Product Release
CWS-CARES Release 0.8 Production Release - March 22, 2023| 5:00 PM - 11:00 PM
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
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, Riverside, and Santa Clara. The release activity is planned to begin at 5:00 PM on March 22, 2023, 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 0.8:
The purpose of this release is to primarily deliver fixes for known issues, enhancements to backend functionality, and security improvements.
CWDS is excited to share the new RFA features that are planned to be available on March 23, 2023, 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:
RFA Pilot County users review new features in the CWS-CARES Production Environment after March 22, 2023.
All Release Notes, including information for this release once available, can be found on the CWDS Website.
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, Riverside, and Santa Clara. The release activity is planned to begin at 5:00 PM on March 22, 2023, 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 0.8:
The purpose of this release is to primarily deliver fixes for known issues, enhancements to backend functionality, and security improvements.
CWDS is excited to share the new RFA features that are planned to be available on March 23, 2023, 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
RFA Pilot County users review new features in the CWS-CARES Production Environment after March 22, 2023.
All Release Notes, including information for this release once available, can be found on the CWDS Website.
CARES-Live 2.8.22 Production Release – January 12, 2023| 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
EFFECTIVE JANUARY 12, 2023, CARES-Live 2.8.22 RELEASE IS SCHEDULED TO MOVE INTO PRODUCTION.
The CARES-Live team has scheduled release activity that will interrupt connectivity to the CARES-Live application. The release activity will begin at 6:00 PM on Thursday, January 12, 2023, and conclude at 9:00 PM. During this release, the CARES-Live team will focus on application changes that are not visible to CARES-Live users. Users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during the scheduled outage.
CARES-Live 2.8.22:
CARES-Live Dashboard
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.
EFFECTIVE JANUARY 12, 2023, CARES-Live 2.8.22 RELEASE IS SCHEDULED TO MOVE INTO PRODUCTION.
The CARES-Live team has scheduled release activity that will interrupt connectivity to the CARES-Live application. The release activity will begin at 6:00 PM on Thursday, January 12, 2023, and conclude at 9:00 PM. During this release, the CARES-Live team will focus on application changes that are not visible to CARES-Live users. Users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during the scheduled outage.
CARES-Live 2.8.22:
CARES-Live Dashboard
- Currently, when an external system (e.g., LIS or CWS/CMS) connection goes down, the whole CARES-Live Application becomes unavailable to the user. Starting with Release 2.8.22, CARES-Live will implement changes to the dashboard so that if a particular feature is down, it will show a “Feature is currently unavailable“ warning message, but the rest of the CARES-Live application will still be accessible. This change shall prevent the Application becoming unavailable to the user.
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.
CARES Release 0.7 Production Release – December 15, 2022| 5:00 PM – 11:00 PM
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
EFFECTIVE DECEMBER 15, 2022, CARES RELEASE 0.7 PRODUCTION RELEASE IS PLANNED TO MOVE INTO PRODUCTION
The CARES team has scheduled release activity that will interrupt connectivity to the CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, Riverside, and Santa Clara. The release activity is planned to begin at 5:00 PM on December 15, 2022, and conclude at 11:00 PM. During this scheduled outage, users in pilot counties will not be able to access the CARES RFA application.
CARES Release 0.7:
The purpose of this release is to improve the performance of the CARES RFA process with the addition of new reports and functional enhancements to RFA features.
CWDS is excited to share the new RFA features that are planned to be available on December 16, 2022, 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:
RFA Pilot County users review new features in the CARES Production Environment after December 16, 2022..
All Release Notes including information for this release once available can be found here.
EFFECTIVE DECEMBER 15, 2022, CARES RELEASE 0.7 PRODUCTION RELEASE IS PLANNED TO MOVE INTO PRODUCTION
The CARES team has scheduled release activity that will interrupt connectivity to the CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, Riverside, and Santa Clara. The release activity is planned to begin at 5:00 PM on December 15, 2022, and conclude at 11:00 PM. During this scheduled outage, users in pilot counties will not be able to access the CARES RFA application.
CARES Release 0.7:
The purpose of this release is to improve the performance of the CARES RFA process with the addition of new reports and functional enhancements to RFA features.
CWDS is excited to share the new RFA features that are planned to be available on December 16, 2022, 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
RFA Pilot County users review new features in the CARES Production Environment after December 16, 2022..
All Release Notes including information for this release once available can be found here.
