Review and verify your Strategy Brief
Review a Strategy Brief section by section, compare important statements with the saved information and source coverage shown in Pathfinder, add corrections or bounded context, and download the current brief only after another review.
Overview
A Pathfinder Strategy Brief is a working document built from the information currently available to Claim Raven. It can help you organize a review, but it can also reflect partial processing, missing sources, or an inaccurate saved answer. You remain responsible for checking the facts and deciding what to do next. Generated does not mean verified Treat every summary, observation, and action item as something to check. A Strategy Brief is not a VA finding, legal advice, evidence of eligibility, proof of filing readiness, or a prediction of the outcome.
Review the brief in this order
Read the source and coverage limits Identify which saved Pathfinder information, summaries, processing states, and workspace observations were available. Keep pending, unavailable, partial, or stale material visible. You know what the brief could and could not have considered. Check the service and claim snapshot Verify service periods, issue names, claim stage, dates, and other veteran-supplied facts against records you trust. Basic facts match your sources or are marked for correction. Review one condition at a time Separate your reported history from product observations and unresolved questions. Do not turn an association, missing item, or task into a medical or legal conclusion. Each condition section keeps facts, sources, and uncertainty distinct. Check the records and processing section Confirm that the brief does not imply complete record coverage when a file is still processing, failed, unavailable, unreadable, or only partly reviewed. Coverage limits travel with the conclusions that depend on them. Review action and exam-preparation notes Keep only tasks that are accurate and useful. The brief does not choose a filing lane, evidence source, medical opinion, or exam answer for you. The next-step list remains veteran-controlled and educational. Add corrections or context, then review again Use the available correction and context fields for your own information. Reopen the current brief after changes and compare the affected sections before downloading it. The downloaded copy reflects the version you actually reviewed.
A quick section-by-section check
Questions to ask while reviewing a current Strategy Brief Section Review question Overview Does the opening describe the current purpose and limits without promising an outcome? Service and claim snapshot Do the dates, issue names, and claim stage match sources you trust? Condition review Are reported facts, source-based observations, and unanswered questions clearly separated? Records and processing coverage Are pending, partial, unavailable, stale, or unreadable sources visible? Action plan Is each task accurate, bounded, and still yours to accept, change, or reject? C&P preparation Does the text support truthful recall without scripting or predicting a rating? Sources and limits Can you trace important statements to the identified input or source? Preserve the complete context If you save or share a copy outside Claim Raven, keep the source and coverage limits with the section you are discussing. A cropped paragraph or isolated screenshot can hide a limitation that changes how the statement should be read.
If the brief is incomplete or still looks wrong
If the brief is incomplete or still looks wrong The brief is missing information you entered Confirm the information was saved in the applicable Pathfinder step Check whether a source or analysis is still pending, unavailable, partial, or stale Look for the current coverage statement Review whether a correction or context field applies to your own information Correct or complete the saved information that you control, use an available refresh or regeneration action, and review the current brief again. Do not assume a downloaded copy updates by itself. A generated statement cannot be traced to a source Review the sources and limits section Compare the statement with your saved answers and available records Keep any uncertainty visible Avoid copying the statement into a filing as an established fact Remove or correct unsupported veteran-supplied information when the product allows it. If the generated statement remains unsupported, contact support with a synthetic description and no private records. For a product defect, describe the section name, displayed processing state, and expected behavior without attaching a C-File, medical record, decision letter, or other personal document.
Related guidance
Related guidance C-File report versus Strategy Brief /help-center/claims-and-appeals/static-c-file-report-versus-strategy-brief Use the Evidence Dashboard /help-center/claims-and-appeals/static-use-evidence-dashboard Final claim package review /help-center/claims-and-appeals/static-final-package-review
More information
Return to your saved brief step Review the current brief, its sources, and its coverage limits before you download it. Returning resumes saved Pathfinder work and does not open a guaranteed exact screen. Return to Pathfinder /guided-program