Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Will the Production Simulation environment remain available to counties following Go-Live?
A: No, Production Simulation is a practice environment to help users prepare for CWS-CARES. Once Go-Live occurs, this environment will no longer be available. There will be a training environment to support training on an ongoing basis and that training environment will have interface connectivity, using mock data.
Q: Will Production Simulation include data from the RFA Greenfield Application and the CARES-Live CANS assessment tool?
A: Yes, all state system data will be in Production Simulation. This includes CWS/CMS, CARES-Live, and RFA Greenfield data.
Q: Will Production Simulation testers be able to run all Key Performance Indicators (KPI) reports and test Tableau reports against practice data entered into the simulation environment?
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.
Q: Will staff be able to enter real data into Production Simulation, or will the simulation environment include test data? For example, if a screening worker enters a report/screening in CWS/CMS, will they be able to enter that same screening (with actual data) in CWS-CARES to be able to better compare real-world scenarios between the two systems?
A: Yes, Production Simulation will be loaded with real data and users will be able to enter real data to practice prior to CWS-CARES Go-Live. However, CWS/CMS will continue to be the statewide system of record for child welfare data until CWS-CARES goes live.
Q: Will the help desk be available to support families once CWS-CARES V1 goes live or are the counties required to support families on their own?
A: The CWS-CARES V1 Service Desk is not intended for families to call in to. This service desk is exclusively for Counties, California Tribes with a Title IV-E Agreement, and CDSS users. Currently, there are tiers of service that provide support within the counties. When an issue extends beyond a county question, the county then would reach out to the service desk. This model also applies to the Production Simulation environment.
Q: Are all the functions of the Binti Family Finding module session (3/26/26) available for CWS-CARES V1 Family Finding functionality?
A: Yes, all the functions of Binti Family Finding are in CWS-CARES V1. Process documentation for CWS-CARES V1 Family Finding functionality is anticipated to be available in the online training tool Enablement, with Production Simulation.
Q: What is the benefit of validating External System functionality in Production Simulation for systems already assessed by the CWS-CARES V1 Preliminary Scope Assessment and Gap Analysis process?
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.
Q: What is the purpose of the 'age group' section?
A: The age group is available to identify what ages a worker might be best suited to work with, it is not a required field.
Q: Does the CWS-CARES documentation state who can see the 'worker note' comments?
A: Yes, the 'worker note' section is only available to the Admin and Supervisor.
Q: Is the Court Order Number the Salesforce number for that court order?
A: The Court Order Number is related to the court order that requires the screening, referral, or case to be sealed.