September 21, 2023
Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
September 21, 2023: The CWS-CARES Release 0.10, originally scheduled for implementation during the evening hours on Wednesday, September 20, 2023, did not move to production. Due to a technical issue impacting the CWS-CARES team, it was decided to postpone the release to a future date. The team is working on the new release date schedule. Another communication update will be sent once the new date has been finalized and approved.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
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EFFECTIVE September 20, 2023, CWS-CARES RELEASE 0.10 PRODUCTION RELEASE IS PLANNED TO MOVE INTO PRODUCTION
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled release activity that will interrupt connectivity to the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara. The release activity is planned to begin at 5:00 PM on September 20, 2023, and conclude at 11:00 PM. During this scheduled outage, users in pilot counties will not be able to access the CARES RFA application.
CWS-CARES Release 0.10:
The purpose of this release is to primarily deliver fixes for known issues, enhancements to behind-the-scenes functionality and security improvements to CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process.
CWDS is excited to share the new RFA features that are planned to be available following the implementation of CWS-CARES Release 0.10 on September 20, 2023, to the CARES-RFA Pilot County users. These new features are derived from user feedback as well as project planned enhancements.
As a resource to pilot counties, over the next few weeks, your organization can expect to receive information regarding a Webinar along with an updated Participant and Quick Reference Guide. These resources will provide the system users with details of the features/functionality that have been added since the last production release.
RFA Application Process:
The RFA Application process is the Receipt, Record, Submission, and Assignment of an Application. The RFA Application process was selected as the first software build for CARES. CARES will ultimately replace the legacy Child Welfare System CWS/CMS. The RFA Application Process will operate in a totally new Production Environment without integrating with other legacy systems, such as the CWS/CMS and CARES-Live applications.
RFA Application Process Features:
- Allows an applicant or County staff member to initiate an emergency or standard application to become a resource family home
- Creates a facility profile that tracks required information to complete this process, including background check results, completion of orientation and training hours, physical home assessment, and family evaluation
- Aggregates information into a report to recommend approval or disapproval of a resource family application
Action Required
RFA Pilot County users review new features in the CWS-CARES Production Environment after September 21, 2023.
All Release Notes, including information for this release once available, can be found here: RFA Application Process Release Notes and Interim Processes.
September 13, 2023
Communications
All Pilot County RFA Implementation Coordinators, SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Wednesday, September 13, 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 not be accessible for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara.
Action Required
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 during normal business hours. You may also email after hours, and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.
September 12, 2023
Customer Relations
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
In support of the CWS/CMS Release 9.2 deployment scheduled for Saturday, September 16, 2023, from 5:00 AM to 1:00 PM, the CARES-Live application will also not be available during this CWS/CMS scheduled deployment.
Action Required
If users experience any issues with CARES-Live outside of this scheduled outage, 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.
September 12, 2023
Customer Relations
Release 9.2 will be implemented on Saturday, September 16, 2023
The application outage begins on Saturday, September 16, 2023 at 5:00 AM and will most likely complete around 11:00 AM. Users will not be able to access the CWS/CMS application during this period. All application updates will be applied during this outage and should be available once the outage is complete.
Note: Business Objects will be unavailable from approximately 8 AM to 11 AM while the Release 9.2 updates are being applied.
Customer support will be available from the IBM Helpdesk at (800) 428-8268.
Coexistent county CWSCMS.MSI file availability:
The CWSCMS.MSI file was made available on Friday, September 8, 2023 for technical staff to begin testing the installation of the release. The code is located on the CWSDFSr share in the following location:
Dedicated County CWSCMS.MSI file delivery:
By Friday, September 8, 2023, dedicated county users should have started seeing the CWSCMS.MSI file copied to their workstations during Windows logon. Technical staff can verify that they have received the file by checking for its presence in the C:\CACW\R92 folder. This file must exist on the workstation for the installation of Release 9.2 to take place on or after September 16, 2023.
Dedicated County users should do the following on the night before the release:
- Restart (reboot) the workstation and log into Windows (aka the "welcome screen").
- Restart again and do not log into Windows.
- Leave the workstation powered on.
September 08, 2023
Communications
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, September 23, 2023, at 8:00 PM and concludes on Sunday, September 24, 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.
September 06, 2023
Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
EFFECTIVE September 20, 2023, CWS-CARES RELEASE 0.10 PRODUCTION RELEASE IS PLANNED TO MOVE INTO PRODUCTION
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled release activity that will interrupt connectivity to the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara. The release activity is planned to begin at 5:00 PM on September 20, 2023, and conclude at 11:00 PM. During this scheduled outage, users in pilot counties will not be able to access the CARES RFA application.
CWS-CARES Release 0.10:
The purpose of this release is to primarily deliver fixes for known issues, enhancements to behind-the-scenes functionality and security improvements to CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process.
CWDS is excited to share the new RFA features that are planned to be available following the implementation of CWS-CARES Release 0.10 on September 20, 2023, to the CARES-RFA Pilot County users. These new features are derived from user feedback as well as project planned enhancements.
As a resource to pilot counties, over the next few weeks, your organization can expect to receive information regarding a Webinar along with an updated Participant and Quick Reference Guide. These resources will provide the system users with details of the features/functionality that have been added since the last production release.
RFA Application Process:
The RFA Application process is the Receipt, Record, Submission, and Assignment of an Application. The RFA Application process was selected as the first software build for CARES. CARES will ultimately replace the legacy Child Welfare System CWS/CMS. The RFA Application Process will operate in a totally new Production Environment without integrating with other legacy systems, such as the CWS/CMS and CARES-Live applications.
