The Stage II contract was canceled September 30, 1998. As a result, this support must now come from in-house resources and staff who may not possess the technical expertise to fully support TIMS requirements. A contract vehicle must be put in place before TIMS is expanded to the third site. According to the Project Team, this money has been set aside for expansion to the other two sites and the conversion to the 32 bit architecture. While the TIMS project team has compiled a list of enhancements, they are doubtful whether these enhancements can be accomplished.
Staff are also able to respond quicker and more accurately to veterans' inquiries.
The VBA CIO Office and Education Service should use these results in their effort to expand imaging technology to other Programs within VBA. 5. Performance gains expected with TIMS have not been fully realized due to increased workload. At about the same time that TIMS was being implemented in Atlanta, the Veterans Services Division was eliminated and Atlanta went through a downsizing. The responsibility for answering and responding to veterans' calls was reassigned to the Adjudication staff who never before had to deal directly with the veteran. The results of this action has impacted the percent of gains TIMS was to achieve.