November 07, 2024
Communications
CARES SPOCs, Implementation Coordinators, County, Tribe, Probation, State Leadership, OCM Coordinators and specific CWDA Staff related to child welfare
We are pleased to present the fifth issue of the CARES Compass, the two-page executive summary with upcoming project communications and brief informational highlights.
In this issue, you will find:
- CWDS Planning Roadmap Update: The CWDS Planning Roadmap is enhanced with milestone descriptions, critical training and implementation activities, and Extended User Scenario Testing (EUST) periods. A high-level roadmap focusing on the CARES V1 Project Lifecycle is also available.
- Stakeholder Briefings Series: We're pleased to announce the dates for all upcoming Stakeholder Briefing sessions. These sessions will provide you with valuable insights into CWS-CARES and an opportunity to ask questions.
- Core Constituent Survey 2: We describe how we are applying the feedback collected from this survey.
- Holistic Design Update: We share statistics on the feedback and sessions conducted related to holistic design.
- Upcoming Events and Communications: A list of CWS-CARES communications that will be released in the next three months.
The fifth issue of the CARES Compass is available here: The CARES Compass, Volume 1 – Issue 5 – November 2024
We appreciate your continued commitment to staying informed.
Action Required
If you have any questions, need clarification, or have any accessibility issues, please do not hesitate to contact Customer Relations at CWS_CustRel@osi.ca.gov.
October 30, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs:
We are pleased to announce an update to the CWDS Planning Roadmap posted on the CWDS public website. The updated roadmap illustrates planned releases in the following systems: CARES-Live, CARES RFA and CWS/CMS. The updated planning roadmap includes CARES Version 1 (V1) milestone descriptions, critical training and implementation activities, and Extended User Scenario Testing (EUST) periods. In addition to the CWDS Planning Roadmap, we are posting a high-level roadmap focusing on the CARES V1 Project Lifecycle.
Accessing the new page:
- The CWDS Planning Roadmap and high-level CWS-CARES V1 Project Lifecycle is located under the ‘Stakeholder Resources’ dropdown, under the ‘Project Reporting’ link.
- Under ‘Project Reporting’ you will find the ‘CWDS Planning Roadmap & Timeline’ link.
Roadmaps are subject to change and will be updated as needed. For a more detailed status of product development please see our latest CWS-CARES Monthly Legislative Update.
Action Required
If you have any questions, need clarification, or have any accessibility issues, please do not hesitate to contact CWDS Communications.
October 28, 2024
Communications
All Pilot County RFA Implementation Coordinators and SPOCs:
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Friday, November 1, 2024, beginning at 6:00 AM and concluding at 8:00 AM. During the maintenance window, the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process will be accessible for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara.
During the maintenance window, document related functionality in the CARES application will not be accessible.
Action Required
No action required from end-users during this maintenance window.
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.
October 21, 2024
Communications
Core Constituent Survey Participants:
Thank you for participating in our second quarterly Core Constituent Survey and sharing your valuable insight on the CWS-CARES Core Constituent meetings.
For your awareness, we’ve attached a 1-page summary of the survey results, highlighting some of the feedback we received from participants.
We appreciate your contributions and look forward to using your input to continue improving the Core Constituent meetings.
Action Required
No action required at this time.
October 18, 2024
Communications
All Pilot County RFA Implementation Coordinators and SPOCs:
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Thursday, October 24, 2024, beginning at 6:00 AM and concluding at 8:00 AM. During the maintenance window, the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process will be accessible for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara.
During the maintenance window, document related functionality in the CARES application will not be accessible.
Action Required
No action required from end-users during this maintenance window.
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.
October 17, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs:
We are pleased to announce an update to the CWDS public website beginning October 22, 2024. As part of our ongoing effort to provide you greater insight into upcoming meetings for the CWS-CARES Project, we are replacing the CWS-CARES Meeting Matrix with a 3-month view of upcoming CWS-CARES meetings. The CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar captures recurring meetings hosted and facilitated by the CWS-CARES Project staff. These meetings include the CARES Implementation Meeting, CARES workgroup meetings, and Core Constituent demonstrations and Service Area meetings. This calendar will be updated monthly and is subject to change based on project needs.
1. The CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar page will be located under ‘Stakeholder Resources’ dropdown to ‘CWS-CARES Users.’
2. On the ‘CWS-CARES Users page’ you will find the CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar link.
3. The CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar link will display the following. Click on the CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar to download the PDF.
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 October 22, 2024.
