July 10, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs, Training Contacts and Technical Contacts:
Customer Relations is pleased to announce that the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) Guide has been updated to version 3.0. This version has refreshed links to the Child Welfare Digital Services (CWDS) website and current information on:
- Child Welfare Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS)
- California Automated Response and Engagement System - Live (CARES-Live)
- Child Welfare Services California Automated Response and Engagement System (CWS-CARES) – In Development
Important Sections of the SPOC Guide:
- SPOC, Customer Relations and Specific County Roles and Responsibilities
- Web Administration
- CWDS Meeting Information
- County Resources – including the following:
- CWDS Website (https://cwds.ca.gov/) resources including:
- CWS/CMS Release Information
- Data Deletion Request (DDR)
- System Change Request (SCR)
- Server Based Computing (SBC)
- CWS-CARES User Resources, including:
- CWS-CARES Users – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- CWDS Glossary
- CWS-CARES Newsletters
- RFA Application Process Release Notes
- County Funding Process (Logon Required)
- Advanced Planning Document
- County Contacts
Action Required
Please review the attached SPOC Guide for information regarding SPOC responsibilities and available CWDS reference materials. The attached guide is also located on the CWDS website under the Stakeholder Resources tab>CWS/CMS Users>CWS/CMS Guides>Website and Web Application Guides>See the SPOC Guide PDF.
June 25, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs and Training Contacts:
The Child Welfare Digital Services (CWDS) Office is requesting county staff to participate as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in the Release 9.6 Business Needs Analysis (BNAs) meetings and Joint Application Design (JAD) to give feedback on issues. SMEs will participate in Release 9.6 activities, tentatively scheduled to GO LIVE in June 2025.
R9.6 BNAs will be held in mid-July. SMEs will receive an Outlook invitation once all responses are received.
R9.6 JAD has not yet been scheduled, but SMEs will receive an Outlook invitation once a date is selected.
System Change Requests (SCRs) include:
The five (5) SCRs listed below are newly proposed for Release 9.6
- SCR 8982 – Add Missing Name for Placement Homes (Data Quality) (Prioritized #1) - Application Support Contact: James Sidebotham
- SCR 8983 – Adding Missing Name for Non-Foster Case Facility (Data Quality) (Prioritized #2) - Application Support Contact: James Sidebotham
- SCR 8999 – Update Client Dates out-of-range for CARES (Data Quality) (Prioritized #3) - Application Support Contact: James Sidebotham
- SCR 8985 – Make Name Mandatory for Non-Foster Care Facility (Data Quality) (Prioritized #4) - Application Support Contact: Nora O’Hara
- SCR 8989 – Cleanup Outdated Home Studies (Data Quality) (Prioritized #5) – Application Support Contact: James Sidebotham
The SCRs listed below were covered during a previous BNA. A brief meeting will be held to ensure nothing has changed.
- SCR 8843 – Transfer Enrollment between DOE Schools (Data Quality) (Prioritized #6) – Application Support Contact: James Sidebotham
- SCR 8967 – Duplicate Hearing Notebook (Data Quality) (Prioritized #7): Application Support Contact: Nora O’Hara
- SCR 8972 – ACL 22-95 ICWA Mandatory Fields (Data Quality) (Prioritized #8): Application Support Contact: Kim Carpenter
- SCR 8973 – ACL 22-95 ICWA Reminder (Data Quality) (Prioritized #9): Application Support Contact: Gina Blakemore
- SCR 8943 – Expand Merge History Log (Data Quality) (Prioritized #10): Application Support Contact: Kim Carpenter
- SCR 8853 – Validate & Cleanse Collateral Demographic Data (Data Quality) (Prioritized #11) – Application Support Contact: James Sidebotham
- SCR 8852 – Validate & Cleanse Reporter Demographic Data (Data Quality (Prioritized #12) – Application Support Contact: James Sidebotham
Counties are encouraged to register individuals with knowledge and experience working in the areas mentioned above. A mix of end users with casework or supervisory experience will also be very helpful.
Those who volunteer are welcome to register for one or more SCRs. Participants will work with other County and State SMEs as well as vendor support staff. We seek a diverse group of participants from large, medium, and small counties. The CWDS Office will work with SMEs to determine the details of participation. If you have any questions regarding this recruitment, please contact OSI CWDS Application Support via email @ CWS_AppSupport@osi.ca.gov.
Action Required
Staff should submit a Release 9.6 SME Online Registration Form (see link below) for each potential SME.
Link: R9.6 Subject Matter Expert Online Registration Form
The forms should be submitted no later than July 12, 2024.
June 19, 2024
Communications
Child Welfare Directors, Child Welfare Director-Alternates, Tribal Leadership, All CARES SPOCs and Implementation Coordinators
Child Welfare Leadership,
Thank you for your staff’s continued participation in the design and development of CWS-CARES. Through lessons learned and feedback we’ve received from your organizations we have identified opportunities to improve the way we build and deliver CARES V1.
