# Voluntary Service System (VSS) Web Overview

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Voluntary Service (VAVS) operates one of the largest volunteer programs in the Federal Government, supplementing staff and resources in all areas of patient care and support. VAVS' mission is to provide a structured volunteer program under the management of VA compensated employees in cooperation with community resources to serve Veterans and their families with dignity and compassion.

The Voluntary Service System (VSS) is an Enterprise web application that allows staff to track volunteers, assignments, schedules, hours, and the affiliated organizations. The VSS Enhancement project tracks donations and provides information on volunteer data for a variety of purposes. As mandatory requirements for on-boarding volunteers (including security) increase, significant improvements are needed to meet these demands.

Over 80,000 volunteers contribute more than 11 million hours of service to Veterans annually. Currently, VSS does not support the ability to categorize this volume of volunteers. Due to increased demands for on-boarding security checks, health screenings, and training, VSS enhancements reduce administrative overhead by automating tracking, and notifying VSS managers when mandatory requirements have been met.

The term “user” throughout this document refers to Voluntary staff members, not actual volunteers.