CWDS Bulletins

CWS/CMS: Release 9.5 and 9.5.0 (15-Day) Informational Bulletin

December 02, 2024 Customer Relations
The mandatory VB6 version of Release 9.5 will be implemented on Saturday, Saturday, December 14, 2024.

Coexistent county CWSCMS.MSI file availability:

The CWSCMS.MSI file will be available by Friday, December 6, 2024, for technical staff to begin testing the installation of the release.  The code will be located on the CWSDFSr share in the following location:
  •  \CODEDIST\Staging\R95
Perform any necessary testing, but do not install countywide before December 14, 2024. The new release will not work with the database until then.

Dedicated County CWSCMS.MSI file delivery:

By Wednesday, November 27, 2024, 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\R95 folder. This file must exist on the workstation for the installation of Release R9.5 to take place on or after December 14, 2024.

Release 9.5 documents are located on the CWDS website. The xTools file and related README file are located on the CWDS Training Portal. More documents will be added as the release go-live date approaches. 
 
CWS/CMS, Release

CWS-CARES Release 0.15 Production Release

December 02, 2024 Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:

EFFECTIVE December 16, 2024, CWS-CARES RELEASE 0.15 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 December 16, 2024, 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 0.15:
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 0.15 on December 16, 2024, 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 December 17, 2024.
All Release Notes, including information for this release once available, can be found here: RFA Application Process Release Notes and Interim Processes
Product Release, Announcement, CARES, CWS-CARES

CWS/CMS: November 2024 Workstation Patches

November 26, 2024 Communications
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 November 2024:
  • MS Windows 10 22H2 Patches
    MS24-NOV: Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 22H2 - Windows 10 Version 22H2 - KB5046613 (x64) Important 
  • MS Windows 2016 (LTSB) Patches
    MS24-NOV: Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 - Windows 10 Version 1607 LTSB - KB5046612 (x64) Important
  • MS Office 2016 Patches
    MS24-NOV: Security Update for Microsoft Excel 2016 - Excel 2016 - KB5002653 Important
    MS24-NOV: Security Update for Microsoft Word 2016 - Word 2016 - KB5002619 Important
  • Office 365 Patches
    Office 365 Version 16.0.18129.20116 Available - Current Channel - Office 365 Important Unspecified
  • Google Chrome Patches
    Google Chrome 131.0.6778.70 High 
Action Required
No action is required. Informational only.
Update, Maintenance, CWS/CMS

CWS/CMS: Education Provider Information from the California Department of Education (CDE)

November 22, 2024 Customer Relations

What is Impacted: CWS/CMS Application

On Friday, December 6, 2024, 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/CMS, Bulletin, Education

CWS/CMS: Business Objects Issue and Workaround – UPDATE

November 21, 2024 Communications
All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and CAD Contacts:

November 21, 2024 UPDATE: After working with the Business Objects vendor, IBM and the CWDS Infrastructure team are reporting that Business Objects is now up and operational, with a few limited issues / differences that remain to be resolved.

Please Note: The login screens will look a bit different. Generic SAP screens will be used temporarily and will be updated at a later date (please see screenshot below).

In addition, there appears to be an issue with transferring reports from Rich Client to the server and back. IBM and the Infrastructure team will work with the vendor as a fix for this specific continuing issue becomes available.

Screenshot of the generic login screen:

__________________________________________________________________________________________
November 20, 2024 UPDATE:  Several issues have been identified after the installation of the Business Objects patch upgrade.  Work is taking place now to resolve those issues and a communication will be shared once resolved.   
_______________________________________________________________________

November 20, 2024 FINAL UPDATE: The installation of the Business Objects patch upgrade has completed. Business Objects is now accessible; however, users may experience degraded performance while the Business Objects server catches up on the scheduled jobs from this morning. The CWDS Infrastructure team and IBM are monitoring for potential issues.

NOTE: Web Intelligence Rich Client users may need to update their workstation installation of the client.
_______________________________________________________________________

November 20, 2024 UPDATE: This is a reminder that the Business Objects production environment is not available this morning, to install a patch update. A follow-up communication will be sent out once the environment has become available, estimated to occur at around 12:00 Noon.
________________________________________________________________________

UPDATE: We are applying a patch to address this Business Objects issue, which will be implemented in both the Training and Production Environments. These environments will be unavailable during the following patch periods:
  • Training Environment  - November 19th, 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
  • Production Environment - November 20th, 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Action Required
If users experience any issues please follow your county process for reporting issues or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.
_____________________________________________________________________________
An issue has been discovered with the current version of Business Objects used with the CWS/CMS application.

Issue Description:
Whenever a numeric field, such as government entity code, is used as a condition in a data provider (query), the query will run correctly the first time. Whenever the data provider is edited, the system will return a type mismatch error and require the user to remove and re-add the condition. The query will then run, as long as it is not edited again.

This only appears to be an issue with numeric fields; character fields, such as Client Name, do not experience this issue. Once the query is run, it operates normally as long as the user does not go back and edit the data provider. The user can refresh the data and save, as well as edit the report formatting, without issue.

Issue Resolution:
A patch level update will be required to resolve the issue. The CWDS Office and IBM are evaluating the next Business Objects patch to determine if it will resolve the issue, without generating any new issues. There is currently no estimated time of when the patch will be implemented. Additional updates will be sent out as new information is received.

Workaround:
When Business Objects informs the user of a type mismatch error after a numeric field is used as a condition in a data provider, and the data provider is edited, then the user must remove and re-enter the condition. The query will run, without issue, as long as the data provider is not edited again.

