Maintenance

To: CARES SPOCs, Technical Contacts, Training Contacts, Implementation Coordinators, Training Coordinators, OCM Coordinators, County Leadership, Tribe Leadership, Probation Leadership, and State Leadership:

To prepare users for Instructor-Led Training (ILT), access to the CWS-CARES Training Environment (CARES 104) will be provisioned in a phased approach beginning tomorrow, July 29, 2026. Early access is being provided so users can confirm their login and complete any required account setup before ILT begins. Users will receive notification emails with required actions according to the following schedule: 

Provisioning Schedule 

Wednesday, July 29, 2026 

• Los Angeles County 
• Napa County 
• Santa Barbara County 

Tuesday, August 4, 2026 

•  All remaining counties, tribes, probation agencies, and CDSS 

As noted in prior communications, county-specific rollout messages will not be sent; impacted users will receive the system-generated onboarding emails only. 

Action Required: Complete Onboarding Steps to Confirm Access 

Users will receive two system-generated onboarding emails. Complete the steps below immediately to ensure access is confirmed before ILT begins: 

1. “Welcome to CWS CARES” from no-reply-test@cares.cwds.ca.gov (Okta) 

• Integrated counties/organizations: this email confirms access has been granted. No action required.  
• Non-integrated counties/organizations (new or reactivated users): click the link to set your password. The link expires in 7 days for new users and 1 day for reactivated users.  

2. “Finish changing your Salesforce account’s email address” from QA_SUPPORT@salesforce.com  

• Sent only to users in counties implementing email domain changes. Click the verification link within 72 hours to confirm the change.  

Prior to ILT: Continue Using the Production Simulation Environment (CARES 100) 

The Training Environment (CARES 104) should be used only for guided ILT activities per your county’s training schedule. Early access is provided to confirm login and complete setup only — not for practice, exploration, or workflow activities.  

To continue preparing for ILT, organizations should continue using the Production Simulation environment (CARES 100) to: 

• Build system familiarity

• Complete OnDemand learning modules 

• Continue pre-ILT readiness activities* 

* Users who have already completed Self-Paced Training prerequisites in the Training Environment (CARS 104) are not expected to complete them again. 

Thank you for your ongoing collaboration as we prepare for statewide ILT. 

Action Required:

Complete onboarding steps once your orgaization receives access to the Training Environment (CARES 104). 

 If you have any questions, need clarification, or have any accessibility issues, please contact Customer Relations. 

Security Protocols for Prod Sim Case Data

The Prod Sim environment contains converted CWS/CMS cases reflecting actual system data as of April 17th; because this includes real, sensitive PII, all case information must be strictly protected or redacted.

To protect CWS-CARES case data, please follow these important security guidelines when working with our support teams:

• Redact Ticket Info: Do not send PHI, PII, or confidential case details to the Service Desk via email or ticket. Sensitive and confidential data cannot be stored in the ticketing system.
• Secure Screen Shares: During support-requested screen shares, limit attendees to essential personnel only. Recording of sensitive information is strictly prohibited.
• Consult for Tier 3 Transfers: If Tier 3 support needs sensitive data, use secure transmission methods. Contact your county Privacy Officer or the CWDS ISO if you need assistance with secure routing.

We appreciate your dedication to protecting the safety and privacy of vulnerable children and families while we work together to support your needs.

To: External Systems Data Conversion Counties: Binti Counties, Contra Costa and San Luis Obispo

Earlier this month, counties received access to the CWS-CARES data mapping validation environments to validate external system data mapping. To assist with validating the  mapping your county’s external system data, we are sharing key updates, reminders, and support resources. 

Mapping Validation: Placement and Family Finding Data Now Available 

1. All External System Data Conversion counties have Placement data to validate. 
2. Family Finding validation applies only to counties with Family Finding data to review. 

Reminder: Mapping Validation Deadlines 

Counties must finish their data mapping validation activities in their designated environments by the following dates. After this time, the data will no longer be available. 

