All CWS-CARES OKTA Admins:
As a privileged user in the CWS-CARES system, it is our understanding that you may already be familiar with the risks associated with phishing – a tactic used by hackers to gain control of your computer and through this, potentially infiltrate and cause harm to systems you access. Phishing uses email to get a user to download and/or execute malicious programs. Phishing is very common in today’s world and users should be very vigilant and avoid opening and clicking through emails they did not solicit or do not trust.
It is highly recommended that you maintain a heightened level of awareness specifically in relation to the potential threat articulated above. When in doubt, do not hesitate to ask your County Information Technology (IT) office or reach out to servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov.
It is equally important that you maintain good IT “hygiene” in relation to your CWS-CARES credentials including, but not limited to, using appropriate tools such as a password manager, not using the same password for multiple accounts, setting a strong multi-factor authentication (MFA), using strong and complex passwords, not sharing your passwords with anyone, and other precautions to secure user access and credentials.
Action Required
If you have any general questions or concerns, or simply wish to discuss how best to keep your privileged account credentials used to access CWS-CARES more secure, please do not hesitate to reach out to servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov.
CWDS Bulletins
CWS/CMS C Sharp (C#) Co-Existent In-County Image Testing Registration - FINAL REMINDER
All Co-Existent County SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
December 20, 2023 UPDATE: This is a reminder, if you have not done so already, to please complete and submit the two following forms regarding the C Sharp (C#) Co-Existent In-County Image Testing no later than 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023:
________________________________________________________________________
The CWS/CMS application is required to migrate from the existing Visual Basic 6 (VB6) code, which is no longer supported by Microsoft, to the C Sharp (C#) code. For this effort, the CWDS Office and IBM are conducting ongoing testing of the C# code for CWS/CMS in multiple environments.
The upcoming county test activity will test the C# code against images used by Co-Existent Counties. Participating testers will receive both broadly defined scenarios to test various areas of the CWS/CMS application along with a list of Incidents that have been identified in previous County Test Workshops (CTWs) that require retesting. In addition, testers will be asked to perform volume, robust testing of the C# code to see if it can handle various activities to support the way daily child welfare activities are performed by social workers.
Testing will begin on Monday, February 5, 2024, and will complete on Friday, March 1, 2024. The testing will occur within the County, isolated from the production CWS/CMS environment. For example, the test workstations could be used within a training room or set up temporarily in a conference room. The County’s IT support and Technical Contacts will need to work with the CWDS Infrastructure team to coordinate network and firewall configurations to be used during this phase of the testing.
Also, one additional workstation (not used by County testers) will need to be set up within the environment to allow IBM developers to recreate and test code changes. The County will need to provide remote access to this one workstation. Instructions on how to provide this access will be provided when Counties register to participate in this phase of testing.
A separate communication that will be sent on November 30, 2023, will explain the process that IBM will use to gather/identify the County’s image/software used on the CWS/CMS workstations. This will assist the IBM developers and testers when testing against the County’s specific CWS/CMS image.
Prerequisites for workstations participating in C# testing:
Test workstations (for both the County testers and the “IBM test workstation”) need:
Counties will also need to identify the testers who will participate in this activity. This is required so that IDs can be created for each of the testing participants. Please complete this form (https://forms.gle/uMBZgc1pgzHt86uQ6) to identify each C# tester for this phase of the testing. The deadline to submit the participation form is 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
Action Required
Complete and submit your form (https://forms.gle/WS71t4wxQdjEjMUZ7) for Co-Existent County image C# testing by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
Complete and submit the form (https://forms.gle/uMBZgc1pgzHt86uQ6) to list the testing participants by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
Send any questions that you have regarding this activity to the CWDS Customer Relations mailbox.
December 20, 2023 UPDATE: This is a reminder, if you have not done so already, to please complete and submit the two following forms regarding the C Sharp (C#) Co-Existent In-County Image Testing no later than 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023:
- Co-Existent County image C# testing confirmation form: https://forms.gle/WS71t4wxQdjEjMUZ7
- C# testing participants list form: https://forms.gle/uMBZgc1pgzHt86uQ6
________________________________________________________________________
The CWS/CMS application is required to migrate from the existing Visual Basic 6 (VB6) code, which is no longer supported by Microsoft, to the C Sharp (C#) code. For this effort, the CWDS Office and IBM are conducting ongoing testing of the C# code for CWS/CMS in multiple environments.