We recognize that our current model has created gaps in the user experience. To address these gaps, we are launching a more holistic approach to delivering CARES V1 while preserving the October 2026 Go-Live date and scope.
The holistic design approach considers all aspects from the user experience and functionality to the visual design. It ensures that every element works together seamlessly to achieve the desired outcomes.
Given the scope and complexity of CWS-CARES, it has been challenging to connect the user experience across service areas and functional areas of the product. The new holistic design process will increase early opportunities for users to provide feedback and offer a broader functionality preview during Extended User Scenario Testing (EUST). This allows design review participants to see the proposed user experience across an entire business process, rather than incrementally. It also helps teams identify interdependencies across business areas earlier in the design process and reduce the need for rework.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing more information and a schedule to prepare for this transition. We understand that any change requires adaptation and with that said, we believe that the holistic design approach will improve the quality of our work and ultimately benefit CWS-CARES end users.
If you have any questions, please contact CWS_CustRel@osi.ca.gov.
June 12, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
Effective June 26, 2024, CWS-CARES Release 0.13 Production Release Is Planned to Move into Production
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled release activity that will interrupt connectivity to the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara. The release activity is planned to begin at 5:00 PM on June 26, 2024, and conclude at 11:00 PM. During this scheduled outage, users in pilot counties will not be able to access the CARES RFA application.
CWS-CARES Release 0.13:
The purpose of this release is to primarily deliver fixes for known issues, enhancements to behind-the-scenes functionality and security improvements to CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process.
CWDS is excited to share the new RFA features that are planned to be available following the implementation of CWS-CARES Release 0.13 on June 26, 2024, to the CARES-RFA Pilot County users. These new features are derived from user feedback as well as project planned enhancements.
As a resource to pilot counties, over the next few weeks, your organization can expect to receive information regarding a Webinar along with an updated Participant and Quick Reference Guide. These resources will provide the system users with details of the features/functionality that have been added since the last production release.
RFA Application Process:
The RFA Application process is the Receipt, Record, Submission, and Assignment of an Application. The RFA Application process was selected as the first software build for CARES. CARES will ultimately replace the legacy Child Welfare System CWS/CMS. The RFA Application Process will operate in a totally new Production Environment without integrating with other legacy systems, such as the CWS/CMS and CARES-Live applications.
RFA Application Process Features:
- Allows an applicant or County staff member to initiate an emergency or standard application to become a resource family home
- Creates a facility profile that tracks required information to complete this process, including background check results, completion of orientation and training hours, physical home assessment, and family evaluation
- Aggregates information into a report to recommend approval or disapproval of a resource family application
Action Required
RFA Pilot County users review new features in the CWS-CARES Production Environment after June 27, 2024.
All Release Notes, including information for this release once available, can be found here: RFA Application Process Release Notes and Interim Processes
June 06, 2024
Communications
All CARES SPOCs:
We are pleased to announce a CWS-CARES Stakeholder Briefings webpage will be available on the CWDS public website beginning June 12, 2024:
1. The CWS-CARES Stakeholder Briefings page will be located under the ‘Stakeholder Resources’ dropdown to ‘Project Reporting’.
2. Under the ‘Project Reporting’ header you will find the CWS-CARES Stakeholder Briefings link beginning June 12, 2024.
3. On the CWS-CARES Stakeholder Briefings page, you will now be able to view dates, times, and information on how to register for upcoming stakeholder briefings. You will also be able to access recordings and materials from past stakeholder briefings. We are launching a new series of stakeholder briefings on June 26, 2024, and recordings and materials will be available by June 28, 2024, under ‘Past Stakeholder Briefings’.
The intent of these changes to the CWDS website is to build awareness on CWS-CARES project updates and promote user engagement. These changes will be implemented on June 12, 2024.
Action Required
No action required at this time.
May 23, 2024
Communications
CWS Directors, SPOCs and Technical Contacts in Affected Counties:
May 23, 2024 UPDATE: This is a reminder, if a County wants to request the transfer of CWS/CMS quarantined unsupported/infected files from CDSS to County stewardship and have not yet done so, to please complete the steps listed below. Please submit your transfer request and provide the needed contact information by 5:00 PM on Friday, June 14, 2024.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
April 16, 2024 UPDATE: Upon further discussion with the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), we discovered that the March 15, 2024, communication (see below) included some inaccurate information. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will be signed by CDSS before sending it to the County for their signature. As a reminder, the MOU is needed to allow for the transfer of the infected/unsupported documents/files from CDSS to County stewardship.
