CWS-CARES Public Library
Production Simulation: Preparing for Go-Live Together
Production Simulation is Underway
Production Simulation (Prod Sim) is now open to all 58 California counties, Tribes with Title IV-E Agreements, and State Partners. This readiness activity gives users a controlled, production-like space to practice and test CWS-CARES Version 1 (CARES V1) functionality before statewide Go-Live.
The environment mirrors the full CARES V1 system and is populated with converted data from CWS/CMS, RFA Greenfield, and external systems. Users can practice real workflows — running reports and forms, validating data, and testing operational processes — without impacting live production data. Prod Sim also gives counties an opportunity to become familiar with the CWS-CARES Service Desk and tiered support structure ahead of Go-Live.
Prod Sim will remain available through October 23, 2026. This is the final extended window for counties to build familiarity with CARES V1 before it becomes the system of record. Organizations that have not yet onboarded all intended users are encouraged to do so now.
Participation Across the State
Onboarding has expanded in phases and participation continues to grow:
Preparing for the Next Phase
Sealed and confidential case data is planned to become available in Prod Sim (targeted by September).
Sealed and sensitive records have been withheld from Prod Sim to date while the project validates role-based access controls (RBAC). Once added, this data will give counties a more complete view of their caseload for testing purposes. Additional detail on this milestone, including what to test and how to report any access issues, will be shared as the date approaches.
Stay Up to Date
The CWS-CARES Project publishes ongoing Release Notes to communicate the status of the Prod Sim environment, including:
Support follows a tiered structure. County and Organization staff should direct questions and issues to their local support team (Tier 1) first; unresolved issues are escalated to the Project Support Team (Tier 2). Support requests should never include confidential data such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or Protected Health Information (PHI).
This is the final Explorer newsletter update on Production Simulation before Go-Live. Counties are encouraged to continue testing, reporting issues, and preparing staff through the remainder of the Prod Sim window.
Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.
Production Simulation (Prod Sim) is now open to all 58 California counties, Tribes with Title IV-E Agreements, and State Partners. This readiness activity gives users a controlled, production-like space to practice and test CWS-CARES Version 1 (CARES V1) functionality before statewide Go-Live.
The environment mirrors the full CARES V1 system and is populated with converted data from CWS/CMS, RFA Greenfield, and external systems. Users can practice real workflows — running reports and forms, validating data, and testing operational processes — without impacting live production data. Prod Sim also gives counties an opportunity to become familiar with the CWS-CARES Service Desk and tiered support structure ahead of Go-Live.
Prod Sim will remain available through October 23, 2026. This is the final extended window for counties to build familiarity with CARES V1 before it becomes the system of record. Organizations that have not yet onboarded all intended users are encouraged to do so now.
Participation Across the State
Onboarding has expanded in phases and participation continues to grow:
- 568 participants onboarded across 49 Organizations as of June 22 (EUST 3 participants, County Admins, and Data Conversion Cycle participants)
- 2,065 total participants onboarded across 58 Organizations as of July 6
- 126 Binti/DCVal participants across 28 counties, participating in a separate data validation environment
- 4,000+ attendees across six kickoff sessions held July 6–17
- 16,166 unique users across 59 Organizations logged in as of August 21
Preparing for the Next Phase
Sealed and confidential case data is planned to become available in Prod Sim (targeted by September).
Sealed and sensitive records have been withheld from Prod Sim to date while the project validates role-based access controls (RBAC). Once added, this data will give counties a more complete view of their caseload for testing purposes. Additional detail on this milestone, including what to test and how to report any access issues, will be shared as the date approaches.
Stay Up to Date
The CWS-CARES Project publishes ongoing Release Notes to communicate the status of the Prod Sim environment, including:
- Known and expected issues
- Current system behavior
- Resolved issues
- Open or newly reported issues
- Capabilities not currently available
- Environment specifications
Support follows a tiered structure. County and Organization staff should direct questions and issues to their local support team (Tier 1) first; unresolved issues are escalated to the Project Support Team (Tier 2). Support requests should never include confidential data such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or Protected Health Information (PHI).
This is the final Explorer newsletter update on Production Simulation before Go-Live. Counties are encouraged to continue testing, reporting issues, and preparing staff through the remainder of the Prod Sim window.
Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.