The upcoming county test activity will test the C# code against images used by Co-Existent Counties. Participating testers will receive both broadly defined scenarios to test various areas of the CWS/CMS application along with a list of Incidents that have been identified in previous County Test Workshops (CTWs) that require retesting. In addition, testers will be asked to perform volume, robust testing of the C# code to see if it can handle various activities to support the way daily child welfare activities are performed by social workers.
Testing will begin on Monday, February 5, 2024, and will complete on Friday, March 1, 2024. The testing will occur within the County, isolated from the production CWS/CMS environment. For example, the test workstations could be used within a training room or set up temporarily in a conference room. The County’s IT support and Technical Contacts will need to work with the CWDS Infrastructure team to coordinate network and firewall configurations to be used during this phase of the testing.
Also, one additional workstation (not used by County testers) will need to be set up within the environment to allow IBM developers to recreate and test code changes. The County will need to provide remote access to this one workstation. Instructions on how to provide this access will be provided when Counties register to participate in this phase of testing.
A separate communication that will be sent on November 30, 2023, will explain the process that IBM will use to gather/identify the County’s image/software used on the CWS/CMS workstations. This will assist the IBM developers and testers when testing against the County’s specific CWS/CMS image.
Prerequisites for workstations participating in C# testing:
Test workstations (for both the County testers and the “IBM test workstation”) need:
- To be at the supported level for Windows;
- To have .NetFramework 3.5 and .NetFramework 4.8 installed;
- To have at least 8GBs of ram memory;
- To meet all the requirements found within the CWS/CMS Workstation COTS Install Options guide.
Counties will also need to identify the testers who will participate in this activity. This is required so that IDs can be created for each of the testing participants. Please complete this form (https://forms.gle/uMBZgc1pgzHt86uQ6) to identify each C# tester for this phase of the testing. The deadline to submit the participation form is 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
Action Required
Complete and submit your form (https://forms.gle/WS71t4wxQdjEjMUZ7) for Co-Existent County image C# testing by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
Complete and submit the form (https://forms.gle/uMBZgc1pgzHt86uQ6) to list the testing participants by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
Send any questions that you have regarding this activity to the CWDS Customer Relations mailbox.
CWS-CARES Scheduled Maintenance - Dec. 20, 2023 | 5 PM - 6 PM
All Pilot County RFA Implementation Coordinators and SPOCs:
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Wednesday, December 20, 2023, beginning at 5:00 PM and concluding at 6:00 PM. During the maintenance window, the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process will be inaccessible for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara.
Action Required
No action required for end-users is needed during this maintenance window.
If users experience any issues with the CWS-CARES, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CWS-CARES County Administrators may contact the CARES Service Desk through the CWDS ServiceNow Customer Support Management (CSM) Portal. Alternate methods are phoning 1-855-292-3444 or via email at Servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov during normal business hours. You may also email after hours, and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Wednesday, December 20, 2023, beginning at 5:00 PM and concluding at 6:00 PM. During the maintenance window, the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process will be inaccessible for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara.
Action Required
No action required for end-users is needed during this maintenance window.
If users experience any issues with the CWS-CARES, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CWS-CARES County Administrators may contact the CARES Service Desk through the CWDS ServiceNow Customer Support Management (CSM) Portal. Alternate methods are phoning 1-855-292-3444 or via email at Servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov during normal business hours. You may also email after hours, and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.
CWDS: California Department of Technology Service Desk Bulletin – Firewall Migration Impacting VPN Access, Dec. 17, 2023 | 4 AM - 7 AM
All Dedicated County SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled a change window to perform a firewall update. The change window will occur on Sunday, December 17, 2023, beginning at 4:00 AM and concluding at 7:00 AM. Dedicated County users who are using VPN access may experience a drop in service within the scheduled firewall migration.
This connection would include access to the CWS/CMS application, the CARES-Live application, the CWS-CARES application, all ca.gov websites (including the https://www.cwds.ca.gov website), County websites, and possibly County email via the CWS proxy.
