Testing

Binti Counties, CARES 105 Testers, SPOCs, and Implementation Coordinators:

Dear County Partners,

Thank you for your valuable input and feedback on the Binti data conversion options presented last week.

Based on the overwhelming support from counties, CWS-CARES leadership has decided to move forward with Option 2: Rescheduling Binti Data Conversion to Post CWS-CARES Version 1 (CARES V1) Go-Live.

Option 2 Details

• At CARES V1 Go-Live, all new Resource Family Approval (RFA), including Emergency Placements, Family Finding, and Placement activities will be entered in CWS-CARES.
• Existing RFA applications started in Binti will be completed within Binti. Once approved, the home record will be manually added to CWS-CARES—consistent with today’s practice.
• RFA applicants finish their application in the same system in which they started, avoiding unnecessary disruption.
• All historical information will remain in Binti until the data conversion to CWS-CARES is complete.

Moving the Binti data conversion schedule allows project and county teams to focus 100% on CWS/CMS data conversion, and CARES V1 Go-Live readiness and additional time for data cleanup and field mapping validation prior to data conversion.

We are communicating this decision directly with Binti leadership so they are aware of the revised timeline.

Our team is developing guidance covering processing in-progress RFA applications vs. new applications at CARES V1 Go-Live, emergency placements, and placements in CWS-CARES. We plan to distribute this guidance to counties later this month.

In addition to the guidance, we are formulating a plan and structured approach for Binti data cleanup and validating data mapping ahead of the post-V1 conversion.

We truly appreciate your continued partnership and active engagement in shaping decisions that best support county needs and the families we serve.  We will provide additional updates and details as they are finalized.

Action Required

For any specific county questions, please reach out directly to your designated External Systems contact.

County SPOCs and Implementation Coordinators – Binti Counties

As part of the CWS-CARES implementation, your county’s Binti data has been converted and is ready for review.  

Counties will have access to the CARES 105 testing environment from Monday, July 6, through August 4, 2026 to validate converted data and report issues. Please note that this environment reflects Binti data extracted as of April 24, 2026.   

Submit Testers for CARES 105 Binti Data

Please submit your county’s list of up to five (5) testers using the survey link below by COB Thursday, July 2, 2026, to ensure access is provisioned by the July 6 opening date.  

Survey link: CARES 105 Binti Data Validation Testers  

Submissions received after the July 2 deadline will be processed as quickly as possible.  

Selected testers should be familiar with the Binti-to-CWS-CARES data mapping and conversion logic, and must be active CWS/CMS users (required for CARES 105 environment access). 

Please submit one consolidated response per county. Counties will need to provide the following details for each tester: 

• First name 
• Last name 
• Email address 
• CWS LoginID  
• ObjectID (if available from your county’s Active Directory/Azure) 

Instructions for how to log into the CARES 105 environment will be sent directly to your identified participants once their account is provisioned. If you identify a data mapping discrepancy during validation, please report it following your county’s standard ticketing process. 

Questions? 

If you have questions, please contact the External Systems Data Conversion Mailbox. Thank you for your support in preparing for the upcoming data conversion activities.

Action Required

Please submit your county’s list of up to five (5) testers using the survey by COB Thursday, July 2, 2026, to ensure access is provisioned by the July 6 opening date. 

ALL SPOCs and TRAINING CONTACTS:

The Child Welfare Digital Services (CWDS) Office is requesting county staff to participate in the Release 9.8 County Test Workshop (CTW).  Release 9.8 is scheduled for delivery to the counties on July 11, 2026.

The CTW for Release 9.8 will be conducted in a remote setting, via Server Based Computing (SBC) soft tokens.  

The deadline to register is:  May 19, 2026.

Registered testers will participate in the testing of Release 9.8, which is scheduled for delivery to the counties on July 11, 2026.  CWDS is seeking a total of 15 county staff members for each of the 16 sessions (2 sessions per day, 9AM - 12PM and 1PM - 4PM). There will be no testing from 12PM - 1PM each day of CTW.   

Remote CTW sessions will be on the following dates: 

Week 1 (Read/Write Environment)

Monday, June 1, 2026 (AM or PM session)

Tuesday, June 2, 2026 (AM or PM session)

Wednesday, June 3, 2026 (AM or PM session)

Thursday, June 4, 2026 (AM or PM session)

Week 2 (Read-Only Environment)

Monday, June 8, 2026 (AM or PM session)

Tuesday, June 9, 2026 (AM or PM session)

Wednesday, June 10, 2026 (AM or PM session)

Thursday, June 11, 2026 (AM or PM session)

Participants are welcome to register for any of the sessions listed above, in half or whole day increments. Participants are recommended to register for at least one session per week. This will allow the participant to compare activities in both the usual read/write environment and the read-only environment.

The sessions will be limited to a maximum of 15 people per session.  No exceptions. 

We encourage you to submit your request for a specific session as soon as possible, but no later than close of business on May 19, 2026.  If a daily count exceeds the maximum count, Customer Relations will work with that tester to be rescheduled to another session. 

Please note that all requests must be submitted by the deadline so that the CWDS Office can finalize the needed arrangements. Late registrations cannot be accepted.

A  Release 9.8 County Test Workshop Online Registration Form (see link below) for each potential tester must be received as soon as possible, but no later than close of business on May 19, 2026.

 Link:  Release 9.8 County Test Workshop (CTW) Registration Form

If for any reason, you cannot access the Online Registration Form, please contact Andrea Johnson-Kumar at 916-891-3143 or via email at Andrea.Johnson-Kumar@otsi.ca.gov or Customer Relations at CWS_CustRel@otsi.ca.gov.

The CWDS Office will work with the registered participants on all the details of their CTW participation.  

SBC Soft Token Use:

Once registration has closed on May 19, 2026, Customer Relations will schedule a MS Teams meeting with testers and their County IT Contacts.  The purpose of this meeting will be to make sure that your County IT can configure your workstation with the needed software and any other required configurations.  If this cannot be accomplished, your registration in this CTW cannot be accommodated. 

System Change Requests (SCRs) included: 

• SCR 9003 - Place CWS/CMS in a Read-Only State
• SCR 8993 - Referral Completed Due Date
• SCR 8973 - ICWA Eligible Data Entry (Part A)
• SCR 9034 - R9.8 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 very helpful.  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 as well as vendor support staff.

If you have any questions regarding this recruitment, please contact:  Andrea Johnson-Kumar at 916-891-3143 or via email at Andrea.Johnson-Kumar@otsi.ca.gov or Customer Relations at CWS_CustRel@otsi.ca.gov.

Your continued support of CWDS is greatly appreciated. 

Action Required

Submit a Release 9.8 County Test Workshop Online Registration Form no later than May 19, 2026.

• 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

• 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)

• 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)

• 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

• 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