A: No, the changes to Production Simulation testing will not affect the training schedule and dates that was shared.

A: The State intends to utilize state funds in order to proceed with Production Simulation and is not dependent on federal approval.

A: The CWS-CARES V1 Scope Assessments are preliminary and based on functionality descriptions provided by organizations. Production Simulation provides the opportunity for organizations to validate functionality in CWS-CARES V1 prior to go-live, in order to identify any gaps or issues that were not previously identified or documented by the gap analysis process. Use of the Production Simulation environment also allows organizations an early opportunity to validate and finalize business process changes ahead of go-live. This will minimize the effort for Fully-In-Scope decommissioning planning as validated systems can be made inactive or read-only prior to December 31, 2027.

A: The Project team will take all feedback into consideration. Each item of feedback will be reviewed and prioritized by the Project team to identify any critical gaps that would need to be addressed prior to Go-Live, and what can be delivered after to enhance user experience at a later date.

A: Yes, there is an expectation for engagement in Production Simulation. The state is working on getting an All County Letter (ACL) that will outline that guidance (aiming to get it out ASAP). We will continue to communicate about this through all county channels.

A: Yes, counties will be able to run and test reports against practice data entered in Production Simulation including all Key Performance Indicators (KPI) reports and Tableau reports.

A: Active CWS/CMS users (approx. 25,000) will be able to access CWS-CARES Production Simulation. Additionally, it will incorporate their role-based access controls (RBAC) to ensure their permissions accurately mirror the live production environment.

A: CWS/CMS production data will be loaded into the Production Simulation environment, but updates or changes will not be automatically saved in CWS/CMS. Any changes will be lost each time the Production Simulation environment is refreshed with new data. Please note that data entered into the Production Simulation will not transfer to CWS/CMS. Since the simulation is strictly a practice environment, CWS/CMS remains the sole statewide system of record. Consequently, any data required for official records will still require entry into CWS/CMS.

A: Data entered into the Production Simulation will not transfer to CWS/CMS. Since the simulation is strictly a practice environment, CWS/CMS remains the sole statewide system of record. Consequently, any data required for official records will still require entry into CWS/CMS.

A: The Project is updating the Organization Participation Timeline, which will include Production Simulation, and plans to share it with counties.