Users already connected to VPN prior to the start of the change window should be able to remain connected; however, any new attempt to connect during the window is expected to fail until the migration has completed.
Action Required
CWS/CMS: If users experience any issues with CWS/CMS, please follow your county process for reporting issues or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.
CARES-Live: If users experience any issues with CARES-Live, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CARES-Live County Administrators may contact the CARES Service Desk through the CWDS ServiceNow Customer Support Management (CSM) Portal. Alternate methods are phoning 1-855-292-3444 or via email at Servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov during normal business hours. You may also email after hours and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.
The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled a change window to perform a firewall update. The change window will occur on Sunday, December 17, 2023, beginning at 4:00 AM and concluding at 7:00 AM. Dedicated County users who are using VPN access may experience a drop in service within the scheduled firewall migration.
This connection would include access to the CWS/CMS application, the CARES-Live application, the CWS-CARES application, all ca.gov websites (including the https://www.cwds.ca.gov website), County websites, and possibly County email via the CWS proxy.
Users already connected to VPN prior to the start of the change window should be able to remain connected; however, any new attempt to connect during the window is expected to fail until the migration has completed.
Action Required
CWS/CMS: If users experience any issues with CWS/CMS, please follow your county process for reporting issues or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.
CARES-Live: If users experience any issues with CARES-Live, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CARES-Live County Administrators may contact the CARES Service Desk through the CWDS ServiceNow Customer Support Management (CSM) Portal. Alternate methods are phoning 1-855-292-3444 or via email at Servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov during normal business hours. You may also email after hours and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.
CWS/CMS: Education Provider Information from the California Department of Education (CDE)
What is Impacted: CWS/CMS Application
On Friday, December 22, 2023, from 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM the CDE Interface will run to update Education Provider information for public schools, private schools, and school districts in the CWS/CMS application. This update applies to CDE school information only. School information manually created by a CWS/CMS user will not be affected. During this time, users may be unable to perform Education Provider searches in the CWS/CMS application.
Due to differences in data and formatting between CDE and the CWS/CMS application, some otherwise valid Education Providers may be end-dated. If this occurs, please refer to the Work Around section below. A list of all end-dated Education Providers will be sent to the SPOCs via email as soon as they become available.
Additional Notes
Code Table Refresh is not required.
Work Around
If an existing CDE Education Provider has been end-dated because of this process, users will need to conduct a search for the current Education Provider and create a new Education Notebook for the client.
Contact
CWDS Customer Relations
CWS-CARES Scheduled Maintenance - Dec. 18, 2023 | 5 PM - 8 PM
All Pilot County RFA Implementation Coordinators and SPOCs:
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Monday, December 18, 2023, beginning at 5:00 PM and concluding at 8:00 PM. During the maintenance window, the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process will be accessible for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara.
Action Required
No action required for end-users is needed during this maintenance window.
If users experience any issues with the CWS-CARES, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CWS-CARES County Administrators may contact the CARES Service Desk through the CWDS ServiceNow Customer Support Management (CSM) Portal at https://cwds.service-now.com/csm. Alternate methods are phoning 1-855-292-3444 or via email at Servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov during normal business hours. You may also email after hours, and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Monday, December 18, 2023, beginning at 5:00 PM and concluding at 8:00 PM. During the maintenance window, the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process will be accessible for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara.
Action Required
No action required for end-users is needed during this maintenance window.
If users experience any issues with the CWS-CARES, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CWS-CARES County Administrators may contact the CARES Service Desk through the CWDS ServiceNow Customer Support Management (CSM) Portal at https://cwds.service-now.com/csm. Alternate methods are phoning 1-855-292-3444 or via email at Servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov during normal business hours. You may also email after hours, and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.
CWS/CMS: Business Objects Server Rebooted
All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and CAD Contacts:
Some scheduled Business Objects (BO) reports did not run over the weekend. Therefore, BO scheduling services were restarted at 8:00 AM.
Please check your scheduled jobs to confirm that they have completed successfully during the course of the day.
CWDS Office and IBM are continuing to monitor the BO systems and services for any anomalies.
