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 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.
October 21, 2024
Communications
Core Constituent Survey Participants:
Thank you for participating in our second quarterly Core Constituent Survey and sharing your valuable insight on the CWS-CARES Core Constituent meetings.
For your awareness, we’ve attached a 1-page summary of the survey results, highlighting some of the feedback we received from participants.
We appreciate your contributions and look forward to using your input to continue improving the Core Constituent meetings.
Action Required
No action required at this time.
October 17, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs:
We are pleased to announce an update to the CWDS public website beginning October 22, 2024. As part of our ongoing effort to provide you greater insight into upcoming meetings for the CWS-CARES Project, we are replacing the CWS-CARES Meeting Matrix with a 3-month view of upcoming CWS-CARES meetings. The CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar captures recurring meetings hosted and facilitated by the CWS-CARES Project staff. These meetings include the CARES Implementation Meeting, CARES workgroup meetings, and Core Constituent demonstrations and Service Area meetings. This calendar will be updated monthly and is subject to change based on project needs.
1. The CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar page will be located under ‘Stakeholder Resources’ dropdown to ‘CWS-CARES Users.’
2. On the ‘CWS-CARES Users page’ you will find the CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar link.
3. The CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar link will display the following. Click on the CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar to download the PDF.
The intent of these changes to the CWDS website is to build awareness on CWS-CARES project updates and promote user engagement. These changes will be implemented on October 22, 2024.
Action Required
Beginning October 22, 2024, review the CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar, on the CWDS website, to view the recurring CWS-CARES meetings scheduled for the following three months.
October 16, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and CAD Contacts:
October 16, 2024 Additional UPDATE: The upgrade to CAD BOBJ 4.3 has been completed successfully. The server is back up and ready for access.
September 13, 2024 Additional UPDATE: Please note that the BOBJ 4.3 Quick Reference Guide has been added to the BI Launchpad in both the Production and the Training environments. The guide is located under Folders à Public Folders à **New – Start Here à BOBJ 4.3 Quick Guide.
In addition, there is an Administrators Guide saved in the same folder, in both the Production environment and the Training environment. Users in the Training environment are managed separately than the BI IDs in the Production environment. They are both administered in the Central Management Console (CMC) separately, within their specific environment.
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September 13, 2024 UPDATE: After conducting thorough testing, CWDS is now ready to proceed with having users test the Business Objects upgrade to version CAD BOBJ 4.3 and to reschedule the upgrade in the production environment. The new production upgrade date is Wednesday, October 16, 2024. The production upgrade window will begin at 11:00 AM and conclude at 5:00 PM. An additional communication will be sent to provide details regarding the new requirements to use Business Objects following the upgrade.
Prior to the production upgrade, users will be able to test the upgrade to CAD BOBJ 4.3 in the Training environment, beginning on Friday, September 13, 2024, and concluding on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.
As a REMINDER, you will need a CAD ID to log onto the Training environment. Please see instructions listed below if assistance is needed with logging into the Training environment.
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August 26 - UPDATE: For clarification, the CAD BOBJ 4.3 Testing is in the TRAINING Environment at the URL https://cwscadtrn.int.osi.ca.gov/BOE/BI which is being used as a sandbox area. This environment is currently in the process of being upgraded. The CWDS teams encountered an issue with the upgrade and the issue is expected to be resolved soon. Additional updates will be sent out as new information is received.
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August 22 - UPDATE: The CAD BOBJ 4.3 Sandbox Test Environment is currently down and not completely upgraded. The CWDS teams are working on a resolution. Additional updates will be sent out as new information is received.
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July 26, 2024 - REMINDER: The upgrade to County Access Data (CAD) - CAD BOBJ 4.3 will take place on September 14, 2024. The Business Intelligence (BI) team will provide a demo on Thursday, August 8, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, and a Sandbox environment will be available from Friday, August 9, through Friday, September 13. Please see the details below to ensure you have your County CAD ID.
