Frequently Asked Questions
External Systems
Q: What is the schedule and process for getting a Demo for External Systems related to RFA?
A: The CWS-CARES meetings are captured in CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar on the CWDS website. All Core Constituent counties are invited to CWS-CARES demonstrations. If a Core Constituent county wishes to be added to a demo, please reach out to OTSI CWDS CARES Demos
Q: Will users need to switch between multiple systems?
A: The integration of systems will provide a unified user experience with a reduction in switching between systems. SafeMeasures will ensure continuity for counties, with CWS-CARES handling more direct operational reports and SafeMeasures continuing to provide more complex reporting. SafeMeasures in CWS-CARES will retain its critical and most-used features and reports, as well as the collaborative service relationship between CDSS, counties, and Evident Change.
Q: Does the Project have a recommendation on a tool for paperless scanning and bulk upload, Application Programming Interfaces, API connection or other?
A: The CWS-CARES project team does not currently have a recommendation. The project will be researching this functionality for consideration in CWS-CARES future scope after CWS-CARES V1 is implemented. The design and timing of this enhancement is currently unknown.
Q: What is the ESCU catalog timeline limitation for a county to onboard a new External System?
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.
Q: What are External System needs for preparing scanned files for upload to CWS-CARES?
A: CWS/CMS limits the file size for uploaded documents to 5 MB per document. CWS-CARES will allow documents uploads of up to 100 MB. File types must be compatible with CWS-CARES, allowable file types include PDF, DOC/DOCX, XLS/XLSX, Jpeg/jpg, txt, mov/mkv/mp4 files. Users will be able to upload files into CWS-CARES using either individual or multifile selection into a case record.
Q: When will the data dictionary be available for counties to leverage when completing their scope assessment?
A: The draft of the data dictionary will be published by the end of 2024. CWS-CARES will remain in active development through March 2026. As a result, the data dictionary will continue to evolve till then. We plan on publishing updates to the CWS-CARES data dictionary every quarter after the initial draft is published by end of 2024.
Q: Will counties need to complete and submit their scope assessment before the project can create a list of confirmed external systems for CARES V1?
A: Yes, counties must complete and submit their scope assessment to finalize and confirm the list of external systems for CARES V1, as this will be used to identify which systems are in scope based on the counties’ unique system configurations and needs. A preliminary scope assessment for external systems has been provided to each county in the External System County Catalog.
Q: When will the plan for Safe Measures be ready? If Safe Measures is decommissioned there will be an increase in requests to create reports in Tableau. What is the plan for Federal and State required reports?
A: There is no plan to decommission Safe Measures. CWS-CARES is working alongside Safe Measures to make sure all reporting needs are covered. Currently, the data team is working on a cross walk, or data exchange, to compare what reports are completed in Safe Measures, CWS/CMS, and CWS-CARES so that we can efficiently identify reports already built in Safe Measures that won’t need to be rebuilt for CWS-CARES. Any state/federal required reports that are not built in Safe Measures will be built into CWS-CARES.
Q: Will counties have access to all Regional Center data from the interface?
A: Upon the release of CWS-CARES V1, there will be a data exchange with the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) that will add Regional Center data into the system. This Regional Center Listing will include names, address(s), and phone numbers. This information will be gathered from the DDS website and will be updated any time a new location or changes are made to the webpage. At the release of CWS-CARES V1, a more robust interface and data exchange with DDS is not feasible and the project will be looking towards building something more comprehensive in later iterations of CWS-CARES.
Q: Will Child Welfare-Services-California Automated Response and Engagement System (CWS-CARES) have any client-facing sites?
A: At this time, CWS-CARES plans to have two client-facing sites in CARES V1. A portal for prevention services providers to support Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) and a Resource Family Approval (RFA) applicant portal.