The updated steps for a County to request the transfer of CWS/CMS quarantined unsupported/infected files from CDSS to County stewardship are:
- County signifies that they want to receive a copy of the unsupported/infected documents/files by sending an email to the CWDS Customer Relations mailbox.
- County provides the Point of Contact within the County to receive the media with the unsupported/infected documents/files, with the following contact information:
- Name
- Role
- Address
- Phone Number
- Email Address
- County provides the signatory to be listed on the MOU, with the following information:
- Name
- Title
- Address
- Phone Number
- Email Address
- CDSS will use the provided information to draft the MOU.
- CDSS will send the MOU (signed by CDSS) to the County.
- County signs the MOU and emails it to the CDSS Contracts and Procurement Services Branch.
- CDSS or its designee(s) will contact the County to make arrangement for the transfer of the requested files.
- CDSS or its designee(s) will copy the requested County files to an external storage medium mutually agreed upon by the Parties.
- CDSS or its designee(s) shall send the external storage medium to County using a secured overnight courier that, at a minimum, requires signature receipt confirmation.
- County will confirm receipt of the media and the files.
- Upon county confirmation of files being received, the State may delete the original quarantined files from the CWDS quarantined area after 90 Days. After the original quarantined files have been deleted, the CDSS will terminate the MOU.
Please NOTE: Counties that have already sent in their signed MOUs requesting release of the documents/files to the County will be contacted by CDSS with a new draft of the MOU (signed by CDSS) with a request for the County to sign the new MOU.
We apologize for any confusion caused by the previous communication.
____________________________________________________________________________
March 15, 2024 UPDATE: CDSS acknowledges and appreciates your continued caution regarding the approvals for the deletion of the infected/unsupported documents/files in the Child Welfare Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS). In response to County requests for an opportunity to remediate the infected/unsupported documents/files removed from CWS/CMS and placed in quarantine, the CDSS has developed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to allow for the transfer of the infected/unsupported documents/files from CDSS to county stewardship.
Steps to request the transfer of CWS/CMS quarantined unsupported/infected files from CDSS to county stewardship:
- County submits the signed CDSS MOU requesting release of the files to the County. The MOU shall be signed by the County Director signature/approval. Please see the attached MOU.
- CDSS or its designee(s) will copy the requested County files to an external storage medium mutually agreed upon by the Parties.
- CDSS or its designee(s) shall send the external storage medium to County using a secured overnight courier that, at a minimum, requires signature receipt confirmation.
- County will confirm receipt of the media and the files.
- Upon county confirmation of files being received, the State may delete the original quarantined files from the CWDS quarantined area after 90 Days.
Please note, if additional infected/unsupported documents/files are identified in the future a County will need to submit -a new MOU to request transfer of those files.
If you are interested in requesting the transfer of files for your county, please send your signed MOU to CWDS Customer Relations. Once received CWDS or its designee(s) will contact you to make arrangement for the transfer of the files requested.
____________________________________________________________________________
February 8, 2024 UPDATE: The California Department of Social Services (CDSS), the CWDS Project and IBM are still working on determining an approach for sharing with counties the documents that have been quarantined. This decision will take a little longer to complete than originally thought. The updated ETA for the decision is now March 15, 2024. An update will be shared out to everybody once the decision has been made.
In the meantime, the CWDS Office is still awaiting notification from the CWS Directors from a majority of the impacted Counties on your preference to delete or to keep quarantined the affected files. If you have not yet shared your preference, please do so by the extended deadline of February 29, 2024.
____________________________________________________________________________
December 26, 2023 UPDATE: The California Department of Social Services (CDSS), the CWDS Project and IBM have decided that the safest option is to quarantine the identified infected and unsupported files in CWS/CMS. The files will not be deleted from CWS/CMS, but users will be prevented from opening the affected documents. The affected documents will be saved to a quarantined area of CWS/CMS on Saturday, January 6, 2024. If a CWS/CMS user attempts to open one of the quarantined documents, they will receive the following error message:
Please note that this DRMS 00122 error message is informational only and that the user will be able to continue to work in the CWS/CMS application after receiving the error message.
The CWDS Project and IBM are still looking to receive responses from the CWS Directors indicating their permission to permanently delete these files. Please contact CWDS Customer Relations by January 31, 2024, with your decision whether to have IBM delete the files in a batch file deletion process.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
December 18, 2023 UPDATE: In the attached letter the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has provided updated guidance to Counties impacted by the CWS/CMS infected and unsupported file cleanup effort.
Please contact CWDS Customer Relations with any questions related to this guidance.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
As part of planning for CWS-CARES V1, the CARES Data Conversion team has been performing incremental conversion from CWS/CMS data and documents into CWS-CARES. After the documents are extracted from CWS/CMS, they are scanned to ensure that no viruses are introduced into the CARES environment. During this process, it was discovered that, out of 73 million documents that are stored in the CWS/CMS database, approximately 2,400 documents are infected with a virus or malware. Of these 2,400 documents, 95% were last updated in 2001 or before.