Reschedule of CWS/CMS Release 9.0 Go-Live - UPDATE
All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and Training Contacts:
November 30, 2022, UPDATE: To allow sufficient time to review and address all issues found during the R9.0 Testing Phase and ensure the final code is ready for the release, the Testing Phase of R9.0 will be extended a few more weeks. This extension will have the effect of pushing out some of the milestone dates for R9.0, R9.0 Pilot, and R9.2. The updated schedule will now be as follows:
As noted in the table above, the Go-Live date for R9.0 has been pushed out to Tuesday, January 31, 2023. This release remains optional until R9.1 is implemented on March 11, 2023. The R9.1 Go-Live date remains unchanged. The Pilot Phase for R9.0 is being pushed out and shortened. The new date range for the Pilot will now be January 3, 2023, through January 24, 2023. This will help to avoid some of the potential schedule conflicts with the December holidays.
The tentative Go-Live date for R9.2 is being pushed out one month to May 2023, instead of the previously planned April 2023 date. This postponement was selected to allow Counties more time in between mandatory releases. The tentative R9.3 Go-Live date of July 2023 remains unchanged.
Action Required
Contact the CWDS Customer Relations team if you have any questions regarding the CWS/CMS release schedules.
November 30, 2022, UPDATE: To allow sufficient time to review and address all issues found during the R9.0 Testing Phase and ensure the final code is ready for the release, the Testing Phase of R9.0 will be extended a few more weeks. This extension will have the effect of pushing out some of the milestone dates for R9.0, R9.0 Pilot, and R9.2. The updated schedule will now be as follows:
| Release | Previous Scheduled Date | New Scheduled Date |
| R9.0 | 1/18/2023
|
January 31, 2023
|
| R9.1 | March 11, 2023 (Tentative) Mandatory Release. All counties must also take R9.0 code with this release. |
March 11, 2023
|
| R9.2 | April 2023 (Tentative) | May 2023 (Tentative) |
As noted in the table above, the Go-Live date for R9.0 has been pushed out to Tuesday, January 31, 2023. This release remains optional until R9.1 is implemented on March 11, 2023. The R9.1 Go-Live date remains unchanged. The Pilot Phase for R9.0 is being pushed out and shortened. The new date range for the Pilot will now be January 3, 2023, through January 24, 2023. This will help to avoid some of the potential schedule conflicts with the December holidays.
The tentative Go-Live date for R9.2 is being pushed out one month to May 2023, instead of the previously planned April 2023 date. This postponement was selected to allow Counties more time in between mandatory releases. The tentative R9.3 Go-Live date of July 2023 remains unchanged.
Action Required
Contact the CWDS Customer Relations team if you have any questions regarding the CWS/CMS release schedules.
CWS/CMS Interim Release 8.19.2 - UPDATE
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
September 26, 2022 UPDATE:
Important Dates
September 26, 2022 UPDATE:
- There was a delay in staging the Release 8.19.2 cwscms.msi file planned for last Friday. The file is now available on the CWSDFSr server for COEX counties and will be available once it syncs up to your county server (typically happens once/hour). This delay will not impact the 9/27/2022 Go-Live date, and all counties/users have until 10/25/2022 to install it on their workstations.
- We do not generate individual Release Notes for Interim releases; however, the 8.19 Release Notes attached have details on page 4 of the JV-237 Proof of Service-Short-Term Residential Therapeutic Program Placement document. ____________________________________________________________________________________
Important Dates
- Friday 9/23 - Stage the MSI file
- Tuesday 9/27 - Go-live
- Tuesday 10/18 - R-10008 will appear, telling the users that R8.19.2 is available and they have until 10/25 to install it
- R - 10008 Updates for CWS/CMS Release 8.19.2 are available. To receive them, please restart the workstation (or follow county-specific procedures). If this workstation is not updated by 10/25/2022, access will be denied.
- Tuesday 10/25 - R-10009 will appear, telling the users that R8.19.2 is available and they cannot continue until they install it
- R - 10009 Updates for CWS/CMS Release 8.19.2 are available. To receive them, please restart the workstation (or follow county-specific procedures).
- Co-Existent Counties
Distribute the release through the normal county process. Co-Existent Counties should plan to deploy the update at their earliest opportunity after 6:00PM on Tuesday, September 27, 2022.
Dedicated Counties
Release 8.19.2 will be installed automatically via normal release deployment process. - For best results the users should do the following on Tuesday, September 27, 2022:
- Reboot the workstation and log into Windows at least once to receive the Release 8.19.2 installer.
- When leaving the office at the end of that day, reboot the workstation again but do not log into Windows.
- Leave the workstation powered on so that automatic installation can occur overnight.