Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do existing dedicated county workstations meet CWS-CARES hardware requirements if they are out of warranty?
A: Counties' dedicated workstations meet the required hardware specifications even if out of warranty. Counties will, however, need to ensure that the software and operating system on each workstation are fully up to date.
Q: Will CWS/CMS user permission settings carry over to Production Simulation and CWS-CARES?
A: CWS/CMS permission sets will be the source of truth for Production Simulation and production Go-Live. All permissions from CWS/CMS will be mapped to CWS-CARES permissions. There are also new CWS-CARES permissions that will require County Administrator input on who should have them; these can be added by an administrator during Production Simulation for testing and research purposes. For Go-Live, CWS/CMS permissions will again be pulled and mapped to production. The Project also plans to provide counties a report of all new CWS-CARES permissions assigned in Production Simulation for review.
Q: How will CWS-CARES capture the Prospective Adoptive Parent (PAP) designation?
A: CWS-CARES will include fields to capture the Prospective Adoptive Parent (PAP) role, and that assignment will be given once the court makes the PAP finding.
Q: What is an estimated number of hours or resources that a mid-size county should allocate for data cleanup?
A: Refer to County Fiscal Letter (CFL) 23/24-07 for guidance on resources and allocations related to data cleanup.
Q: Are Implementation Leads (ILs) directly involved in responding to Core County feedback?
A: CWS-CARES is being built using a core constituent model, in which different groups contribute to the service areas that affect features and functionality. Core counties have a direct line to provide feedback. Implementation Leads (ILs) do not need to be involved in this feedback discussion but should attend.
Q: Will organizations have flexibility in which virtual meeting platform (such as WebEx or Microsoft Teams) is used for meetings such as Regional User Groups (RUGs)?
A: In general, the State uses WebEx but remains flexible to meet Organizations' needs. Regional User Groups (RUGs) meetings belong to the counties, and counties use the format they prefer.
Q: Can Implementation Leads (ILs) join a county's instance of Microsoft Teams?
A: Yes, Implementation Leads can be added to a county's Teams channel and SharePoint if the county prefers. However, they cannot share access to the State SharePoint or share documentation from it; that documentation may need to be reconciled separately.
Q: Can a demo be requested for a county for staffing or other purposes?
A: No. However, Implementation may provide regional demos periodically.
Q: When will counties be able to see and tailor the process changes (as-is and to-be processes) for the new system?
A: Organizational Change Management (OCM) is developing these process maps and expects to provide them to counties for review and customization.
Q: What meetings are required attendance for county implementation team members?
A: Refer to the meeting matrix and the meeting schedule for required attendance. Implementation Coordinators (ICs) should always attend the bi-monthly Implementation meetings.