1. Resource Family Application (RFA) Dates 

• Binti Data (CARES 105 – DC Val): July 31, 2026 
• Contra Costa & San Luis Obispo Data (CARES 100 - ProdSim): August 14, 2026 

2. Placement and Family Finding data: August 4, 2026 

Resources Available on the External Systems Portal: 

1. Coming Soon: External System Data Conversion Mapping Validation Tips 

• This upcoming guide will be posted shortly. It has step-by-step instructions and screenshots for finding Placement and Family Finding records in CWS-CARES validation environments, along with previously shared RFA guidance.  

2. CARES 105 Kickoff Session presentation and recording with guidance on locating and validating RFA in the CWS-CARES external system data mapping validation environment: External Systems Materials  
3. Data Mapping Validation Primer: Provides guidance for counties on confirming that external system data was converted into CWS-CARES.  

Support 

1. Production Simulation Office Hours now include a recurring agenda topic for data conversion mapping validation from external systems. Please use these sessions to ask questions and receive support. 
2. Invitations to the Data Conversion Validation Workgroup will be sent to County SPOCs, technical SMEs supporting data mapping validation, and past Data Mapping workgroup participants. Meeting details and access links will be included in the invitation. These drop-in sessions are dedicated specifically to walking through submitted ServiceNow tickets for external system data mapping validation.  

• Originally created for CWS/CMS data conversion, this forum is expanding to support county staff for external system data mapping validation. Starting Thursday, July 30, and continuing through mid-September, dedicated technical support will be available during these sessions. 
• Please note that county staff must submit a ServiceNow ticket prior to attending to receive assistance. 

After the validation windows close, the Project will send a wrap-up communication with next steps. 

Please contact the External Systems mailbox for questions.

Action Required:

Please contact the External Systems mailbox for questions. Review the guidance and complete your county's validation activities by the deadlines above. 

Security Protocols for Prod Sim Case Data

The Prod Sim environment contains converted CWS/CMS cases reflecting actual system data as of April 17th; because this includes real, sensitive PII, all case information must be strictly protected or redacted.

To protect CWS-CARES case data, please follow these important security guidelines when working with our support teams:

• Redact Ticket Info: Do not send PHI, PII, or confidential case details to the Service Desk via email or ticket. Sensitive and confidential data cannot be stored in the ticketing system.
• Secure Screen Shares: During support-requested screen shares, limit attendees to essential personnel only. Recording of sensitive information is strictly prohibited.
• Consult for Tier 3 Transfers: If Tier 3 support needs sensitive data, use secure transmission methods. Contact your county Privacy Officer or the CWDS ISO if you need assistance with secure routing.

We appreciate your dedication to protecting the safety and privacy of vulnerable children and families while we work together to support your needs.

All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and SBC Administrators:

The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance on Saturday, July 25, 2026, beginning at 6:00 AM and concluding at 10:00 AM. During the maintenance window, CDT will apply Standard Monthly OS Security Patches to SBCS Infrastructure Servers. There is no anticipated outage for this maintenance; however, CDT is asking that everyone log off from the Citrix SBC system, if not actively using it during the maintenance window.
 

Action Required

If users experience any issues with CWS/CMS, please follow your county process for reporting issues or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.

CARES SPOCs, CARES Technical Contacts, Implementation Coordinators, OCM Coordinators, County Leadership, Tribe Leadership, Probation Leadership, and State Leadership:

To continually improve system performance and resolve known issues, we are establishing a weekly maintenance and update schedule for the CWS- CARES Production Simulation (Prod Sim) - CARES100 and Data Conversion Validation (DCVal) - CARES105 environments.

Please review the schedule and potential system impacts below:

Weekly Maintenance Schedule 

• Start Time: Every Friday starting at 5:00 PM 
• Code Deployment & Testing: Scheduled to be completed by Saturday at 8:00 AM 
• Data Fixes: If urgent data updates are required, they may be processed throughout the day on Saturday, depending on priority. 
• Please Note: This standard weekly maintenance window specifically applies to the CARES100 and CARES105 environments. If updates are required for any other CWS-CARES environments, we will communicate their specific schedules and system availability details when they are determined. 

