Purpose of Tracked Items

1. Tracked Items

Introduction

This topic contains information about tracked items, including

• purpose of tracked items, and
• index of tracked items.

Change Date

June 9, 2026

D.1.a. Purpose of Tracked Items

The purpose of tracked items is to control receipt or non-receipt of information requested from the claimant, beneficiary, or other information provider. Status of individual tracked items will be visible through eBenefits. Tracked items must be updated with the appropriate date and disposition to reflect the status of the corresponding request or development action.

Reference: For more information on

• using tracked items, see
• M21-1, Part III, Subpart i, 2.F.3
• Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS) User Guide, or
• Modern Award Processing-Development (MAP-D) User Guide
• processing solicited and unsolicited mail, see M21-1, Part II, Subpart i, 2.A.5.d, and
• mail management, see M21-1, Part II, Subpart i, 2.C

D.1.b. Index of Tracked Items

Use the table below to identify the appropriate tracked items, and the corresponding details to include claim level suspense reasons and initial suspense dates.

Notes:

• A tracked item is considered non-actionable if no action is required at the expiration of the suspense date, and will therefore be automatically closed if no response has been received at that time.
• A tracked item classified as an exception to automatic ready for decision (RFD) or ready to work (RTW) will not result in the claim automatically moving to RFD/RTW status if marked as Received, Closed, or In Error on the same calendar day the last open tracked item is completed.
• The Enhanced Non-Permanent Award Display (ENAD) process creates a system-generated “Proposal to Reduce” tracked item.

References: For more information on follow up suspense dates, see:

• M21-1, Part III, Subpart ii, 1.A.1.b for federal record requests, and
• M21-1, Part IV, Subpart i, 2.C.1.a for examinations.

Scroll sideways to see the full table.