Frequently Asked Questions
Data
Q: Will counties receive their data from Binti prior to the Binti Data Mapping - Large Group sessions?
A: No, the data conversion team is not able to share Binti data. Counties will have to coordinate with Binti directly to receive the files due to data security risks.
Q: Can additional counties be added to those receiving direct daily data extracts from CWS-CARES?
A: The data extract scope for CWS-CARES V1 is limited to counties that are receiving extracts directly from CWS/CMS today. Counties not currently receiving CWS/CMS mainframe extracts are not in scope for the current CWS-CARES data extract efforts.
Q: Can California Department of Social Services (CDSS) branches obtain Tableau licenses and training for more staff than currently use Business Objects, and how will staff access those licenses?
A: CWS-CARES has the CWS-CARES Analytics Transition Workgroup (CAT) with its focus to help Legacy Business Object users to transition to the CWS-CARES Platform. Please email the CWS-CARES Analytics Transition Workgroup for Tableau Training enrollment and other support.
Q: How will CWS-CARES handle Resource Family Approval (RFA) home naming conventions when Binti does not create facility names the same way as CWS/CMS?
A: For CWS-CARES data migration, CWS/CMS remains the system of record. Naming and facility records will follow CWS-CARES standards, with issues reviewed during data mapping and validation.
Q: Will there be training for Tableau?
A: Yes, technical Tableau training will be provided to those who are migrating the current reports and extracts (e.g., Business Objects, Other Org Reporting Tools) to Tableau, and/or participating in post go-live Organizational level Tableau report and extract development.
Q: How will CWS-CARES match Binti records to CWS/CMS when IDs and names do not align one-to-one?
A: Matching records from Binti to CWS-CARES will rely on external or licensing identifiers rather than names alone. Counties play a role in ensuring those identifiers are populated.
Q: Will supervisors be able to see data from different counties? If so, will it be editable or read-only?
A: Access to data will be determined by counties during an implementation activity called Security Role Mapping. During this activity, county implementation teams will have the ability to assign security roles to users which will define what they will be able to access in CWS-CARES and if they have the ability to edit or read-only.
Q: Will resource entries be able to be entered by each county before the launch of CWS-CARES in October (so that workers and staff are not all at once entering this data upon launch)? Will the records for Tribes come over via data conversion from CWS/CMS, and are those records to be maintained at the county level as well? And what about Tribes that are not federally recognized?
A: CWS-CARES has an interface with CCL, CDE, and DDS. Tribe information will come pre-loaded from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Current data in CWS/CMS will be converted into CWS-CARES to help mitigate a large amount of data entry. The information will be maintained at the state level. Data conversion will be facilitated for these organizations and they are not expected to start fresh; there will be a starting point that organizations can maintain and update as time goes on. For tribes that are not federally recognized, we will have those state-recognized tribes come into CWS-CARES as well. That is an additional list we are tracking. If there are tribes that need to be added, the State will be able to do that.
Q: Will Binti documents be converted?
A: Yes. Binti documents, often referred to as unstructured data, are planned to be migrated into CWS-CARES.
Q: How is Holistic Design integrating data mapping in CWS-CARES?
A: Holistic Design uses the legacy domain model mapping as an input to its design. For example, there are more than 200 adoptions fields in CWS/CMS; business analysts have built a domain model showing where those fields are expected to live in CWS-CARES. As Holistic Design for Adoptions moves forward, the team will create a substantial amount of new adoptions functionality while using the domain model as a starting input.