All Pilot County RFA Implementation Coordinators and SPOCs:
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Tuesday, June 17, 2025, 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 Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara.
During the maintenance window, CARES Tableau reports refresh will be on hold.
Action Required
No action required from end-users 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 Bulletins
CWS/CMS: May 2025 Workstation Patches
All Co-Existent County SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
As requested, here is the list of patches that IBM tested and applied to the Dedicated County Workstations for May 2025:
MS Windows 11 23H2 Patches
MS25-MAY: Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 23H2 - Windows 11 Version 23H2 - KB5058405 (x64) Critical
MS Windows 10 22H2 Patches
MS25-MAY: Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 22H2 - Windows 10 Version 22H2 - KB5058379 (x64) Critical
MS Windows 2016 (LTSB) Patches
MS25-MAY: Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 - Windows 10 Version 1607 LTSB - KB5058383 (x64) Critical
MS25-MAY: Servicing Stack Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 - Windows 10 Version 1607 LTSB - KB5058524 (x64) Critical
MS Office 2016 Patches
MS25-MAY: Security Update for Microsoft Excel 2016 - Excel 2016 - KB5002717 Important
MS25-MAY: Security Update for Microsoft Office 2016 - Office 2016 - KB5002695 Critical
MS25-MAY: Security Update for Microsoft Office 2016 - Office 2016 - KB5002711 Critical
MS25-MAY: Security Update for Microsoft Office 2016 - Office 2016 - KB5002716 Critical
MS Office 365 Patches
Office 365 Version 16.0.18730.20168 Available - Current Channel - Office 365 (English (United States)) Critical
Action Required
No action is required. Informational only.
As requested, here is the list of patches that IBM tested and applied to the Dedicated County Workstations for May 2025:
MS Windows 11 23H2 Patches
MS25-MAY: Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 23H2 - Windows 11 Version 23H2 - KB5058405 (x64) Critical
MS Windows 10 22H2 Patches
MS25-MAY: Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 22H2 - Windows 10 Version 22H2 - KB5058379 (x64) Critical
MS Windows 2016 (LTSB) Patches
MS25-MAY: Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 - Windows 10 Version 1607 LTSB - KB5058383 (x64) Critical
MS25-MAY: Servicing Stack Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 - Windows 10 Version 1607 LTSB - KB5058524 (x64) Critical
MS Office 2016 Patches
MS25-MAY: Security Update for Microsoft Excel 2016 - Excel 2016 - KB5002717 Important
MS25-MAY: Security Update for Microsoft Office 2016 - Office 2016 - KB5002695 Critical
MS25-MAY: Security Update for Microsoft Office 2016 - Office 2016 - KB5002711 Critical
MS25-MAY: Security Update for Microsoft Office 2016 - Office 2016 - KB5002716 Critical
MS Office 365 Patches
Office 365 Version 16.0.18730.20168 Available - Current Channel - Office 365 (English (United States)) Critical
Action Required
No action is required. Informational only.
Announcing the CWS-CARES Progress & Engagement Summary
CARES SPOCs, Implementation Coordinators, County, Tribe, Probation, State Leadership, and OCM Coordinators:
We are excited to announce the launch of the CWS-CARES Progress and Engagement Summary, a new communication tool designed to provide stakeholders with a clear, concise, and consistent overview of our collaborative efforts and achievements.
This work product was specifically formulated as a direct response to your valuable stakeholder feedback and recent survey results. We heard your need for a more transparent and consistent way to track our collective progress, and this summary aims to meet that need.
The purpose of this summary is to keep you informed about the key activities we have jointly undertaken, fostering transparency and mutual understanding. By regularly outlining progress in areas like county participation in prototype and build reviews, forms, reports, data conversion, external systems, interfaces, implementation, OCM, and training, we ensure everyone has the same understanding of what has been accomplished. This will be a monthly update, posted to the CWDS website and shared in various meetings that contain project updates.
The CWS-CARES Progress and Engagement Summary is specifically intended for external stakeholders, including child welfare leadership and CWS-CARES Points of Contact, who are seeking to understand our collective progress at a high level.
We believe this new summary will be an invaluable resource for all as we continue our work together.
We appreciate your continued commitment to staying informed.
Action Required
No action required. If you have any questions, need clarification, or have any accessibility issues, please do not hesitate to contact Customer Relations.
We are excited to announce the launch of the CWS-CARES Progress and Engagement Summary, a new communication tool designed to provide stakeholders with a clear, concise, and consistent overview of our collaborative efforts and achievements.
This work product was specifically formulated as a direct response to your valuable stakeholder feedback and recent survey results. We heard your need for a more transparent and consistent way to track our collective progress, and this summary aims to meet that need.
The purpose of this summary is to keep you informed about the key activities we have jointly undertaken, fostering transparency and mutual understanding. By regularly outlining progress in areas like county participation in prototype and build reviews, forms, reports, data conversion, external systems, interfaces, implementation, OCM, and training, we ensure everyone has the same understanding of what has been accomplished. This will be a monthly update, posted to the CWDS website and shared in various meetings that contain project updates.
