The National Cemetery Scheduling Office in St. Louis:
Gateway to Burial and Memorial Benefits for Veterans and their families
“When I joined the National Cemetery Administration as Under Secretary in 2017, I knew there were places we could do better. We had to do better. That’s what we are doing now. We have taken a closer look at the gateway between NCA and our Veterans and their families to determine how we can better serve and accommodate them during their time of need.”
Randy Reeves, Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs
On July 24-25, Under Secretary Reeves and the leadership of the National Cemetery Administration met in St. Louis to conduct their semi-annual National Leadership Board and attend the graduation of the latest class of cemetery director interns. This meeting gave leadership the opportunity to tour the newly upgraded National Cemetery Scheduling Office (NCSO) and talk with team members on how recent improvements have increased productivity, allowing us to better serve our Veterans and their families.
NCSO’s 95 team members determine eligibility in advance of need and at the time of need, schedule interments, and assists with other burial benefits programs for the 136 VA national cemeteries. As the gateway to burial and memorial benefits, NCSO handles over 300,000 calls annually from Veterans, next-of-kin (NOK), and funeral homes. Twenty-six percent (26%) of calls come directly from Veterans or NOK. Seventy-four percent (74%) are from funeral homes.
NCSO’s new and improved direction increases effectiveness and enhances customer experience. Our transformation focuses on three T’s:
- Increased staffing and position redesign; renovation; training
- Established performance goals and accountability; adjusted shift hours; adopted call center industry “best practices”
- Cisco phone platform migration; upgraded IT infrastructure; implemented eFAX system
Under the leadership of Under Secretary Reeves, from December 2017 through July 2019, the NCSO has increased the agent availability rate from 63.1% to 84%, and decreased both the maximum call wait time and the average fax fail rate.
These are just a few of the improvements we’ve made to achieve our vision of being the center of excellence for burial and memorial benefits for our nation’s Veterans and their families.
To assist Veterans and their families, NCA has an online VA Survivors and Burial Benefits Kit, which is accessible at the "Planning Your Legacy" link below. You may also contact the NCSO at 1-800-535-1117.
Planning Your Legacy
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