Introduction and Background
Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is one of the three major organizations that make up the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). The organization was formed on July 21, 1930 and is responsible for administrating financial and other supportive assistance to veterans and their dependents and survivors. (U.S Department of Vereans Affairs, 2012) The VBA started off handling non-medical financial assistance such as compensation and benefits, loan guaranty, and life insurance. Back in 1944, the VBA expanded by taking on the education program where veterans are given the opportunity to attend classes and pursue a higher education. With the large amount of veterans discharged from the Iraq starting December 2011 (Cutler, 2011) , the demand to process benefit claims are rapidly increasing and their move for horizontal expansion might be more than they can handle.
Education program
After the Vietnam War, the DVA proposed a new program to help veterans and their education with the education program. The idea is promising because the benefits included financial assistance with tuition, housing, and textbooks. Realistically, the program had encountered a major issue with the new education program. With the rapid increase of veterans in the past decade, the claims processed could be too much for the VBA to handle. Early in September 2009, the DVA failed to send out “about 227,000 scheduled college checks for those qualifying for the GI Bill education benefits.” (Katel, 2010) As of a result, the Secretary of Veterans Affair Eric Shinseki issued an emergency $3,000.00 check to those veterans. The error in not processing the education payments on-time was a major hit to the VBA. Their reputation became negatively criticize by their lack of responsibility. This was a wake-up call for the DVA and there needed to be a change in a new processing system and in their corporate culture.
Risk
The VBA continues to operate its financial assistance to veterans, but at the cost of their quality of service. Continuing to handle their current education programs with improper payments will harm their future. Despite the having major improvements that the VBA has come nearly 80 years ago from faster claim process and more accurate payments, the future of this organization would need a better corporate structure. The negligence to not process 277,000 checks may have been awake up call for the organization, but there needs to be a plan of action in order to succeed out of a negative reputation.
Strategic Plan Refresh
To avoid future failures such as the late education check, the DVA has created a strategic plan to revamp their system on a management and technical level. Currently, the education program has improved their system by processing the education claims faster. Instead of processing it within 56 days, the target would be 19 days and eventually all claims would be within 10 days. (U.S Department of Veterans Affair, 2010). Changes for new software programs have started to be implemented at the workplace such as an upgraded operating system and improved programs so claims are processed quicker, meeting the target day range.
VBA Future and Conclusion
Veterans are only handled by the Department of Veterans Affair and their increasing population will rely heavily on the VBA and their financial responsibilities. Before VBA could consider taking on any other financial programs, their strategic plans to change the corporate culture and processing system would need to be stronger. Their lack of a strong corporate culture and organized operation would keep the federal government from expanding across any line of business or much less dominating any financial industry. If their strategic plan follows through after five years, there is a chance where the VBA could expand into other business lines by taking on the responsible of other types of programs for veterans.

Works Cited
Cutler, D. (2011, December 18). Timeline: Invasion, surge, withdrawal; U.S. forces in Iraq. Retrieved from Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/18/us-iraq-usa-pullout-idUSTRE7BH08E20111218
Katel, P. (2010, April 23). Caring for Veterans. Retrieved from CQ Researcher: http://library.cqpress.com.ezproxy.metrostate.edu/cqresearcher/
U.S Department of Vereans Affairs. (2012, April 5). History - VA History. Retrieved from United States Department of Veterans Affairs: http://www.va.gov/about_va/vahistory.asp
U.S Department of Veterans Affair. (2010). Streategic Plan Refresh. Washington D.C.: Office of Policy and Planning.