The CWS-CARES Progress and Engagement Summary is specifically intended for external stakeholders, including child welfare leadership and CWS-CARES Points of Contact, who are seeking to understand our collective progress at a high level.
We believe this new summary will be an invaluable resource for all as we continue our work together.
We appreciate your continued commitment to staying informed.
Action Required
No action required. If you have any questions, need clarification, or have any accessibility issues, please do not hesitate to contact Customer Relations.
CWS/CMS: CDT Service Desk Bulletin – OTech Managed Storage as a Service (StaaS) upgrade at Gold
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance on Sunday, June 1, 2025, beginning at 9:00 AM and concluding at 12:00 PM. During the maintenance window, the OTech Open System Storage team will be updating the firmware on the Gold Camp STaaS NetApp Storage. There is no anticipated outage for this maintenance.
Action Required
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.
The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance on Sunday, June 1, 2025, beginning at 9:00 AM and concluding at 12:00 PM. During the maintenance window, the OTech Open System Storage team will be updating the firmware on the Gold Camp STaaS NetApp Storage. There is no anticipated outage for this maintenance.
Action Required
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.
Major Incident Status - Network outage - SERVICE RESTORED
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
May 30, 2025 at 8:05 AM - UPDATE: The California Department of Technology (CDT) has reported that service has been successfully restored. If you are still experiencing any connectivity issues, please contact the IBM Help Desk.
______________________________________________________________________________________
CDT has received reports that the Network is inaccessible. Verizon has confirmed a major outage due to a fiber cut. There is currently no estimate of when access will be restored. Updates will be sent out as new information is received.
Action Required
If users experience any issues with CWS/CMS, CARES-Live or CARES RFA, please follow your county process for reporting issues or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.
May 30, 2025 at 8:05 AM - UPDATE: The California Department of Technology (CDT) has reported that service has been successfully restored. If you are still experiencing any connectivity issues, please contact the IBM Help Desk.
______________________________________________________________________________________
CDT has received reports that the Network is inaccessible. Verizon has confirmed a major outage due to a fiber cut. There is currently no estimate of when access will be restored. Updates will be sent out as new information is received.
Action Required
If users experience any issues with CWS/CMS, CARES-Live or CARES RFA, please follow your county process for reporting issues or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.
CARES-Live Scheduled Maintenance - May 29, 2025 | 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
The CARES-Live team has scheduled maintenance for the CARES-Live application. The maintenance is scheduled for Thursday, May 29, 2025, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. During this scheduled maintenance the CARES-Live team will focus on application maintenance changes that are not visible to CARES-Live users.
NOTE: Users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during the scheduled outage.
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. 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 maintenance for the CARES-Live application. The maintenance is scheduled for Thursday, May 29, 2025, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. During this scheduled maintenance the CARES-Live team will focus on application maintenance changes that are not visible to CARES-Live users.
NOTE: Users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during the scheduled outage.
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. 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 – Standard Monthly OS Security Patches to SBCS Infrastructure Servers, May 31, 2025 | 6 AM - 10 AM
All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and SBC Administrators:
The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance on Saturday, May 31, 2025, beginning at 6:00 AM and concluding at 10:00 AM. During the maintenance window, CDT will apply Standard Monthly OS Security Patches to SBCS Infrastructure Servers. There is no anticipated outage for this maintenance; however, CDT is asking that everyone log off from the Citrix SBC system, if not actively using it during the maintenance window.
Action Required
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.
The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance on Saturday, May 31, 2025, beginning at 6:00 AM and concluding at 10:00 AM. During the maintenance window, CDT will apply Standard Monthly OS Security Patches to SBCS Infrastructure Servers. There is no anticipated outage for this maintenance; however, CDT is asking that everyone log off from the Citrix SBC system, if not actively using it during the maintenance window.
Action Required
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.
CWS/CMS IBM (Boulder) Help Desk Tickets
All CWS SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
As of April 2025, the CWS/CMS IBM (Boulder) Help Desk has transitioned from using Maximo to a new asset management software, Gestionnaire Libre de Parc Informatique (GLPI).
This has resulted in a change to the ticket naming convention. CWS/CMS IBM (Boulder) Help Desk tickets are now an eight-digit numerical number (ex. 10000000). All open Maximo tickets (IN1xxxxxxx) have been migrated to the new system.
If you have opened a ticket prior to April 2025 with a ‘IN1xxxxxxx’ ticket number and contact the CWS/CMS IBM (Boulder) Help Desk for status, they will inform you of the new ticket number and requested status.
PLEASE NOTE: the IBM Help Desk phone number (1-800-428-8268) remains unchanged.
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.
Action Required
No action is required on behalf of the county.
As of April 2025, the CWS/CMS IBM (Boulder) Help Desk has transitioned from using Maximo to a new asset management software, Gestionnaire Libre de Parc Informatique (GLPI).
This has resulted in a change to the ticket naming convention. CWS/CMS IBM (Boulder) Help Desk tickets are now an eight-digit numerical number (ex. 10000000). All open Maximo tickets (IN1xxxxxxx) have been migrated to the new system.
