Start with Quick Estimate if you already know your service-connected ratings. Enter each rating, review dependents and any SMC designation shown in an existing VA record, then read the Step-by-Step VA Math before using planning or verification tools.

You do not need to understand every VA rule before using VMC. The product is organized so you can begin with what you know and open deeper tools only when you need them.

Veteran Mission Control is an independent benefits-intelligence and planning platform. It offers transparent VA compensation math, a local Veteran profile, diagnostic-code references, and educational guidance. Check each module's availability notice before using its workflow. Planned capabilities are documented as roadmap context but are not linked from the public guide until they are released.

VMC does not approve claims, establish service connection, assign an official rating, or replace VA, an accredited representative, legal counsel, or a medical professional.

Core calculation and workspace data is stored locally in your browser unless a feature clearly tells you otherwise. VMC does not require a login for core Veteran calculations.

Because browser-local data can be lost when a browser profile is cleared, a device is replaced, or storage is reset, use Data & Backup for its six workspace data areas and separately export your Veteran profile from My Veteran Profile. Neither export includes original document files. Keep those originals separately and protect every export.

Add each service-connected condition and rating. You may search by condition name or VA diagnostic code, or keep the wording used in your VA records. VMC will not choose a rating for you.

Use More condition details when you need to record a diagnostic code, effective date, side, bilateral body area, paired-muscle key, or DBQ reference. Use Explore by body area when you know the affected anatomy but not the condition name or code.

VMC shows each combination step so you can see the prior combined value, remaining efficiency, added disability, raw result, and final schedular rating rounded to the nearest 10 percent.

The displayed estimate is educational. The official VA award controls whenever VMC and an agency record differ.

For bilateral review, VMC needs the rating, side, and bilateral body-area classification for each relevant condition. Both paired sides generally need compensable disabilities before the 10% factor can apply; VMC never guesses a side from a diagnosis name alone.

VMC combines the qualifying paired disabilities, calculates 10% of that bilateral value, adds those factor points, and then continues the whole-person calculation. It also evaluates the favorable-result exception and uses the calculation that produces the higher final evaluation when the regulation requires that comparison.

Training episode VMC_TRN_006 is the stable bilateral-factor lesson identifier. The controlling public regulation is https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38/part-4/section-4.26.

Record a dependent spouse, dependent parents, children under 18, helpless adult children, school children over 18, and spouse Aid and Attendance only when those categories apply to the record you are modeling.

Dependency additions generally affect ordinary compensation at 30 percent or higher and applicable SMC dependent tables. VMC uses the selected rate year and entered dependency categories; it does not decide whether VA will recognize a dependent.

Use the SMC Calculator to model an SMC designation shown in a reviewed VA decision, code sheet, or other accepted record. The Quick Estimate and full SMC workspace use the same local calculation state.

VMC does not infer loss of use, blindness, housebound status, Aid and Attendance, or another legal entitlement merely from symptoms or a condition name.

Guided Planning helps you move from current compensation information into history, planning, payment review, reports, and backup without requiring you to know the product architecture.

Use it when you want a structured path rather than opening individual modules from the navigation menu.

Historical Workspace is for accepted or reviewed real-world benefit states and events. Record effective dates and payable periods carefully because they drive historical entitlement calculations.

Keep proposed or hypothetical changes in Scenario Planning until a real VA outcome has been reviewed and explicitly accepted. VMC does not silently convert planning assumptions into history.

A saved scenario is a hypothesis: for example, a new claim, increase, secondary condition, dependency change, or possible SMC change. Planning calculations should remain distinguishable from actual VA decisions.

The intended lifecycle is Active Planning, Outcome Recorded, Verified, and Archived. Moving a scenario forward requires an explicit Veteran action and reviewable evidence; matching dollar amounts alone never proves that a scenario became reality.

Payment Verification can be used for an existing VA award even when you did not create a planning scenario first. Enter or review the accepted benefit context and actual payment records, then compare expected recurring compensation with what VA paid.

A planning scenario may optionally be linked later when VA issues a real outcome. The link preserves the distinction between what was predicted and what VA actually decided.

Use historical effective dates and accepted benefit events to estimate what should have been payable over a period. Then compare an actual retroactive payment, including additions, deductions, withholding, recoupment, or unresolved differences.

Backpay calculations can be complex. Treat VMC as an audit aid and preserve the VA award letter, payment history, and other evidence that supports your review.

Add supported records to the Document Repository, review the detected document information, and use the obvious analysis action when you want VMC to extract structured data.

A document being present does not make every extracted fact accepted Veteran data. VMC preserves a human-review step before extracted conditions, ratings, effective dates, or other facts affect accepted records.

Review each extracted condition against the source document and existing VMC conditions. Correct names, diagnostic codes, ratings, and effective dates when necessary, reject unsupported extraction, and accept only information you have reviewed.

VMC should never silently overwrite previously accepted Veteran data. Provenance remains important when a later document conflicts with an earlier record.

Reports organize VMC information for printing, PDF saving, comparison, and discussion with a Veteran representative or another trusted professional.

Review a report before sharing it. A VMC report is not a VA form, official rating decision, medical opinion, or legal filing unless the page explicitly identifies an official linked source.

Representative Profiles can store local contact and coordination information and link you to official VA accreditation or appointment resources.

VMC does not represent a person as accredited merely because a profile exists. Verify accreditation using the official source before relying on a representative relationship.

