A: There is currently no timeline or policy limiting when a county can purchase and implement a new external system. However, if the external system has functionality that is duplicative CWS-CARES, the county will be required to decommission that system functionality once CWS-CARES goes live. If a county plans to purchase a new external system, they must submit an APD (Advance Planning Document) before signing a contract. Further, state policy requires CWS/CMS remain the system of record for child welfare data, and all case-related information must continue to be entered into CWS/CMS. Finally, there is no plan to convert data from external systems like Traverse into CWS-CARES, as all child welfare case related records should already reside in CWS/CMS and will migrate to CWS-CARES during the CWS/CMS data conversion process.