**GAO-07-1045**                      Published: Jul 31, 2007. Publicly Released: Jul 31, 2007.                  

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## Highlights

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) administers programs that provide educational resources to veterans, service members, reservists, and eligible family members of veterans. Under an initiative that the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) began in 1999, called The Education Expert System (TEES), VA is moving its education benefits claims processing systems to new technology platforms and replacing the current systems with a new system that is to add more automated processes and eliminate most human intervention. GAO was requested to (1) report on the results of TEES development to date and identify the remaining work to complete the project, (2) identify VBA's plans for completing and implementing TEES, and (3) assess the feasibility of developing and deploying TEES before the completion of VBA's Finance and Accounting System. To accomplish these objectives, GAO analyzed relevant documentation, interviewed program and project officials, and observed processing systems at VA regional offices.

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## Topics

Veterans

Claims processingManagement information systemsProgram evaluationProgram managementStrategic information systems planningSystems conversionsVeterans benefitsVeterans educationProgram implementationEducation benefits