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: Documenting foster children and youth's medical needs, as well as generating the HEP document, will be available in CWS-CARES when we go live in October 2026.

A: The Case Management team worked with case management constituent counties to gather input on pain points for documenting health and education information in CWS/CMS, and also received documentation from prior public health workgroups. The team is reviewing End User Scenario Testing (EUST) 3 feedback related to the Health and Education Passport (HEP), and all feedback provided during Production Simulation will also be reviewed for inclusion in development.

A: Yes, we are setting up a Service Desk County Advisory Committee (CAC) to work through the ticketing process and service level expectations. This CAC will include county/project representatives and the focus is operational county and state coordination, incidents and escalations, defect prioritization, business continuity, and knowledge base.

A: Guidance will be provided as to what various CWS-CARES users will need for permissions in Production Simulation.

A: Federal approval for Production Simulation is not a factor in timing. Activities that could not wait for federal approval have been moved to state-only funding to ensure the Project can proceed on schedule and meet the October 2026 Go-Live date.

A: These will continue to be identified throughout the Production Simulation period as business processes are reviewed. Contingency planning will then be included in the Organizational Change Management (OCM) work.

A: The Service Desk County Advisory Committee (CAC) now replaces the Go-Live Support Group. To maintain continuity, the February 3rd announcement suggests that counties include their former Go-Live Support members if they choose to participate in the Service Desk CAC.

A: In accordance with federal reporting requirements that changed under federal executive orders, the child welfare information system cannot collect certain SOGIE-related data. Because this functionality was already developed for CWS-CARES, it has been moved to read-only, and the system will not allow this data collection until reporting requirements change.

A: EUST 3 is part of structured, large-scope testing windows used to test end-to-end functionality with mock data. Production Simulation is an end-to-end, production-like copy of the system with interfaces, converted data, role-based access, and the ability to practice and validate business processes. CARES 102 (County Development) is a separate environment specifically for forms and reports developers.