Informing Access, Readiness, and Next Steps in VA’s Identity Modernization
Client: Veteran Affairs
Timeline: March 2025 - Present
Role: UX Research Lead
Background: Modernizing Identity and Access at Enterprise Scale
The VA hired our team to modernize single sign-on across its enterprise ecosystem. More than 300 SSOi applications must be migrated from SiteMinder to Entra ID by March 2026, and over 100 SSOe applications from IBM SVA to Okta by July 2026.
In parallel, we’re integrating over 1,500 applications into the new Saviynt Enterprise Identity Cloud (EIC) for Identity Governance and Administration (IGA), a major step toward centralized access control and audit compliance.
Discovery research is critical to understanding existing workflows, access dependencies, and stakeholder needs, informing migration processes, prioritization, and policy decisions across identity modernization efforts.
Rapid Research That Preserved Access
A critical migration deadline required moving 15 applications from Okta to Entra ID within three months before the SSOi contract expired. Without intervention, 403 non-VA users risked losing access to essential systems supporting joint VA and DoD healthcare projects.
In just one week, I designed and distributed a user access survey, recruited participants, and conducted interviews with application POCs to document sign-in flows, authentication types, and user dependencies.
I analyzed results and delivered a readout with detailed recommendations that informed engineering priorities, ensuring no lapse in user access.
The VA Product Owner commended the clarity and speed of the research, which enabled engineers to complete migrations ahead of the cutoff and maintain uninterrupted access for all users.
By moving quickly and grounding every decision in evidence, I helped the team deliver a seamless migration under tight constraints, ensuring critical tools stayed available when Veterans and Service Members needed them most.
To support migration planning, I conducted research to understand how applications authenticate through AccessVA and which user groups rely on that access.
To accomplish this, I:
Contacted 30 application POCs between August 11–18, 2025, via VA Teams and email.
Reviewed IAM Integration Agreements, the VA Enterprise Architecture Repository, and multiple tracking spreadsheets to confirm authentication methods.
Tested URLs to verify AccessVA connections and usage.
Mapping Access Dependencies Across Applications
The resulting report informed decisions on next steps for AccessVA and provided critical insights for stakeholders and partners working on related migration efforts across the enterprise.
Understanding Partner Readiness for Migration
To prepare for the transition to new identity providers, I conducted pre-migration interviews with application POCs to understand:
Their experience integrating their current IdP
Their understanding of migration scope, process, and implications
Their expectations and requirements for a smooth transition
Perceived concerns, barriers, and risks
The findings guided immediate action to ensure application teams had the documentation and scheduling information needed to plan effectively. In addition, we captured key details in Jira epics to document readiness, dependencies, and blockers for each application, providing visibility for both engineering and leadership teams.
Early engagement revealed critical readiness gaps and helped align technical and scheduling priorities across teams.
Ensuring Access Through Insight
This work connected user research with enterprise identity modernization.
Through targeted studies, rapid analysis, and structured partner interviews, I provided the insight teams needed to protect user access while advancing migration goals.
By mapping authentication dependencies and readiness, I enabled VA stakeholders to make informed, timely decisions, reducing disruption and aligning technical workstreams across multiple IdP transitions.
Insight isn’t just about finding problems, it’s how we keep users connected while systems evolve.