Welcome

Each screen in the VSS application is accompanied by a help page. The help page provides a general overview of the screen and presents step-by-step instructions for performing various tasks. You can access help pages by clicking the question-mark icon appearing in the upper right corner of each screen. You can also access help pages through the help menu that appears on the left side of each help page. Although you can access all the VSS help pages through the help menu, your access to the user screens is limited by the system role you have been assigned and the type of site you belong to: Central Office (CO), the Enterprise Management Center (EMC), the Games station, or a VHA facility station.

Help Menus

Appearing on the left side of each user screen or help page is a menu you can use to navigate to the information you want to see or task you want to perform. By clicking on the plus sign to the left of a particular menu folder, you can see all the user screens or help pages available for that item. You access a user screen or help page within a menu folder by clicking on its name. To collapse the pages back into the folder or book, click on the minus sign.

Screen Elements

The VSS system uses a graphical user interface (GUI). This means that instead of having to memorize and type in commands, you use recognizable graphical elements on the screen to get things done. Some of the common graphical elements include:

Field: Used for entering text or numbers from the computer keyboard. The name of the field tells you what to enter. Click in the box and type.

Required Field. The red asterisk before the field name tells you that you must enter something in this field before you are able to post the information or move on to another screen.

List Box. Click on the selection you want. If the list is too long to fit in the box, there will be a "scroll bar" on the right. Click on the up or down arrows on the bar to scroll through the list.

Dropdown or Pulldown List. The dropdown list contains a list of items that you can select from. When you click on the arrow the list will expand. If the list is long, a scroll bar will appear.

Radio Button. Radio buttons are another way to present choices; select the option you want by clicking on the radio button.

Double List Box. There are various kinds of double list boxes, but the common idea is that you select from the box on one side and use buttons in the middle to move the items to the box on the other side.

Most of the work you perform in VSS is done with buttons. The function of a button is often indicated in its name. Some of the common Buttons in VSS include:

When you have added/edited information on a screen and wish to save it to the database, use the Post button.

The Exit button usually takes you to the opening screen, where the station dropdown list is located. From this list you can change the station whose data you are viewing. In multiple screen tasks, however, the Exit button will take you back to the previous screen or to the first screen in the process. Data will not be saved if you click the Exit button without clicking the Post button.

The Edit button is used to view or change information in an existing record.

The Delete button is used to remove a record of data from the database.

The Clear button is used to erase entries or reset fields on a screen. It is not used to remove data from the database.

When there are multiple screens for performing a particular task, the Next button will move you to the next screen in the sequence. You may be required to post one page before moving on to the next.

The New button is used when you wish to create a new record in the database - a new program, service code, volunteer, etc.

The Add button is used to add a new item to a list or to the database.

After you have specified what you want to include in a report, clicking the Display button allows you to see the report on the screen.

Two icons appear at the top of every VSS screen.

Clicking on the Help icon brings up a Help page explaining how to use the screen you are on.

Clicking on the Default Station icon brings up a dialogue box that allows you to specify which station's data will be the default station data when you start or restart the application.

Reports

Before you display a report on your screen, you are asked to specify a report format. Choices include Internet Explorer (Web), Adobe Acrobat, Excel, or Word. Which format you select depends on what you intend to do with the report. If you intend to save the report as an Excel file, for example, displaying it in the Excel format would be appropriate. In most circumstances, the Word format would be the preferred choice. After clicking the Display button, the length of time the report takes to appear depends on the length of the report and the traffic on the network. After the report appears, you can use the Print and Save commands in your browser File menu to print the report or to store it on your hard drive.