Transformation and Engagement, Kate Pope PSM contracted Gov Law Tech to provide the API as part of the MyService Lighthouse project in 2016. The MyService application has called the API in production since early 2017, when it first went to live Beta. Since then the API has:

  • Helped process over 30,000 initial liability claims in the MyService and ISH R&C systems.

  • Kept up to date with over 320 changes to applicable laws.

  • Expanded to enable fast-track processing for 40 medical conditions, comprising around three quarters of claims.

  • Contributed to DVA being a finalist in the 2018 ITnews Benchmark Awards [1]:

A partnership with service provider Gov Law Tech provided an API-bases tool for automatically extracting current legal requirements and metadata related to the MRCA; this information is then used to customise the MyService forms and ensure that all eligibility criteria are current and accurate.

  • Contributed to DVA being a finalist in the 2017 Public Sector Innovation Awards [2].

  • Been promoted by the Services Australia to the Senate Enquiry on the Digital Delivery of Government Service [3]:

MyService uses a completely open-source Application Programming Interface (API), developed by DVA’s partners Gov Law Tech.

Footnotes