Frequently Asked Questions

External System Monthly Meeting

Q: Will Resource Family Approval (RFA) Greenfield be treated as an external system? Who is responsible for data mapping?

A: RFA Greenfield is a State managed legacy system and is not being treated as an external system. The CWS-CARES Data Conversion team is responsible for RFA Greenfield data mapping. For RFA Greenfield specific inquiries, please reach out to the Customer Relations Mailbox.

Q: Can you provide more details about the Case Management Assessment (CMA) Suite Opeeka Person-Centered Intelligence Solutions (P-CIS) and clarify what information is being exchanged in the interface?

A: P-CIS provides real-time, bidirectional data exchange with CWS-CARES. P-CIS will support care coordination, assessments, and data sharing across agencies. Within PCIS, the CMA Suite is used to complete Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) assessments, Supervised Independent Living Program Readiness assessments, Life Skills Assessments, Child and Family Team Meeting surveys, and National Youth in Transition Database surveys.

For more information, please refer to the CWS-CARES and Data Exchange Fact Sheet.

Q: If CWS/CMS has an incomplete address and Binti data fills in the blank fields, is there a verification process to ensure the addresses are correct and should be merged?

A: The hierarchical conversion logic preserves CWS/CMS addresses, and Binti addresses are only utilized if the CWS/CMS field is blank. The Smarty Streets tool is used in CWS-CARES to automatically correct and complete address information.
As a reminder, CWS/CMS is the statewide system of record and the primary source of CWS-CARES data. For more information, please refer to the Binti to CWS-CARES V1 Data Conversion Fact Sheet.

Q: If a field in CWS-CARES already contains data, will the field be overwritten by the data received from the external system (Binti)?

A: No, if a field in CWS-CARES already contains data from the Child Welfare Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS), it will not be augmented or overwritten by Binti data. For more information, please refer to the Binti to CWS-CARES V1 Data Conversion Fact Sheet.

Q: Will CWS-CARES pull data from CWS/CMS and Binti? If data is in Binti, is there any need to enter that data into CWS/CMS before the go live date? If data is in Binti but not in CWS/CMS, will the Binti data be loaded into CWS-CARES?

A: CWS/CMS data is the primary source of Child Welfare information and supersedes all other record sources. If a field in CWS-CARES already contains data from CWS/CMS, it will not be augmented or overwritten by Binti data.

For more details, please refer to the Binti to CWS-CARES V1 Data Conversion Fact Sheet located in the CWDS External Systems Portal. If you have additional questions, reach out to the External Systems Data Conversion (ESDC) team.

Q: Are the organizations (CDSS, Counties, Tribes with California Title IV-E Agreement(s)) responsible for accomplishing External System decommissioning activities?

A: Yes, organizations are responsible for creating and implementing external system decommissioning plans. For more information on decommissioning planning, please reach out to the External Stakeholder Coordination Units.

Q: Will all content in the miscellaneous section of Binti be transferred to CWS-CARES?

A: Yes. All PDFs, images, and documents from Binti will be migrated and linked. Please refer to the Binti to CWS-CARES V1 Data Conversion Fact Sheet for more.

Q: Is Binti considered a Fully-In-Scope External System? If so, will all data, documents and images be migrated from Binti to the CWS-CARES platform prior to Go-Live?

A: Binti Resource Family Approval (RFA), Placement, and Family Finding functionalities are considered fully in scope for CWS-CARES Version 1 (CARES V1).

Please note, the RFA module used by Los Angeles County providers for Foster Family Agencies is not in scope for CARES V1.

For more details, please refer to the Binti to CWS-CARES V1 Data Conversion Fact Sheet located in the Child Welfare Digital Services (CWDS) External Systems Portal. If you have additional questions, reach out to the External Systems Data Conversion (ESDC) team.

Q: Will Production Simulation include all aspects of CWS-CARES Version 1 (CARES V1)?

A: All CARES V1 functionality will be available in Production Simulation, including:

  • Reporting
  • Intake & Investigations
  • Case Management
  • Courts
  • Resource Family Home (RFH)
  • Resource & Provider Management
  • Financial Management
  • Eligibility
Production Simulation will include CWS/CMS, CARES-Live, and Resource Family Approval (RFA) Greenfield converted data for referrals and cases, interfaces with Foster Care Eligibility Determination (FCED), Opeeka, Facility Automation System (FAS)/Licensing Information System (LIS), Structured Decision Making (SDM), and analytics enabling all participating organizations to test and validate operations in a realistic, production-like setting.

Converted external systems data will be integrated as it becomes available.