A: County Help Desk teams will receive targeted guidance and training to ensure they are ready for Go‑Live. The project is defining clear roles for Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 support, and policies and procedures for local Tier 1 help desks are currently being developed. A new service desk vendor begins at the end of September, and counties will receive information to help them understand the transition and what support will look like during cutover and Go‑Live. The Production Simulation (Prod Sim) team will remain in place to assist throughout this period.

Counties can leverage built‑in CWS-CARES tools and ServiceNow, which will guide users through basic troubleshooting and route issues to live support when needed. Some counties will use local Tier 1 help desks, while others without local support will contact the project help desk directly.

A small SME huddle will be convened to finalize help desk procedures, and counties are invited to provide input through county leadership and CWDA to the Project.
 

A: In general, processing referrals in CWS‑CARES is expected to take roughly the same amount of time as in CWS/CMS. Staff considered 'expert' in CWS/CMS ran multiple referral scenarios to establish a time estimate: staff considered 'novice' in CWS/CMS completed the minimum requirements in about 30 minutes, and expert staff completed them in less time. The Project team is currently working to schedule walk-through sessions with Fresno and Los Angeles Counties to demonstrate the Hotline functionality, highlight recent enhancements to the Search tool, and gather additional feedback.

Counties later identified that search functionality contributed to concerns about overall processing time. In response, the Project has implemented improvements to search functionality. For more information on improved search functionality, see here.
 

A: The ticketing system helps identify both system defects and training needs by tracking issue trends and reviewing how tickets are submitted and resolved. Tickets stay open until fixes are confirmed, ensuring accurate visibility into recurring problems. Tier 2 follows established workaround guidance before escalating or closing issues, and users retest fixes or tickets close after five business days without response.

Service desk reviews and data analysis highlight where additional user training is needed and whether training-related issues are entering the ticket system. OTSI will also verify that current county messaging on ticket closure aligns with actual ticket behavior.

Through this process, the system provides users with clear updates while helping identify both technical issues and training gaps.
 

A: The Project Team is committed to offering make‑up trainings. We will assess the best ways to support users with data‑entry instructions for the workarounds, which may include providing a desk guide or offering a webinar overview.
 

A: Final workaround processes were released to counties on September 4, 2026. For full details, log into the System Updates & Release Notes page of the Production Simulation Hub and access the CWS-CARES Interim Workaround Guidance document.

The CWS‑CARES Knowledge Base has been updated to reflect these finalized workarounds, and all refresher training materials will be aligned with and based on these final processes.
 

A: The Project shared the Hotline Quick Start Guide & Intake demonstration, which was released to counties on September 14, 2026.

The one-pager identifies the mandatory fields required during the Hotline screening process and is intended to help streamline information gathering and documentation during a Hotline call. It also includes a recorded demonstration showing completion of the Hotline call and associated documentation, which took an average of approximately 23 minutes.
 

A: A list identifying all workaround scenarios was provided at the in-person CWDA/County Leadership/Project meeting on August 14, 2026. Screenshots and step‑by‑step instructions for each of the 82 workarounds was released to counties on September 4.

For full details, log into the System Updates & Release Notes page of the Production Simulation Hub and access the CWS-CARES Interim Workaround Guidance document.
 

A: A list identifying all workaround scenarios was provided at the in-person CWDA/County Leadership/Project meeting on August 14, 2026. Screenshots and step‑by‑step instructions for each of the 82 workarounds was released to counties on September 4.

For full details, log into the System Updates & Release Notes page of the Production Simulation Hub and access the CWS-CARES Interim Workaround Guidance document.
 

A: There are two groups for Train-the-Trainer (TTT) with a group of facilitators and trainers who will be helping deliver training prior to Go-Live. The facilitators in TTT will have a two-week program that completes all classroom curriculum in the first week, with the second week including opportunities on where they'll be scheduled to practice the teaching and understand how to deliver the materials.

A: The Project is looking at the sessions for Train-the-Trainer (TTT) that occur in August and ensuring they don't overlap with those same organizations that will be starting end user training. The Project plans to have a staggered approach for this training program.