Further, there are an additional 2,600 files that have an unsupported file extension.
Due to security concerns, these documents and files cannot be moved into the CWS-CARES application.
Please NOTE: These infected documents are stored in binary large object (BLOB) format on the mainframe in the Db2 database. As a result, these documents do not affect CWS/CMS data on the mainframe. However, if the document is opened, the virus can infect the user’s personal computer. Please ensure that you have a current antivirus operating on your workstation.
If you are receiving this communication, it means that your county is impacted by this issue.
For each affected County, we will send a report listing the infected files and unsupported file extension files, with additional details pertaining to that County. The reports will be sent to affected counties after the Kick-off meetings.
Please provide a point of contact including IT Support and Security Officer as appropriate and their information (Name, Email, Role, etc.) for the person that should receive your County’s report no later than 11/8/23. The report will be sent via encrypted email to that person.
Please use this form to provide the point(s) of contact: CWS/CMS Infected Documents/Unsupported File Extension - Contacts
Once Customer Relations receives the point of contact person’s information, they will be invited to the Kick-off meetings scheduled for 11/14/23 and 11/16/23. The intent of those meetings will be to review next steps.
Action Required
Please provide a point of contact and their information (Name, Email, etc.), using the link above, for the person that should receive your County’s report no later than 11/8/23.
May 21, 2024
Communications
CARES RFA Pilot Counties:
May 21, 2024 UPDATE: Salesforce identified the cause of the performance degradation and implemented a fix that resolved the issue. Salesforce has noticed a positive impact to the performance of its services.
The CARES-RFA application should now be returned to normal performance.
______________________________________________________________________________
Salesforce is experiencing a service degradation. This degradation may impact CARES-RFA. Users should be able to access the CWS-CARES application; however, some functionality may be unavailable or running at less than optimal performance. General and intermittent slow performance, timeouts, and connectivity issues are possible.
Salesforce is investigating the issue. Additional information will be shared as new updates are received.
Action Required
No action is required at this time.
If users experience any issues with the CWS-CARES, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CWS-CARES County Administrators may contact the CARES Service Desk through the CWDS ServiceNow Customer Support Management (CSM) Portal. Alternate methods are phoning 1-855-292-3444 or via email at Servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov during normal business hours. You may also email after hours, and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.
May 16, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs and Data Quality Analysts:
The latest versions of data quality fuzzy reports for clients & placement homes are now available. Note that the Substitute Care Provider (SCP) Fuzzy reports have been replaced by SCR 8912 SCP Deduplication. The Client & Placement Home Fuzzy reports assist with data cleanup by providing a greater number of potential duplication matches, using “fuzzy” matching criteria, than would be possible on the more restricted results on the Semi-annual merge reports. Additional information on CWS/CMS data cleansing activities and benefits, including fuzzy reports, is found on the Data Quality Portal.
To help the Data Quality team to keep track of requests for fuzzy reports, a simple online request form has been developed. A new request must be submitted each time to receive the updated fuzzy reports. The Data Quality Fuzzy reports request online form is located at 2024 May DQ Fuzzy Reports Request.
Action Required
If a county wants to request a Data Quality Fuzzy Report (for Client or Placement Home), please complete and submit the online request form located at 2024 May DQ Fuzzy Reports Request.
April 16, 2024
Communications
All CWS/CMS SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
It has come to the attention of the CWDS Project that Facility Type 'Resource Family Home,' received from LIS, is displaying as 'Foster Family Agency Certified Resource Family Home' in CWS/CMS.
The CWDS Project is now working with the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) partners that manage LIS to research and understand the impact.
We will provide additional updates in the future as more information becomes available.
Action Required
No action is required. Informational only.
April 09, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
We want to provide some important reminders when calling the IBM Help Desk to open a SAFE ticket.
- Please provide a phone number, such as a mobile number, where an Operations Team member assigned to those SAFE tickets can reach the person directly or immediately.
- Please do not provide a desk phone number if that is not the best number to reach the contact person.
The Operations team's goal is to resolve tickets promptly, and this can best be achieved with a direct phone contact rather than an email resolution.
Additionally, when the Operations Team member is working with the customer, they will ask them if your County has Business Objects (BO) reports that have been set to run overnight.
If yes, please follow these steps:
- Immediately change the temporary SAFE password to a permanent one.
- The user will then need to authenticate into their BO Admin Tool and sync this tool with their (permanent) SAFE password.
NOTE: This process must be carried out by the close of business the day the SAFE password is changed. Failure to complete this step will freeze the automated reports and prevent them from running overnight.
Action Required
No action is required. Informational only.