Data & Backup covers calculator state, historical scenarios, evidence matrices, document-derived scenarios, reviewed record analyses, and representative profiles. Your Veteran profile requires a separate export from My Veteran Profile. Original document files need separate copies. Create all relevant backups before clearing browser data or changing devices, and preview an import before accepting it.

Keep exported files in a location appropriate for sensitive Veteran information. VMC cannot recover a browser-local record that was never backed up after the browser storage is destroyed.

Search by code, official title, index term, or body system. Current, historical, and removed identities are kept distinct, and ambiguous terms are not silently resolved to a single code.

Diagnostic-code reference information is not a rating decision. Review criteria, notes, effective dates, aliases, and regulatory provenance when the distinction matters.

Knowledge Center is where VMC groups educational explanations with official-source links. Use it when you need context for a calculation or a benefits concept rather than a saved planning record.

When legal/regulatory text and a VMC explanation differ, the official source controls. VMC should make that distinction visible.

Rotate and zoom the model, then choose an anatomical region. Left and right refer to the Veteran's body. The selected body concept is resolved through the diagnostic-code search layer rather than being hard-wired to a diagnostic code in the mesh.

The 3D model is optional. An accessible body-area list provides a non-3D path, and manual condition/code entry remains available for Veterans who already know what they want to enter.

Full Graphics presents the complete visual VMC experience. Easy Reading reduces visual density and increases clarity while preserving navigation, forms, calculations, diagnostic-code access, planning workflows, document functions, and the non-3D body-area alternative.

Changing display mode should never remove a core function. Released capabilities are available in both modes; roadmap items remain documented separately until release. If an available feature works in only one mode, use Troubleshooting and report the problem.

Use the keyboard to move through navigation and controls, and use the Skip to page content link to bypass repeated navigation. Focus indicators should remain visible, controls should have programmatic names, and information should not depend on color alone.

VMC targets WCAG 2.2 AA and supports reflow and zoom. The 3D Body Explorer retains a non-3D alternative.

First confirm that the expected VMC page and display mode are active. If local records appear missing, do not clear browser data; check Data & Backup and whether you are using the same browser profile and device where the records were saved.

If a calculation looks wrong, verify each entered percentage, laterality, bilateral classification, dependent category, rate year, SMC designation, and effective date. Compare the Step-by-Step VA Math with the official source links shown in VMC.

Is this an official VA calculator? No. VMC is independent software and VA makes official decisions.

Do I need an account? Not for core Veteran calculations. Can VMC choose my rating? No. Does Payment Verification require a planning scenario? Its planned workflow does not, but execution remains unavailable while the module is a planned preview. Does archiving a scenario delete it? No; archived scenarios retain their history. Is 3D required? No; manual entry and an accessible body-area path remain available.

Accepted data: information you explicitly reviewed as part of your current or historical record. Scenario: a hypothetical future model. Outcome: what VA later actually decided. Payment verification: comparison of actual payments with expected compensation. Effective date: the legal date associated with an entitlement change; payable-date rules may make the first payable period different.

Bilateral factor: the 38 CFR 4.26 calculation for qualifying paired disabilities. SMC: Special Monthly Compensation. Diagnostic code: a VASRD identifier used in VA's rating schedule. Provenance: information showing where a fact or regulatory statement came from.

VMC provides educational calculations, organization, verification aids, planning models, and source-grounded reference material. It does not adjudicate a claim, establish medical nexus, determine service connection, make a legal finding, provide medical treatment, or issue a VA decision.

Use official VA records and regulations for controlling determinations. When the stakes are significant or the record is disputed, consider assistance from an accredited representative or another qualified professional.

Create a profile, enter a preferred name and optional legal residence, then save locally. Existing reviewed rating records are imported only after you choose Apply reviewed records.

Use Export local profile on the profile page for its separate backup. To restore, choose Review profile export, inspect the preview, and confirm replacement. If another tab changes the profile, reload and review the newer version before saving or importing. Cross-device synchronization is not active.

Find My Benefits compares reviewed information with published criteria and official sources. A VMC criteria match is not an agency decision; the responsible authority makes the determination.

Claims Assistance helps organize claim preparation and find official or accredited help. It does not file a claim, establish service connection, or transmit your records to VA.

VMC Web 4.0 includes a standards-based web app manifest and a privacy-bounded offline fallback. Installing the website does not create a VMC account, move browser-local Veteran data to a server, or turn the website into the separate native iOS/Android application.

On iPhone or iPad in Safari, use Share and choose Add to Home Screen. On Android in a supported browser, use Install app or Add to Home screen when offered. On supported desktop browsers, use the install icon or browser menu. Browser wording varies.

VMC does not cache private Veteran pages for offline use. When a page needs fresh source-governed information or the network is unavailable, reconnect and refresh rather than relying on stale authority data.

A condition chart shows labels and links already recorded in a browser-local Veteran case. It does not invent a condition, a medical relationship, a nexus opinion, or a rating. Rejected links stay hidden until you opt in for audit.

When no case is open, Case Conditions shows fictional conditions A, B, C, and D. The same placeholders are on the public education page. They are not Veteran facts and they do not describe a real medical relationship.

Arrow keys pan the chart when that panel is focused. You can also scroll or pinch, or use the zoom buttons. The relationship list works without the chart. Print and export copy only the page on screen, including a source locator only when that visible link already has one.