A: Holistic design will provide additional feedback opportunities during both design and development in addition to extended user scenario testing (EUST).  

In addition, Core Constituents will have the opportunity to participate in Holistic Design transition sessions beginning the week of September 9th.  

We will continue to share updates on feedback outcomes in future meetings and are exploring ways to give our constituents a way to check up on the status of their input at any time. The goal is to keep engaging as we have, but more frequently, and with more transparency. We look forward to sharing more detail on the timing and methods. 

A: CWS-CARES V1, CWS-CARES functionality will support Plans of Safe Care and the capture of all substance abuse and exposure information (Alcohol and Other Drugs) necessary to complete the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). California Department of Social Services (CDSS) will release additional guidance on opportunities to use CWS-CARES in support of assessment and treatment protocols.

For V1, the state does not plan to build a dedicated medical assessment in CWS-CARES, but the worker could attach any document to a record such as an investigation, case, child health information, etc. in support of any correlations the worker draws between exposure and symptoms. As the CWDS project and the counties identify additional guidance and practices, CWS-CARES will expand functionality to meet additional needs in CWS-CARES V2 and any subsequent releases.

A: CWS-CARES will have a “Data checking tool” that can be run to make sure that we have entered known data related to Federal and State Reports. CWS-CARES will also have the ability to see who edits records and when they are edited. CWS-CARES will not have CFSR functions. However, we support CFSR with clearer ways to find information such as a structured contact note, clear documentation of case start dates, concurrent plan, service provision, etc.

A: Tableau will replace Business Intelligence (BI) when Child Welfare-Services-California Automated Response and Engagement System (CWS-CARES) officially goes live.

A: CWS-CARES Document Management System (aka DocuEdge) is designed to make it easy for Counties and Organizations to store, index, and retrieve documents. Organizations can attach documents to many CWS-CARES’ record types, such as Screening, Contact Log, Case, Assessments, etc. To store documents in CWS-CARES, users can upload (or simply drag and drop) one or multiple files and attach them to an allowed record type. Any form that is generated by CWS-CARES is automatically stored in CWS-CARES. Further, documents and forms that are part of a CWS-CARES managed workflow, such as review/approval or electronic signature, are stored in CWS-CARES as they go through the workflow. Users can also download a document to their desktop to view, print, or share if needed. However, please note that any document that is changed outside of CWS-CARES cannot be tracked automatically in CWS-CARES. For example, if a user downloads a document or a form to their desktop and edits it locally, then the user will need to re-upload the document into CWS-CARES if the revised document needs to be saved in CWS-CARES.
 
If an Organization creates a document outside of CWS-CARES, say using Microsoft Word or Excel, it can be uploaded into CWS-CARES by following the steps to attach a document to an existing CWS-CARES record. Organizations can attach other file types as well, such as PDF, DOC/DOCX, XLS/XLSX, JPEG/JPG, TXT, MOV/MKV/MP4. Currently, there is no optical character recognition (OCR) capability planned for CWS-CARES document management system. However, many Counties and Organizations have document capture/imaging hardware (e.g. a scanner) to convert their paper documents to electronic files. If the converted file type is one of the CWS-CARES supported file types, such as a PDF, then it can be uploaded into CWS-CARES.
 
All uploaded documents into CWS-CARES undergo a rigorous malware scanning process for viruses and other similar threats. If a document is flagged by the malware scanning process, then it will not be uploaded into CWS-CARES and the user is notified accordingly. 
 
While the CWS-CARES Document Management System does provide for malware scanning, it does not change the content or the format of the document. The uploaded documents retain their inherent capabilities and properties. For example, if a searchable PDF document is uploaded in CWS-CARES, then it will not lose its search capability when stored in CWS-CARES. If a PDF that is not searchable is uploaded in CWS-CARES, then its contents will remain unsearchable when the document is retrieved from CWS-CARES. Similarly, if a Word document is uploaded with comments and tracked changes, then the stored document will retain comments and changes.
 
CWS-CARES Document Management System tracks auditing capabilities as well. It captures information on when the document was uploaded and by whom. It also provides multiple categories and subcategories when uploading documents. Categories and subcategories help organize the documents in a folder/subfolder-type structure that groups related documents together to help quickly locate a specific document. Below are a few examples of categories and subcategories:
 

All records in CWS-CARES will have a unique ID to aid with data quality, generated by CARES. We will also retain certain existing standard IDs, such as State IDs, that are used for business processes across child welfare systems and the systems of our partner agencies. We research and design unique CARES IDs incrementally as part of ongoing research and design and in collaboration with county child welfare offices and partner agencies. The unique CARES IDs will always be present alongside the more recognizable record name, and shared IDs such as State IDs and will be available to view as part of a record's System Information. We will also retain the 19-digit CWS/CMS IDs (for Referral, Case, Client and Service Provider) on records that get converted from CWS/CMS to CARES, in case they are necessary for historical reference.

The system-generated numbers in CWS-CARES are currently under development. More information regarding the format will be available in the near future.

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.  

A: Yes. The project recommends O365 (Office 365).

A: Yes. When someone changes their last name, their email will change and therefore the login will change. The last name can be changed by administrators of CARES V1.

A: CWS-CARES will not be moving away from phone and email MFA. At this time, the project is only planning to augment, not replace, the current authentication methods of phone and email. CWS-CARES is currently evaluating the use of tokens, specifically the use of TOTP (Time-based One-Time Passwords) through an authenticator app and this will be shared with all organizations once available.