RFA Application Process Features:
- Allows an applicant or County staff member to initiate an emergency or standard application to become a resource family home
- Creates a facility profile that tracks required information to complete this process, including background check results, completion of orientation and training hours, physical home assessment, and family evaluation
- Aggregates information into a report to recommend approval or disapproval of a resource family application
Action Required
RFA Pilot County users review new features in the CWS-CARES Production Environment after September 21, 2023.
All Release Notes, including information for this release once available, can be found here: RFA Application Process Release Notes and Interim Processes.
September 05, 2023
Customer Relations
The mandatory VB6 version of Release 9.2 will be implemented on Saturday, September 16, 2023.
Coexistent county CWSCMS.MSI file availability:
The CWSCMS.MSI file will be available by Friday, September 8, 2023, for technical staff to begin testing the installation of the release. The code will be located on the CWSDFSr share in the following location:
Perform any necessary testing, but do not install countywide before September 16, 2023. The new release will not work with the database until then.
Dedicated County CWSCMS.MSI file delivery:
By Friday, September 8, 2023, dedicated county users should start seeing the CWSCMS.MSI file copied to their workstations during Windows logon. Technical staff can verify that they have received the file by checking for its presence in the C:\CACW\R92. folder. This file must exist on the workstation for the installation of Release R9.2 to take place on or after September 16, 2023.
Release 9.2 documents are located on the CWDS website. More documents will be added as the release go-live date approaches
September 01, 2023
Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
September 1, 2023 UPDATE: The CARES-Live Team implemented the scheduled CARES-Live application maintenance last night, August 31, 2023. During testing following the maintenance, the team identified that the Facility Search available beds count on the search results page does not display the most recent data for some facilities. The team is reviewing data to address and resolve this issue. Meanwhile, please continue to use the workaround and click on each individual facility on the Search Results page to display the accurate count of Available Beds.
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August 29, 2023 UPDATE: REMINDER - The CARES-Live team has scheduled maintenance for the CARES-Live application. The maintenance is scheduled for Thursday, August 31, 2023, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. During this scheduled maintenance, the CARES-Live team will focus on infrastructure maintenance and correct erroneous and outdated available bed counts on the CARES-Live Facility Search results page.
CARES-Live will not be accessible during this change window.
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August 23, 2023 UPDATE: The CARES-Live team has scheduled maintenance for the CARES-Live application. The maintenance is scheduled for Thursday, August 31, 2023, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. During this scheduled maintenance, the CARES-Live team will focus on infrastructure maintenance and correct erroneous and outdated available bed counts on the CARES-Live Facility Search results page.
CARES-Live will not be accessible during this change window.
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The CWDS project has identified an issue with the application code that sometimes displays outdated available bed counts on the search results page. However, the available bed counts are accurate when the user clicks on the individual facilities.
Only a limited number of search results are outdated. The current estimate of impacted facilities stands at approximately 3 percent. The inaccuracies are caused when only the placement information of an LIS facility is changed within the CWS/CMS application.
The CARES-Live Team is working to resolve this issue and will implement a code fix to correct this inaccurate information soon.
Workaround
The CARES-Live Team has developed a temporary workaround until the application code fix is implemented. CARES-Live users need to click on each individual facility to get the accurate count of Available Beds.
Additional communications will be sent out as new information, including when the application code fix will be implemented, is received.
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 during normal business hours. You may also email after hours and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.
August 31, 2023
Communications
All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and Training Contacts:
The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled hardware equipment migration on Sunday, October 8, 2023, beginning at 4:00 AM and concluding at 7:00 AM. The migration activity will cause intermittent interruptions in connectivity to the CWDS website and the CWS/CMS Portals website while cables are moved to new equipment during the migration window.
Action Required
If users experience any issues with the CWDS website or the CWS/CMS Portals website, please follow your county process for reporting issues or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.
August 29, 2023
Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
August 29, 2023 UPDATE: REMINDER - The CARES-Live team has scheduled maintenance for the CARES-Live application. The maintenance is scheduled for Thursday, August 31, 2023, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. During this scheduled maintenance, the CARES-Live team will focus on infrastructure maintenance and correct erroneous and outdated available bed counts on the CARES-Live Facility Search results page.
CARES-Live will not be accessible during this change window.
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August 23, 2023 UPDATE: The CARES-Live team has scheduled maintenance for the CARES-Live application. The maintenance is scheduled for Thursday, August 31, 2023, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. During this scheduled maintenance, the CARES-Live team will focus on infrastructure maintenance and correct erroneous and outdated available bed counts on the CARES-Live Facility Search results page.
CARES-Live will not be accessible during this change window.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
The CWDS project has identified an issue with the application code that sometimes displays outdated available bed counts on the search results page. However, the available bed counts are accurate when the user clicks on the individual facilities.
Only a limited number of search results are outdated. The current estimate of impacted facilities stands at approximately 3 percent. The inaccuracies are caused when only the placement information of an LIS facility is changed within the CWS/CMS application.
The CARES-Live Team is working to resolve this issue and will implement a code fix to correct this inaccurate information soon.
Workaround
The CARES-Live Team has developed a temporary workaround until the application code fix is implemented. CARES-Live users need to click on each individual facility to get the accurate count of Available Beds.
Additional communications will be sent out as new information, including when the application code fix will be implemented, is received.
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 during normal business hours. You may also email after hours and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.