Action Required
Review scheduled BO reports and rerun the report jobs, as necessary.
Some scheduled Business Objects (BO) reports did not run over the weekend. Therefore, BO scheduling services were restarted at 8:00 AM.
Please check your scheduled jobs to confirm that they have completed successfully during the course of the day.
CWDS Office and IBM are continuing to monitor the BO systems and services for any anomalies.
Action Required
Review scheduled BO reports and rerun the report jobs, as necessary.
CWS/CMS C Sharp (C#) Co-Existent In-County Image Testing Registration - REMINDER
All Co-Existent County SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
December 7, 2023 UPDATE: This is a reminder, if you have not done so already, to please complete and submit the two following forms regarding the C Sharp (C#) Co-Existent In-County Image Testing no later than 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023:
The upcoming county test activity will test the C# code against images used by Co-Existent Counties. Participating testers will receive both broadly defined scenarios to test various areas of the CWS/CMS application along with a list of Incidents that have been identified in previous County Test Workshops (CTWs) that require retesting. In addition, testers will be asked to perform volume, robust testing of the C# code to see if it can handle various activities to support the way daily child welfare activities are performed by social workers.
Testing will begin on Monday, February 5, 2024, and will complete on Friday, March 1, 2024. The testing will occur within the County, isolated from the production CWS/CMS environment. For example, the test workstations could be used within a training room or set up temporarily in a conference room. The County’s IT support and Technical Contacts will need to work with the CWDS Infrastructure team to coordinate network and firewall configurations to be used during this phase of the testing.
Also, one additional workstation (not used by County testers) will need to be set up within the environment to allow IBM developers to recreate and test code changes. The County will need to provide the remote access to this one workstation. Instructions on how to provide this access will be provided when Counties register to participate in this phase of testing.
A separate communication that will be sent on November 30, 2023, will explain the process that IBM will use to gather/identify the County’s image/software used on the CWS/CMS workstations. This will assist the IBM developers and testers when testing against the County’s specific CWS/CMS image.
Prerequisites for workstations participating in C# testing:
Test workstations (for both the County testers and the “IBM test workstation”) need:
Counties will also need to identify the testers who will participate in this activity. This is required so that IDs can be created for each of the testing participants. Please complete this form (https://forms.gle/uMBZgc1pgzHt86uQ6) to identify each C# tester for this phase of the testing. The deadline to submit the participation form is 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
Action Required
Complete and submit your form (https://forms.gle/WS71t4wxQdjEjMUZ7) for Co-Existent County image C# testing by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
Complete and submit the form (https://forms.gle/uMBZgc1pgzHt86uQ6) to list the testing participants by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
Send any questions that you have regarding this activity to the CWDS Customer Relations mailbox.
December 7, 2023 UPDATE: This is a reminder, if you have not done so already, to please complete and submit the two following forms regarding the C Sharp (C#) Co-Existent In-County Image Testing no later than 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023:
- Co-Existent County image C# testing confirmation form: https://forms.gle/WS71t4wxQdjEjMUZ7
- C# testing participants list form: https://forms.gle/uMBZgc1pgzHt86uQ6 _______________________________________________________________
The upcoming county test activity will test the C# code against images used by Co-Existent Counties. Participating testers will receive both broadly defined scenarios to test various areas of the CWS/CMS application along with a list of Incidents that have been identified in previous County Test Workshops (CTWs) that require retesting. In addition, testers will be asked to perform volume, robust testing of the C# code to see if it can handle various activities to support the way daily child welfare activities are performed by social workers.
Testing will begin on Monday, February 5, 2024, and will complete on Friday, March 1, 2024. The testing will occur within the County, isolated from the production CWS/CMS environment. For example, the test workstations could be used within a training room or set up temporarily in a conference room. The County’s IT support and Technical Contacts will need to work with the CWDS Infrastructure team to coordinate network and firewall configurations to be used during this phase of the testing.
Also, one additional workstation (not used by County testers) will need to be set up within the environment to allow IBM developers to recreate and test code changes. The County will need to provide the remote access to this one workstation. Instructions on how to provide this access will be provided when Counties register to participate in this phase of testing.