If you have opened a ticket prior to April 2025 with a ‘IN1xxxxxxx’ ticket number and contact the CWS/CMS IBM (Boulder) Help Desk for status, they will inform you of the new ticket number and requested status.
PLEASE NOTE: the IBM Help Desk phone number (1-800-428-8268) remains unchanged.
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.
Action Required
No action is required on behalf of the county.
CWS/CMS: Solicitation for County Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) for CWS/CMS Release 9.8
All SPOCs and Training Contacts
The Child Welfare Digital Services (CWDS) Office is requesting county staff to participate as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in the Release 9.8 (R9.8) Business Needs Analysis (BNAs) meetings and Joint Application Design (JAD) to give feedback on issues. SMEs will participate in R9.8 activities, tentatively scheduled to GO LIVE in March 2026.
R9.8 BNAs will be held on June 3, 2025. SMEs will receive an Outlook invitation once all responses are received.
R9.8 JAD has not yet been scheduled, but SMEs will receive an Outlook invitation once a date is selected.
System Change Requests (SCRs) include:
The SCRs listed below were covered during a previous BNA. A brief meeting will be held to ensure nothing has changed:
Those who volunteer are welcome to register for one or more SCRs.
Participants will work with other County and State SMEs as well as vendor support staff.
We seek a diverse group of participants from large, medium, and small counties. The CWDS Office will work with SMEs to determine the details of participation.
If you have any questions regarding this recruitment, please contact CWDS Application Support.
Action Required
Staff should submit a Release 9.8 SME Online Registration Form (see link below) for each potential SME.
Link: Release 9.8 Subject Matter Expert Online Registration Form
Forms should be submitted no later than May 30, 2025.
The Child Welfare Digital Services (CWDS) Office is requesting county staff to participate as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in the Release 9.8 (R9.8) Business Needs Analysis (BNAs) meetings and Joint Application Design (JAD) to give feedback on issues. SMEs will participate in R9.8 activities, tentatively scheduled to GO LIVE in March 2026.
R9.8 BNAs will be held on June 3, 2025. SMEs will receive an Outlook invitation once all responses are received.
R9.8 JAD has not yet been scheduled, but SMEs will receive an Outlook invitation once a date is selected.
System Change Requests (SCRs) include:
The SCRs listed below were covered during a previous BNA. A brief meeting will be held to ensure nothing has changed:
- SCR 9023 – Add Missing CCLD-Licensed Placement Facility Types to CWS/CMS (Prioritized #1) - Application Support Contact: Colin Kelley
- SCR 8973 – ICWA Eligibility Data Entry Reminder (Part A) (Data Quality) (Prioritized #2) - Application Support Contact: Gina Blakemore
- SCR 8853 – Validate & Cleanse Collateral Data Demographic Data (Data Quality) (Prioritized #3) – Application Support Contact: Gina Blakemore
- SCR 8852 – Validate & Cleanse Reporter Demographic Data (Data Quality) (Prioritized #4) - Application Support Contact: Kim Carpenter
- SCR 8993 – Referral Completed Due Date (Prioritized #5) – Application Support Contact: Nora O’Hara
Those who volunteer are welcome to register for one or more SCRs.
Participants will work with other County and State SMEs as well as vendor support staff.
We seek a diverse group of participants from large, medium, and small counties. The CWDS Office will work with SMEs to determine the details of participation.
If you have any questions regarding this recruitment, please contact CWDS Application Support.
Action Required
Staff should submit a Release 9.8 SME Online Registration Form (see link below) for each potential SME.
Link: Release 9.8 Subject Matter Expert Online Registration Form
Forms should be submitted no later than May 30, 2025.
CWS/CMS: Data Quality Milestones
All SPOCs and Data Quality Analysts:
We had significant Data Quality (DQ) milestones completed this past weekend! Counties have performed over a million Manually-Directed data quality SCR updates (1,019,762 to be exact) since 2021. This is where counties review and approve files for batch updates/merges. Additionally, over 1.5 million Education Enrollments closed automatically by SCR 8844 over the past five quarters.
The DQ portal and the DQ dashboard have been updated to reflect the April batch updates listed below:
The next round of bi-monthly updates will be in June, however, the SCR 8794 Service Provider Merge and SCR 8912 SCP Merge will continue to be available weekly. New, updated reports shall be sent out next week for those two processes.
We had significant Data Quality (DQ) milestones completed this past weekend! Counties have performed over a million Manually-Directed data quality SCR updates (1,019,762 to be exact) since 2021. This is where counties review and approve files for batch updates/merges. Additionally, over 1.5 million Education Enrollments closed automatically by SCR 8844 over the past five quarters.
The DQ portal and the DQ dashboard have been updated to reflect the April batch updates listed below:
- Page 1 of the dashboard shows the current data quality metrics of outstanding items.
- Page 2 shows a history of updates performed for data quality.
The next round of bi-monthly updates will be in June, however, the SCR 8794 Service Provider Merge and SCR 8912 SCP Merge will continue to be available weekly. New, updated reports shall be sent out next week for those two processes.
If unable to find a specific Bulletin, please contact Communications.