A: The project has the collected research from previous efforts provided by the Organizations and will continue to leverage/refer to it as needed.

A: CWS-CARES will interface with a number of partners to ensure that CWS-CARES has timely and pertinent data for the CWS-CARES child welfare and is able to present a holistic view of an individual or a case. Currently, for the release of CWS-CARES Version 1 (V1), the CWS-CARES team will be interfacing with:

• California Department of Social Services (CDSS) – Licensing Information System (LIS) will provide information on licensed placement providers for workers within CWS-CARES. This is something that currently takes place within CWS/CMS and CARES-Live.
• California Department of Social Services – Facility Automation System (FAS) will provide children’s residential facilities information for workers within CWS-CARES.
• California Department of Social Services - County Expense Claim Reporting and Information System (CECRIS) will allow workers to complete the necessary expense claims within CWS-CARES including the ability to produce CB-496 and CFS 101 with both IV-E and IV-B expenditures and caseloads.
• California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) will provide Regional Center placement options into the CWS-CARES provider directory. This will allow workers to easily access critical regional center information without having to leave CWS-CARES.
• California Department of Education (CDE) will provide updated school (resource) data elements within CWS-CARES, similar to what is currently in CWS/CMS. This information will not include child specific school or grade level information.
• California Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWS) – Foster Care Eligibility Determination (FCED) is an interface between CWS-CARES and CalSAWS/FCED that will eliminate the need for manual data entry from one system to another and automate the eligibility determination process in a cost effective and efficient manner.

A: Yes. Data to satisfy AFCARS data element requirements will be built and tested at every milestone throughout the project development. AFCARS data is used to develop the federal California-Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) outcome measures, which are monitored over time.

A: Some forms will have the ability to add county specific information (e.g., County Header/Footer information). Counties may also create and save county specific forms.

A: Yes, counties will be able to create customized forms and these forms will be able to be saved as a county form.   

A: The project is utilizing a modified agile approach. This means the project is developing the functionality in Child Welfare Services-California Automated Response and Engagement System (CWS-CARES), incrementally.

A: The service areas for CWS-CARES include Intake, Case Management, Resource Management, Financial Management, Eligibility, Courts, Data Management, CARES Administration, External Stakeholder Coordination, and Certification Approval and Licensing (CALS). You can find high-level descriptions of each service area located on our CWDS.ca.gov website: CWS-CARES Service Areas.

A: Yes, Tableau is intended to replace Business Objects.

A: The purpose of the Data Conversion Workgroup is to validate the data mapping and not the CARES application. It is best to have people that understand the underlying data and fields, who can best validate that the intended data is properly related to the appropriate object model in CARES. This is best suited for people who have some type of experience with data models, xTools, databases, or Entity-Relationship-Diagrams.

A: CWS-CARES will be accessible via supported devices connected to the county network*. *Connectivity to the county network may be via a hardwired or a wireless network connection or over the Internet via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection as implemented by counties. Users must be authenticated by the county’s identity and access management system.