Frequently Asked Questions
CWDS Support
Q: Is the Project providing any Weekend support for Go-Live? Are the Regional Go-Live office hours for live assistance at the User level or the County Level?
A: Yes, the CWDS Help Desk will provide 24/7 coverage for organizations post Go‑Live. If Santa Clara requires in‑person weekend support, that request should be included in their Go‑Live Support Plan so the Project can assess staffing availability and determine whether on‑site weekend coverage can be accommodated.
Regional Go‑Live Office Hours are designed for direct user-level assistance but organized at the regional grouping level. Counties may send any number of users, super users, or local support staff to attend; sessions are facilitated by Project teams and provide real‑time help with navigation, issue identification, and questions during Go‑Live.
Q: Once CWS-CARES is live, will county CWS-CARES Admins be able to reactivate users that are deactivated if they do not login within 90 days or will they need to continue to request support from the CWS-CARES Service Desk?
A: Once CWS-CARES is live, County/Office Admins will have the ability to reactivate users from the Okta Admin Console if they are deactivated. Admins will be able to run a CWS-CARES report called "Worker Permissions | Last Login" to identify users who are close to 90-days without activity in CWS-CARES. The report is currently in both CARES100 and CARES104 for testing.
Q: Will counties receive JIRA access for bug tracking?
A: Counties receiving JIRA access is not currently on the roadmap due to the licensing structure. However, counties can request an update on JIRA tickets through the CWS-CARES Go-Live help desk.
Q: What is the official escalation route for tickets during Production Simulation?
A: Regarding escalation levels and processes, a Tier 1 representative or end user submits a question or issue, or ticket, to Tier 2. Once there, the Tier 2 team will investigate the question or issue and provide a response to the user. If they were unable to resolve the issue, it is then further escalated to Tier 3 and communicated to the user. Once Tier 3 confirms the resolution, they communicate back to Tier 2, and Tier 2 communicates to the submitting user or Tier 1 representative. If the county would like additional review or escalation for their response, they can request that from their Tier 2 team.
Q: After Go-Live, when CWS/CMS goes into read-only mode, how do counties terminate account access for staff who are no longer with the division? County Admins will not have the ability to terminate access like before. Additionally, will the State be automatically terminating CWS/CMS access when a CWS-CARES Account is terminated? Will County Admins need to submit a ticket to the State for termination?
A: Counties will need to submit CWS/CMS Help Desk tickets to IBM to request termination of account access. County Admins will not have the ability to terminate that access like before but will be given access to weekly deactivation reports in CWS-CARES to help support this process. Please note that CWS/CMS account access will not automatically be terminated when an CWS-CARES account is terminated, so please ensure to submit a CWS/CMS ticket to IBM for CWS/CMS account access termination.
Q: When testing Foster Care Eligibility and Determination (FCED), will the CWS-CARES Service Desk be able to answer questions about CalSAWS?
A: The CWS-CARES Service Desk will be able to assist with some questions regarding CalSAWS, but any issues or defects related to CalSAWS will need to be forwarded to the CalSAWS team. The Project will coordinate with interface partners to streamline that process.
Q: When do counties need to start submitting tickets to ServiceNow? And how long will office hours be used for questions/issue logging?
A: Counties can begin submitting ServiceNow tickets as soon as they are comfortable doing so. At this time, office hours end dates have not been finalized.
Q: In CWS-CARES, if contacts still aren’t appearing, and it’s been indicated as already having “a fix”, how is that being resolved?
A: If a solution was identified and you're still finding an issue with that functionality, please inform the Project of that issue by submitting a ServiceNow ticket so that you can be helped and the issue can be addressed.
Q: Who will provide support for the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) and Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) Portal once CWS-CARES goes live, including password resets? How does someone get access to the portals?
A: The CWDS Service Desk will provide system support for the RFA and FFPSA portals. Each portal includes a self-serve password reset option, which resolves most issues such as forgotten passwords. If a user does not receive the password reset email within 24 hours, they should contact the CWDS Service Desk for additional assistance.
Counties are responsible for basic applicant support, such as helping applicants understand how to complete an application or answering general questions.
Portal access varies by portal:
RFA Portal
- Applicants can access the RFA portal through the public link on CWDS or county websites to submit an application
- CWS-CARES RFA Worker or Supervisor may invite an applicant directly only in Emergency Placement situations
- Existing Resource Family Homes (RFH) with an email on file will receive an invitation to the portal
- These actions occur within the CWS-CARES application, and training materials will be provided on how to accomplish this task
- To access an RFA Portal end-to-end demonstration, click the “RFA_Applicant_Portal_-_03-26-2025-_Core_Constituent_Demonstration_for_RFA.mp4” video on the CWS-CARES RFA Demo Videos page.
- Access is by invitation only to Community Based Organizations (CBOs)
- A CWS-CARES worker invites prospective or existing Service Providers by adding or updating the provider record, including email, in CWS‑CARES
- The provider then receives an email to establish a password and update any applicable information.
- CWS-CARES will provide CARES workers with training materials on how to accomplish this task
- To access a FFPSA demonstration, click the “02_23_2026_FM_FFPSA_Portal_CC_Demo_Recording.mp4” video on the CWS-CARES Financial Management Demo Videos page.
Q: What ticketing tool will be used during Production Simulation to log incidents? If it is ServiceNow, will counties receive training, and if so, when?
A: At least during Phase 1, ServiceNow will be used for logging incidents for Tier 2 to work on. County/organization Tier 1 teams will be able to log tickets using the ServiceNow portal (CSM). Otherwise, county users who are not Tier 1 should reach out to their Tier 1 staff or contact Tier 2, and Tier 2 will log the ticket in ServiceNow. Tier 1 will receive dedicated overviews of how to create a ServiceNow incident.