March 21, 2025
Communications
Core Constituent Points of Contact:
Core Constituents,
You shared in quarterly Core Constituent surveys that new meeting and demonstration participants would benefit from onboarding resources to better understand CWS-CARES and how to engage effectively. In response, we are introducing the Core Constituent Orientation Guide, a one-page resource designed to support your onboarding and participation.
What’s in the Guide?
- Essential resources to get started
- Key activities for Core Constituents
- How to provide feedback
- Contact information for questions
You can access the guide in the attached document. It will also be included in all Core Constituent meeting invites moving forward.
We would like to hear from you! If you have suggestions to improve the guide, please send them to the Customer Relations Team.
Thank you for your continued participation and valuable contributions to CWS-CARES.
Action Requested
Send your suggestions to improve the Core Constituent Orientation Guide to the Customer Relations team.
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 SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and CAD Contacts:
An issue has been discovered with the current version of Business Objects used with the CWS/CMS application.
Issue Description:
Whenever a numeric field, such as government entity code, is used as a condition in a data provider (query), the query will run correctly the first time. Whenever the data provider is edited, the system will return a type mismatch error and require the user to remove and re-add the condition. The query will then run, as long as it is not edited again.
This only appears to be an issue with numeric fields; character fields, such as Client Name, do not experience this issue. Once the query is run, it operates normally as long as the user does not go back and edit the data provider. The user can refresh the data and save, as well as edit the report formatting, without issue.
Issue Resolution:
A patch level update will be required to resolve the issue. The CWDS Office and IBM are evaluating the next Business Objects patch to determine if it will resolve the issue, without generating any new issues. There is currently no estimated time of when the patch will be implemented. Additional updates will be sent out as new information is received.
Workaround:
When Business Objects informs the user of a type mismatch error after a numeric field is used as a condition in a data provider, and the data provider is edited, then the user must remove and re-enter the condition. The query will run, without issue, as long as the data provider is not edited again.
Action Required
Until the issue is corrected with the appropriate patch update, users will need to perform the workaround listed above, by removing and re-entering the condition when they receive a type mismatch error message.
October 22, 2024
Communications
All Dedicated County SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
October 22, 2024 UPDATE: The California Department of Technology (CDT) has reported that Cisco AnyConnect Virtual Private Network (VPN) is now accessible. CDT continues to investigate and work on this issue, but VPN access appears to be stable. Users should now be able to access VPN. CDT and the CWDS Infrastructure team will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that the connection continues to remain.
Please notify the IBM Help Desk (800-428-8268) if you encounter an issue with connecting to VPN.
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Multiple counties and the CWDS Project office have reported issues with connecting to the Cisco AnyConnect Virtual Private Network (VPN). The CWDS Infrastructure team is working with the California Department of Technology (CDT) to resolve this issue.
There is currently no estimated time of resolution for this problem. Additional communications will be sent out as new information is received.
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.
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.
August 08, 2024
Communications
All SPOCS, Technical Contacts and Training Contacts:
Due to a State requirement, the CWDS Website will be migrating to a new website template. The look of the CWDS Website pages, including the CWDS Portals, will appear different; however, the content of the site will not change. There are a few visual differences with the new template (see sample screenshots below):
- Website pages will have a blue banner at the top of the page content
- Font type and sizes have been adjusted to comply to the State template
- CWDS Portals link will be moved to the Main Navigation Bar
The updated CWDS Website will go live on September 2, 2024. For questions regarding this change, please contact Customer Relations.
Action Required
None at this time.
June 18, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
This communication is a notification that a bulletin has been posted to the CWDS website. As a reminder, ‘Bulletins’ are located beneath the ‘Follow Our Progress’ header on the CWDS website’s home page. The bulletin provides a reminder and direction prior to Release 9.4 on Saturday, July 20, 2024.
Action Required
Please review the bulletin and share the information with county personnel.
March 25, 2024
Communications
March 25, 2024 UPDATE: CWS-CARES Release 0.12, originally scheduled for Wednesday, March 27, 2024, has been rescheduled to Friday, March 29, 2024. The release activity is planned to begin at 5:00 PM and conclude at 11:00 PM. During this scheduled outage, users in pilot counties will not be able to access the CARES RFA application.
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EFFECTIVE March 27 29, 2024, CWS-CARES RELEASE 0.12 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 March 27 29, 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 0.12:
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 0.12 on March 27 29, 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 March 28 30, 2024.
All Release Notes, including information for this release once available, can be found here: RFA Application Process Release Notes and Interim Processes
January 23, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
This communication is a notification that a bulletin has been posted to the CWS/CMS website. As a reminder, ‘Bulletins’ are located beneath the ‘Follow Our Progress’ header on the CWDS website’s home page. The bulletin provides a reminder and direction prior to Release 9.3 on Saturday, February 10, 2024.
Action Required
Please review the bulletin and share the information with county personnel.
December 20, 2023
Communications
All CWS-CARES OKTA Admins:
As a privileged user in the CWS-CARES system, it is our understanding that you may already be familiar with the risks associated with phishing – a tactic used by hackers to gain control of your computer and through this, potentially infiltrate and cause harm to systems you access. Phishing uses email to get a user to download and/or execute malicious programs. Phishing is very common in today’s world and users should be very vigilant and avoid opening and clicking through emails they did not solicit or do not trust.
It is highly recommended that you maintain a heightened level of awareness specifically in relation to the potential threat articulated above. When in doubt, do not hesitate to ask your County Information Technology (IT) office or reach out to servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov.
It is equally important that you maintain good IT “hygiene” in relation to your CWS-CARES credentials including, but not limited to, using appropriate tools such as a password manager, not using the same password for multiple accounts, setting a strong multi-factor authentication (MFA), using strong and complex passwords, not sharing your passwords with anyone, and other precautions to secure user access and credentials.
Action Required
If you have any general questions or concerns, or simply wish to discuss how best to keep your privileged account credentials used to access CWS-CARES more secure, please do not hesitate to reach out to servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov.
