March 24, 2025
Communications
All SPOCs and Training Contacts:
March 24, 2024 UPDATE: This is a reminder that the deadline to register for the R9.6 County Test Workshop (CTW) is tomorrow, Tuesday, March 25, 2025.
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The Child Welfare Digital Services (CWDS) Office is requesting county staff to participate in the Release 9.6 County Test Workshop (CTW). Registered testers will participate in the testing of Release 9.6 Data Quality SCRs, which is been scheduled for delivery to the Counties on Saturday, August 16, 2025.
The CTW for Release 9.6 will be conducted in a remote setting via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) workstations.
The deadline to register is Tuesday, March 25, 2025
System Change Requests (SCRs) included in this release are:
- SCR 8982 - Add Missing Name for Placement Homes for CARES
- SCR 8983 - Add Missing Name for Non-Foster Care Facilities for CARES
- SCR 8999 - Update Client Dates out-of-range for CARES
- SCR 8985 - Make Name Mandatory for Non-Foster Care Facility
- SCR 8989 - Cleanup Outdated Home Studies
- SCR 8843 - Transfer Enrollment between DOE Schools
- SCR 8967 - Duplicate Hearing Notebook Warning
- SCR 8972 - ACL 22-95 ICWA Eligibility Data Entry Mandatory Fields (Part B)
- SCR 8943 - Expand Merge History Log
- SCR 9020 - R9.6 Training Tools Package
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 beneficial. Participants will validate the changes in the release and will perform tests of problem fixes and enhancements. Participants will work with other County and State testers and vendor support staff.
Remote CTW sessions will take place in the morning from 9:00AM - 12:00PM and again in the afternoon from 1:00PM – 4:00PM on the following dates:
R9.6 Data Quality SCRs in the VB6 Environment
CWDS is seeking a total of fifteen (15) County staff members for each of the following twelve (12) sessions (2 sessions per day):
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Wednesday, April 30, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Thursday, May 1, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Tuesday, May 6, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Wednesday, May 7, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Thursday, May 8, 2025 (AM or PM session)
R9.6 Data Quality SCRs in C# Environment
CWDS is seeking fifteen (15) County staff members for each of the C# fourteen (10) sessions (2 sessions per day).
Monday, June 23, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Tuesday, June 24, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Wednesday, June 25, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Thursday, June 26, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Friday, June 27, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Participants are welcome to register for any of the sessions listed above in half or whole-day increments.
We encourage you to submit your request for a specific session as soon as possible, but no later than 5:00 PM on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. If a session’s count exceeds the maximum count, Customer Relations will work with that tester to be rescheduled for another session. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
A Release 9.6 CTW Online Registration Form (see link below) for each potential tester must be received as soon as possible but no later than 5:00 PM on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, so the CWDS office can finalize the needed arrangements.
Link: Release 9.6 Data Quality SCRs (VB6 and C#) County Test Workshop (CTW) Registration Form
The CWDS Office will work with the registered testers on all the details of their CTW participation.
Special Note:
The County data will be pulled from the Production environment and copied to the CTW environment at the close of business on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. Therefore, changes to your Production environment after this date will not be in the CTW environment.
If you cannot access the Online Registration Form or have any questions regarding this recruitment, please contact CWDS Customer Relations.
Your continued support of CWDS is greatly appreciated.
Action Required
Submit a Release 9.6 County Test Workshop Online Registration Form no later than 5:00 PM on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.
March 05, 2025
Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
EFFECTIVE March 19, 2025, CWS-CARES RELEASE 0.16 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 Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara. The release activity is planned to begin at 5:00 PM on March 19, 2025, 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 0.16:
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 0.16 on March 19, 2025, 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 20, 2025.
All Release Notes, including information for this release once available, can be found here: RFA Application Process Release Notes and Interim Processes
January 28, 2025
Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
Effective January 30, 2025, CARES-Live 2.8.32 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 30, 2025, and conclude at 9:00 PM. During this release, the CARES-Live team will focus on application changes, and users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during this scheduled outage.
Users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during this scheduled outage.
CARES-Live 2.8.32:
- This release addresses security findings and Java upgrades and other infrastructure updates and security patches not visible to CARES-Live users.
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.
January 27, 2025
Communications
All SPOCs, Technical Contacts and CTW Registered Testers:
To accommodate the CARES Pilot Support activities, the CWDS Executive Leadership Team has decided to postpone the CWS/CMS Release 9.6 by three months, originally scheduled for Saturday, May 17, 2025. We apologize for any inconvenience this postponement may cause.