What to Expect (System Impacts) 

While the CARES100 and CARES105 environments will remain accessible, you may experience minor performance impacts during this Friday night to Saturday maintenance window, including: 

• Slower system response times. 
• Intermittent issues with search functionality. 
• To keep users informed, a system banner will be displayed in the environments starting every Thursday to alert counties of the maintenance window. This banner will be removed once the maintenance is complete. 

We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we work to keep our systems running smoothly and efficiently.  

Action Required

Please share this communication with staff who utilize these environments so they are aware of the weekly maintenance schedule and potential system impacts. 

Security Protocols for Prod Sim Case Data

The Prod Sim environment contains converted CWS/CMS cases reflecting actual system data as of April 17, 2026. Because this includes real, sensitive (Personally Identifiable Information (PII), all case information must be strictly protected or redacted.

To protect CWS-CARES case data, please follow these important security guidelines when working with our support teams:

• Redact Ticket Info: Do not send Protected Health Information (PHI), PII, or confidential case details to the Service Desk via email or ticket. Sensitive and confidential data cannot be stored in the ticketing system.
• Secure Screen Shares: During support-requested screen shares, limit attendees to essential personnel only. Recording of sensitive information is strictly prohibited.
• Consult for Tier 3 Transfers: If Tier 3 support needs sensitive data, use secure transmission methods. Contact your county Privacy Officer or the CWDS ISO if you need assistance with secure routing.

We appreciate your dedication to protecting the safety and privacy of vulnerable children and families while we work together to support your needs.

All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:

The CARES-Live team has scheduled monthly Infrastructure maintenance for Thursday, June 25, 2026, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. During this scheduled maintenance, the CARES-Live team will deploy infrastructure updates, and security patches that are not visible to users of CARES-Live.

NOTE: Users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during the scheduled outage.

Action Required

If users experience any issues with CARES-Live, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CARES-Live 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.

Co-Existent County SPOCs and Technical Contacts:

June 19, 2026 UPDATE: Microsoft has not yet provided a permanent fix for the issue with KB5094126 (for Windows 11 v24H2 and v25H2) that is causing a 29956 error message when generating Word documents in CWS/CMS. IBM continues to strongly recommend that Co-Existent Counties do not install this patch on their CWS/CMS workstations, and if the patch is already installed to uninstall it until the permanent fix is produced. There is no estimated timeline for this fix, but we will send out an update once it is received and tested.

While testing the patches, IBM recently discovered an issue with another patch included in the June Microsoft patches. Patch #KB5093998 (for Windows 11 v23H2) is also causing the same 29956 error message when generating Word documents in CWS/CMS. IBM, again, strongly recommends that Co-Existent Counties do not install this patch on their CWS/CMS workstations, and if the patch is already installed to uninstall it until the permanent fix is produced. There is no estimated timeline for this additional fix, but we will send out an update once it is received and tested.

The following are the Microsoft patches that IBM is installing on the Dedicated County workstations for June 2026:

• .NET Desktop Runtime (x64) 8.0.28 Available
• .NET Desktop Runtime (x64) 9.0.17 Available
• .NET SDK (x64) 8.0.422 Available
• .NET Desktop Runtime 8.0.28 Available
• Adobe Acrobat 2026.001.21662 Available - Adobe Acrobat - Continuous Track (x64)
• Adobe Acrobat Reader 2026.001.21662 Available - Adobe Acrobat Reader - Continuous Track
• Adobe Acrobat Reader 2026.001.21662 Available - Adobe Acrobat Reader - Continuous Track (x64)
• Microsoft Edge Stable Build 149.0.4022.62 Available
• Microsoft Edge Stable Build 149.0.4022.62 Available (x64)
• MS26-JUN: Servicing Stack Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 - Windows 10 Version 1607 - KB5094141
• MS26-JUN: Servicing Stack Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 - Windows 10 Version 1607 - KB5094141 (x64)
• 5092427: Cumulative Update Preview for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 11, version 25H2 - Windows
• 5092427: Cumulative Update Preview for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 11, version 25H2 – Windows (x64)
• MS26-JUN: Security Update for Microsoft Excel 2016 - Excel 2016 - KB5002877
• MS26-JUN: Security Update for Microsoft Office 2016 - Office 2016 - KB5002578
• MS26-JUN: Security Update for Microsoft Office 2016 - Office 2016 - KB5002852
• MS26-JUN: Security Update for Microsoft Office 2016 - Office 2016 - KB5002878
• MS26-JUN: Security Update for Microsoft Word 2016 - Word 2016 - KB5002879
• Office 2024 Version 16.0.17932.20842 Available - Perpetual Channel - Office 2024 Volume Licensed
• Office 365 Version 16.0.20026.20166 Available - Monthly Enterprise Channel - Office 365 (English (United States
• Office 365 Version 16.0.20026.20168 Available - Current Channel - Office 365 (English (United States))
• Google Chrome 149.0.7827.103 Available
• 4052623: Update for Microsoft Defender antimalware platform - Microsoft Defender Antivirus - KB4052623
• Mozilla Firefox (x64) 140.11.0 ESR Available
• MS26-MAY: Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.7.2 for Windows 10 Version 1809 - Windows 10 KB5087061 (x64)
• MS26-MAY: Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8 for Windows 10 Version 1809 - Windows 10 Version (x64)

Additional updates will be shared out once the permanent fixes for the problem Microsoft June patches have been distributed by Microsoft and tested by IBM.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Issue: The CWS/CMS application generates a 29956 error in certain situations when attempting to make a call to Word documents. This error prevents the user from data input as part of normal workflow processes.

Cause: Microsoft has confirmed that the issue has been caused by Microsoft’s June 2026 update (released on June 9, 2026), specifically the KB5094126 installation on Windows 11 desktops. Microsoft has confirmed this issue is present for multiple customers.

Workaround Solution: A temporary workaround from Microsoft is to uninstall KB5094126 on impacted systems. A permanent fix is expected to be released by Microsoft within the next few days.

Note: This issue and workaround does not apply to the Dedicated County workstations. The June 2026 Microsoft patch KB5094126 was not yet installed on the Dedicated County workstations.

Action Required

Co-Existent Counties that installed the June 2026 updates from Microsoft should, as a temporary workaround, uninstall patch KB5094126 from their workstations, until Microsoft provides a permanent fix.

ALL SPOCs, Technical Contacts and CAD Contacts:

The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance of the SAFE Cloud service. The maintenance begins on Saturday, June 27, 2026, at 8:00 PM and concludes on Sunday, June 28, 2026, at 2:00 AM. The activity will cause interruptions in the SAFE Cloud service. Some Business Objects (BO) reports will fail to send, or automated scripts may fail to retrieve from SAFE during this scheduled maintenance.

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Action Required

All users should logoff of the SAFE Cloud service prior to the start of the stated maintenance timeframe. Please check on your scheduled BO SAFE reports and automated FTP scripts. If needed, re-run the reports and scripts.

Contact the IBM Help Desk (800-428-8268) to report any issues with your Business Objects content in SAFE.

All Pilot County RFA Implementation Coordinators and SPOCs:

The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Friday, June 19, 2026, 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 Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara. However, document related functionality 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.

All Pilot County RFA Implementation Coordinators and SPOCs:

The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Monday, June 22, 2026, beginning at 5:00 PM and concluding at 8:00 PM. During the maintenance window, the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process will be accessible for pilot counties 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.  

All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and SBC Administrators:

The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance on Saturday, June 27, 2026, beginning at 6:00 AM and concluding at 10:00 AM. During the maintenance window, CDT will apply Standard Monthly OS Security Patches to SBCS Infrastructure Servers. There is no anticipated outage for this maintenance; however, CDT is asking that everyone log off from the Citrix SBC system, if not actively using it during the maintenance window.
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Action Required

If users experience any issues with CWS/CMS, please follow your county process for reporting issues or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.