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July 9, 2024 - REMINDER: This is a reminder of the upgrade to CAD BOBJ 4.3 on September 14, 2024. The Business Intelligence (BI) team will provide a demo of the updated version on Thursday, August 8, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, and a Sandbox environment will be available from Friday, August 9, through Friday, September 13. Please see the additional details below. As an additional update, the Demo will not be recorded due to privacy guidelines.
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June 13, 2024: The Business Intelligence (BI) County Access Data (CAD) application will upgrade to version CAD BOBJ 4.3 on September 14, 2024. The BI team will provide a demo of the updated version on Thursday, August 8, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM. You will receive a meeting invite from OSI-CWS-CAD@osi.ca.gov for the Thursday, August 8, 2024 demo soon.
The enhancements are primarily focused on visual differences, featuring a new User Interface. Our goal is to ensure that users can easily navigate through this updated version. To facilitate that goal, we will be offering a Sandbox version for a five-week period starting Friday, August 9, until Friday, September 13.
You will need a CAD ID to log onto the Sandbox environment.
NOTE: Most CAD users already have CAD IDs, however if you do not:
- Please contact one of your County CAD Contacts to request a CAD ID.
- You can locate your County CAD list of contacts on the CWDS website.
Action Required
- Accept the meeting invite from OSI-CWS-CAD@osi.ca.gov scheduled for Thursday, August 8, 2024 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.
- Explore the new BI Interface
from Friday, August 9, through Friday, September 13 from Friday, September 13, through Tuesday, October 15, 2024.
- If you have issues, contact Chris Lovejoy at Chris.Lovejoy@osi.ca.gov.
October 16, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
October 16, 2024 UPDATE: SCR 8992 was implemented successfully on Tuesday, October 15, 2024. The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) contact information was updated. An example of pre-populated text is “ICPC Deputy Compact Admin-Nevada.”
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The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) requires certain forms to be completed to act as a contract and placement documentation for children being placed out of state into a relative, foster, parent, adoptive, or residential placement. ICPC forms must be created in CWS/CMS within a child’s case. These forms pre-populate with incorrect and outdated names and contact information for the Receiving State ICPC Compact Administrators. This issue affects the following forms: ICPC 100A, ICPC 100B, and the Financial Medical Plan.
SCR 8992 will update the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) Administrator’s information for each state to “[Receiving State] ICPC Compact Administrator”. For example, an ICPC referral being sent to Nevada would pre-populate with the following: “Nevada ICPC Compact Administrator.” The address of the receiving state ICPC Office will be removed, as all ICPC referrals are now sent electronically to all 50 states, and most states no longer accept ICPC referrals by mail. This SCR will go live by Tuesday, October 15, 2024.
Action Required
No action is required. Informational only.
October 14, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
The California Department of Technology (CDT) reported a major incident, impacting multiple applications and services, caused by a CDT network outage. CDT has investigated the issue and has restored the services. There have not been any reported issues with CWS/CMS, CARES-Live, or CWS-CARES applications. There were reports of issues with connecting to the CDT Virtual Private Network and possibly to Citrix Server Based Computing (SBC).
Action Required
CWS/CMS Users
If users experience any issues with CWS/CMS, or with using VPN or SBC, please follow your county process for reporting issues, or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.
CARES-Live Users
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.
October 01, 2024
Communications
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.
October 01, 2024
Communications
All SPOCs and Training Coordinators:
September 26, 2024 UPDATE: Prior to November 2023, a CWS/CMS user was able to automatically access the Training Portal through the CWS/CMS application via the help dropdown menu and the auto-login feature. When the Training Portal was migrated to the new CWDS website on November 3, 2023, this feature was removed. Following the migration, using this dropdown menu link, users were routed to the Training Portal login page on the CWDS website, where users had to input their login credentials or register as a new user to obtain access to the Training Portal. The CWDS Project office reviewed options to bring back the auto-login capability that allows CWS/CMS users to access the Training Portal without entering extra login information. However, to comply with CWDS Security requirements, the Project is unable to provide the auto-login feature to access the Training Portal from the CWS/CMS application. As a result, CWS/CMS users will continue to be routed to the Training Portal login page on the CWDS website when they click the link in the CWS/CMS application help dropdown menu. To access the Training Portal, users must enter their login credentials or register a new account on the login page.