The new CWS/CMS Release 9.6 Go-Live date is still to be determined. An update will be sent out as soon as the new release date has been finalized.
Action Required
Please look for the CTW related meeting cancellations. No other actions regarding CWS/CMS Release 9.6 are needed at this time. Release activities are on hold until the release Go-Live date has been finalized.
December 12, 2024
Customer Relations
Release 9.5 will be implemented on Saturday, December 14, 2024
The application outage begins on Saturday, December 14, 2024, at 5:00 AM and will most likely complete around 11:00 AM. Users will not be able to access the CWS/CMS application during this period. All application updates will be applied during this outage and should be available once the outage is complete.
Note: Business Objects will be unavailable from approximately 8 AM to 11 AM while the Release 9.5 updates are being applied.
Customer support will be available from the IBM Helpdesk at (800) 428-8268.
Coexistent county CWSCMS.MSI file availability:
The CWSCMS.MSI file was made available on Friday, December 6, 2024, for technical staff to begin testing the installation of the release. The code is located on the CWSDFSr share in the following location:
Dedicated County CWSCMS.MSI file delivery:
By Friday, December 6, 2024, dedicated county users should have started seeing the CWSCMS.MSI file copied to their workstations during Windows logon. Technical staff can verify that they have received the file by checking for its presence in the C:\CACW\R95 folder. This file must exist on the workstation for the installation of Release 9.5 to take place on or after December 14, 2024.
Dedicated County users should do the following on the night before the release:
- Restart (reboot) the workstation and log into Windows (aka the "welcome screen").
- Restart again and do not log into Windows.
- Leave the workstation powered on.
December 02, 2024
Customer Relations
The mandatory VB6 version of Release 9.5 will be implemented on Saturday, Saturday, December 14, 2024.
Coexistent county CWSCMS.MSI file availability:
The CWSCMS.MSI file will be available by Friday, December 6, 2024, for technical staff to begin testing the installation of the release. The code will be located on the CWSDFSr share in the following location:
Perform any necessary testing, but do not install countywide before December 14, 2024. The new release will not work with the database until then.
Dedicated County CWSCMS.MSI file delivery:
By Wednesday, November 27, 2024, dedicated county users should start seeing the CWSCMS.MSI file copied to their workstations during Windows logon. Technical staff can verify that they have received the file by checking for its presence in the C:\CACW\R95 folder. This file must exist on the workstation for the installation of Release R9.5 to take place on or after December 14, 2024.
Release 9.5 documents are located on the CWDS website. The xTools file and related README file are located on the CWDS Training Portal. More documents will be added as the release go-live date approaches.
November 18, 2024
Customer Relations
Contact: Customer Relations
Email: CWS_CustRel@osi.ca.gov
November 13, 2024
Customer Relations
The mandatory VB6 version of Release 9.5 will be implemented on Saturday, December 14, 2024.
Coexistent county CWSCMS.MSI file availability:
The CWSCMS.MSI file will be available by Friday, December 6, 2024, for technical staff to begin testing the installation of the release. The code will be located on the CWSDFSr share in the following location:
Perform any necessary testing, but do not install countywide before December 14, 2024. The new release will not work with the database until then.
Dedicated County CWSCMS.MSI file delivery:
By Friday, December 6, 2024, dedicated county users should start seeing the CWSCMS.MSI file copied to their workstations during Windows logon. Technical staff can verify that they have received the file by checking for its presence in the C:\CACW\R95. folder. This file must exist on the workstation for the installation of Release R9.5 to take place on or after December 14, 2024.
Release 9.5 documents are located on the CWDS website. More documents will be added as the release go-live date approaches.
September 27, 2024
Customer Relations
All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and Training Contacts:
The Release 9.5 (R9.5) CTW Final Status Incident Report (VB6) has been posted to the CWDS website. You can locate the document here: Release 9.5 | Child Welfare Digital Services (ca.gov).
For questions regarding this document please contact Customer Relations..
Action Required
None at this time.
September 03, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
EFFECTIVE September 18, 2024, CWS-CARES RELEASE 0.14 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 September 18, 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 0.14:
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 0.14 on September 18, 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 September 19, 2024.
All Release Notes, including information for this release once available, can be found here: RFA Application Process Release Notes and Interim Processes