Action Required
Beginning October 22, 2024, review the CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar, on the CWDS website, to view the recurring CWS-CARES meetings scheduled for the following three months.
October 14, 2024
Communications
To: Child Welfare Directors, Child Welfare Director-Alternates, Tribal Leadership, Probation Leadership, Specific CWDA Staff, and Core Constituents CC: All CARES SPOCs and Implementation Coordinators:
Child Welfare Leadership and Core Constituents,
As part of our ongoing effort to provide you greater insight into upcoming meetings for the CWS-CARES project, please see the updated CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar for October, November, and December 2024. This calendar includes all CWS-CARES readiness meetings, including Core Constituent demonstrations, implementation meetings, and key workgroups.
The calendar will be posted on the CWDS webpage soon and will replace the CWS-CARES Meeting Matrix. The CWS-CARES project will send a communication to announce this change.
The calendar includes two types of Core Constituent demonstrations:
Prototype Demonstrations (September – October)
These sessions showcase system updates that enhance user experience and navigation, providing a more consistent look and feel across CWS-CARES. Attendees have reported that the new interface is cleaner, more organized, and easier to navigate than the version shown during EUST 1.
Build Review Demonstrations (will be scheduled for November – December)
Build Reviews are a follow up to the Core Constituent Demonstrations of CARES prototypes that occurred in September and October. Participants may see feedback they provided during the prototype demonstrations incorporated into this Build Review. However, the CARES Product Team is still prioritizing some of the feedback and suggestions from the previous sessions.
Following this message, designated points of contact for Core Constituent counties and organizations will receive invitations to attend Build Review Demonstration scheduled for November and December 2024. Recipients should forward these invitations to their organization’s relevant core constituents and subject matter experts.
In addition to these invitations, the CWS-CARES project will be reaching out in the coming weeks to Core Constituents to begin recruitment for EUST 2, which is scheduled for January 2025. Once participating users have been identified, the project team will be working to ensure that each user has the appropriate provision settings to access all testing materials and our staging environment.
Action Required
Please share this information with those at your organization you feel should be informed. Note: this calendar is point-in-time and subject to change.
The CWS-CARES project continues to a develop a long-term, live calendar solution that will be accessible to all meeting participants and leadership. We will notify you when this new calendar solution is ready.
If you have any questions, please contact CWS_CustRel@osi.ca.gov.
October 11, 2024
Communications
All Pilot County RFA Implementation Coordinators and SPOCs:
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Thursday, October 17, 2024, beginning at 6:00 AM and concluding at 8:00 AM. During the maintenance window, the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process will be accessible for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara.
There is no anticipated impact for CWS-CARES users. We are sharing this information in the unlikely circumstance that there is an actual impact during the scheduled maintenance window and the CWS-CARES application becomes inaccessible.
Action Required
No action required from end-users during this maintenance window.
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.
October 11, 2024
Communications
All Pilot County RFA Implementation Coordinators and SPOCs:
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Thursday, October 17, 2024, beginning at 6:00 AM and concluding at 8:00 AM. During the maintenance window, the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process will be accessible for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara.
There is no anticipated impact for CWS-CARES users. We are sharing this information in the unlikely circumstance that there is an actual impact during the scheduled maintenance window and the CWS-CARES application becomes inaccessible.
Action Required
No action required from end-users during this maintenance window.
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.
September 26, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs:
The Office of Technology and Solutions Integration (OTSI) has decided to phase out the use of WebEx and will use, instead, Microsoft Teams exclusively for all virtual meetings. Child Welfare Digital Services (CWDS) plans to make the move to Microsoft Teams by Monday, September 30, 2024.
Organizations will see many CWDS project meetings either updated or cancelled and rescheduled to make the change to Microsoft Teams instead of WebEx. This communication is being sent out to explain the reasoning of the updates to the existing meeting invites.
Recipients of “forwarded” meeting invites will not receive the updates to the meetings and will have the previous WebEx link on their calendar if they were not included in the invite distribution. If you have previously forwarded an invite to a meeting that has since been updated, please be sure to forward the updated invite to those parties, or work with the meeting organizer to add them to the invite’s distribution list, if appropriate.
Action Required
Please accept the updated meeting invites and remove the canceled meetings, due to the change from WebEx to Teams, as they are received.
Forward any updated meeting invites that you have previously forwarded, if the new recipients are not included in the meeting’s distribution. The other option is to work with the meeting organizers to add the appropriate people to the invite.