On December 14, 2024, System Change Request (SCR) 8959 is scheduled to go live and will impact the browser the CWS/CMS user is routed to when accessing the Training Portal from the CWS/CMS dropdown menu. With the implementation of SCR 8959, the Microsoft Edge browser will launch by default rather than Internet Explorer (IE) for CWS/CMS users to enter their Training Portal login credentials on the CWDS Website.
Screenshot of the Training Portal page:
Screenshot of the Login page:
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November 20, 2023 UPDATE: Previously, a CWS/CMS user was able to access the Training Portal through the CWS/CMS application. After migrating to the new CWDS website, that functionality is no longer functional. On November 3, 2023, System Change Request (SCR) 8980 was successfully implemented in the CWS/CMS application to now direct the user to the new Training Portal location. The user will now need to enter their login credentials.
The CWDS Office is researching options to return the previous functionality to allow access from the CWS/CMS application to the CWDS Training Portal without the need to enter additional login credentials. There is no current ETA when this functionality could return. Additional communications will be shared when the situation has changed.
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We want to inform you that the Training Portal is being migrated to the CWDS Web Site on November 3, 2023.
The Training Portal will be migrated to a new web page on the CWDS Web Site. The Training Portal will go live on November 3, 2023, under the Stakeholder Resources tab on the CWDS website. See below for screenshot of new location.
Also, effective November 1st, the CWS/CMS Portals link on the CWDS Web Site will be renamed to “CWDS Portals.” All portal links on the current CWS/CMS Portals Site will redirect users to the new CWDS Web Site portal location from November 3 – December 31. The current CWS/CMS Portals page will be completely decommissioned on January 1, 2024.
Please remember to update your favorite bookmarks to the new URL.
Currently, a CWS/CMS application user can access the existing Training Portal through the CWS/CMS application, via the Help drop-down menu. This takes the user to the Training Portal and does not require the user to enter a username and password. However, upon migration of the Training Portal on November 3, 2023 to the new site, this capability will no longer be functional. Due to technical and security constraints, CWDS is exploring all options to restore this capability in the CWS/CMS Application.
The existing Navigating the Training Portal document will be updated and made available soon.
The new Training Portal site will include:
- Training Materials
- Guides
- STAR
- CWS/CMS Releases
- New User Curriculum
- Process Maps
- Mapped Documents
- FAQs
Features on the Member Area:
- Documents and other Training materials
Screenshot of the new Training Portal home page:
CWS/CMS Website Portal Registration and Password Reset
Between 11/1/23 – 11/3/23, the registration process/alerts as well as the reset password capability will not be operational. Please contact CWS_AppSupport@osi.ca.gov for any issues in registering for the site.
Action Required
Please review the new Training Portal information with personnel. If you have any questions or concerns with the migration, please contact Application Support at CWS_AppSupport@osi.ca.gov.
September 27, 2024
Communications
All Co-Existent County CWS SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and SBC Administrators; All Probation SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and SBC Administrators:
Citrix has identified vulnerabilities in older versions of the Citrix Workspace App for Windows. Citrix strongly recommends that customers upgrade the workspace to the supported versions listed in the bulletin below, which contain fixes to abate the discovered vulnerabilities.
The California Department of Technology (CDT) has performed the recommended upgrade to the Citrix environments that they manage. This communication is being shared to inform counties that manage their own Citrix environments that they should make the same upgrades to mitigate exposure to this potential threat. This includes all Child Welfare Services (CWS) Co-Existent Counties and for all (both Co-Existent and Dedicated) Probation Counties using Citrix.
Action Required
Counties who manage their own Citrix environments are strongly recommended to confirm that their Citrix Workspace App for Windows is at or above the version identified as including fixes for the identified vulnerabilities.
If users experience any issues with Citrix Server Base Computing (SBC), please follow your county process for reporting issues or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.