A separate communication that will be sent on November 30, 2023, will explain the process that IBM will use to gather/identify the County’s image/software used on the CWS/CMS workstations. This will assist the IBM developers and testers when testing against the County’s specific CWS/CMS image.
Prerequisites for workstations participating in C# testing:
Test workstations (for both the County testers and the “IBM test workstation”) need:
- To be at the supported level for Windows;
- To have .NetFramework 3.5 and .NetFramework 4.8 installed;
- To have at least 8GBs of ram memory;
- To meet all the requirements found within the CWS/CMS Workstation COTS Install Options guide.
Counties will also need to identify the testers who will participate in this activity. This is required so that IDs can be created for each of the testing participants. Please complete this form (https://forms.gle/uMBZgc1pgzHt86uQ6) to identify each C# tester for this phase of the testing. The deadline to submit the participation form is 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
Action Required
Complete and submit your form (https://forms.gle/WS71t4wxQdjEjMUZ7) for Co-Existent County image C# testing by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
Complete and submit the form (https://forms.gle/uMBZgc1pgzHt86uQ6) to list the testing participants by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
Send any questions that you have regarding this activity to the CWDS Customer Relations mailbox.
CARES-Live Scheduled Hot Fix – December 7, 2023, 6:00PM – 8:00PM
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
The CARES-Live team has scheduled a hot fix to CARES-Live on Thursday, December 7, 2023, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM to resolve an issue that was reported December 1, 2023. The issue was with placements and facilities with 8-digit identifiers in Facility Search not displaying to the user.
There is no CARES-Live application outage expected, however, there will be a short interruption to Facility Search during the deployment window.
Action Required
If users experience any issues with CARES-Live, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CARES-Live County Administrators may contact the CARES Service Desk through the CWDS ServiceNow Customer Support Management (CSM) Portal at https://cwds.service-now.com/csm. Alternate methods are phoning 1-855-292-3444 or via email at Servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov during normal business hours. You may also email after hours and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.
The CARES-Live team has scheduled a hot fix to CARES-Live on Thursday, December 7, 2023, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM to resolve an issue that was reported December 1, 2023. The issue was with placements and facilities with 8-digit identifiers in Facility Search not displaying to the user.
There is no CARES-Live application outage expected, however, there will be a short interruption to Facility Search during the deployment window.
Action Required
If users experience any issues with CARES-Live, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CARES-Live County Administrators may contact the CARES Service Desk through the CWDS ServiceNow Customer Support Management (CSM) Portal at https://cwds.service-now.com/csm. Alternate methods are phoning 1-855-292-3444 or via email at Servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov during normal business hours. You may also email after hours and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.
CWS/CMS: California Department of Technology Service Desk Bulletin - SAFE Cloud Service Scheduled Maintenance
ALL SPOCs, Technical Contacts and CAD Contacts:
The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance of the SAFE Cloud service. The maintenance begins on Saturday, December 16, 2023, at 8:00 PM and concludes on Sunday, December 17, 2023, at 2:00 AM. The activity will cause interruptions in the SAFE Cloud service. Some Business Objects (BO) reports will fail to send, or automated scripts may fail to retrieve from SAFE during this scheduled maintenance.
Action Required
All users should logoff of the SAFE Cloud service prior to the start of the stated maintenance timeframe. Please check on your scheduled BO SAFE reports and automated FTP scripts. If needed, re-run the reports and scripts.
Contact the IBM Help Desk (800-428-8268) to report any issues with your Business Objects content in SAFE.
The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance of the SAFE Cloud service. The maintenance begins on Saturday, December 16, 2023, at 8:00 PM and concludes on Sunday, December 17, 2023, at 2:00 AM. The activity will cause interruptions in the SAFE Cloud service. Some Business Objects (BO) reports will fail to send, or automated scripts may fail to retrieve from SAFE during this scheduled maintenance.
Action Required
All users should logoff of the SAFE Cloud service prior to the start of the stated maintenance timeframe. Please check on your scheduled BO SAFE reports and automated FTP scripts. If needed, re-run the reports and scripts.
Contact the IBM Help Desk (800-428-8268) to report any issues with your Business Objects content in SAFE.
If unable to find a specific Bulletin, please contact Communications.