Action Required
Until the issue is corrected with the appropriate patch update, users will need to perform the workaround listed above, by removing and re-entering the condition when they receive a type mismatch error message.
Update, Maintenance, CWS/CMS

CDT Service Desk Bulletin – SBCS Infrastructure Servers Security Patching

November 21, 2024 Communications
All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and SBC Administrators:
The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance on Saturday, November 30, 2024, 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.
Maintenance, CDT

The Future of SafeMeasures® and Structured Decision Making® (SDM) Assessments with CWS-CARES

November 21, 2024 Communications
Specific CWDA Staff Related to Child Welfare, County Directors and Alternates, Organization Leadership, CARES Implementation Coordinators, and CARES SPOCs, ELT, PMO, State Communications, Strategic Communications, Implementation Management, Implementation Leads, and Evident Change:

There have been many questions regarding the future of SafeMeasures® and Structured Decision Making® (SDM) assessments with the implementation of CWS-CARES. You may have heard previously that SafeMeasures  will exist as a separate function. To address this, we are providing more information and guidance on the integration approach.

To enhance efficiency and data-driven decision making with CWS-CARES Version 1, SDM® assessments will be seamlessly integrated into the CWS-CARES platform via single sign-on. The CWS-CARES Project is currently planning the SafeMeasures integration. Ultimately, SafeMeasures and SDM tools will be embedded into CWS-CARES, and 25 years of historical data collected through these tools will be accessible.

This integration provides a unified user experience and reduces the need for switching between multiple systems. Further, it will ensure continuity for counties, with CWS-CARES handling more direct operational reports and SafeMeasures continuing to provide more complex reporting. SafeMeasures in CWS-CARES will retain its critical and most-used features and reports, as well as the collaborative service relationship between CDSS, counties, and Evident Change.

SafeMeasures and SDM will be part of CWS-CARES and should not be treated as separate, external systems. Therefore, they will not require the same level of effort or planning as external systems, particularly for tasks like data conversion, ongoing operations, or decommissioning.

Here is the impact on county budgets and the transition of SafeMeasures costs:

CWS-CARES Project Coverage: The CWS-CARES project will cover the costs associated with integrating SafeMeasures into the system and ongoing maintenance. This means there will be no additional costs to county budgets for these specific activities.

State Assumption of Costs: Based on the planned CWS-CARES Version 2 implementation date, the State expects to take over county costs associated with SafeMeasures starting on July 1, 2028. As such, counties will continue to be responsible for their existing SafeMeasures contracts and access until June 30, 2028. This includes any associated costs during this period. Counties must continue to submit an Advance Planning Document (APD) to the California Department of Social Services prior to executing, renewing, or amending the agreement or paying for associated services. Please see County Fiscal Letter 23/24-12 for APD submission requirements and details. This means counties shall plan to end their contracts on June 30, 2028, and will no longer be responsible for these costs after this date.

In summary:
  1. SafeMeasures and SDM tools will be embedded into CWS-CARES via a single sign-on with access to historical data and reports already in use.
  2. Counties will not incur additional costs for the integration and maintenance of SafeMeasures and SDM into CWS-CARES.
  3. Counties will continue to be responsible for their contracts until June 30, 2028.
  4. The state will assume the costs of SafeMeasures starting July 1, 2028.
Counties will receive additional communications about this transition once details are finalized, including the impact on APD submission for current county SafeMeasures costs and determining county budgets.
 
Sincerely,
The CWS-CARES Project – Executive Leadership Team
California Department of Social Services (CDSS)
 
Action Required
No action needed.
Announcement, CARES, CWS-CARES

CWS/CMS: Business Objects Issue and Workaround – FINAL UPDATE

November 20, 2024 Communications
All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and CAD Contacts:

November 20, 2024 FINAL UPDATE: The installation of the Business Objects patch upgrade has completed. Business Objects is now accessible; however, users may experience degraded performance while the Business Objects server catches up on the scheduled jobs from this morning. The CWDS Infrastructure team and IBM are monitoring for potential issues.

NOTE: Web Intelligence Rich Client users may need to update their workstation installation of the client.
_______________________________________________________________________

November 20, 2024 UPDATE: This is a reminder that the Business Objects production environment is not available this morning, to install a patch update. A follow-up communication will be sent out once the environment has become available, estimated to occur at around 12:00 Noon.
_____________________________________________________________________________

UPDATE: We are applying a patch to address this Business Objects issue, which will be implemented in both the Training and Production Environments. These environments will be unavailable during the following patch periods:
  • Training Environment  - November 19th, 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
  • Production Environment - November 20th, 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Action Required
If users experience any issues please follow your county process for reporting issues or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.
_____________________________________________________________________________
An issue has been discovered with the current version of Business Objects used with the CWS/CMS application.

Issue Description:
Whenever a numeric field, such as government entity code, is used as a condition in a data provider (query), the query will run correctly the first time. Whenever the data provider is edited, the system will return a type mismatch error and require the user to remove and re-add the condition. The query will then run, as long as it is not edited again.

This only appears to be an issue with numeric fields; character fields, such as Client Name, do not experience this issue. Once the query is run, it operates normally as long as the user does not go back and edit the data provider. The user can refresh the data and save, as well as edit the report formatting, without issue.

Issue Resolution:
A patch level update will be required to resolve the issue. The CWDS Office and IBM are evaluating the next Business Objects patch to determine if it will resolve the issue, without generating any new issues. There is currently no estimated time of when the patch will be implemented. Additional updates will be sent out as new information is received.

Workaround:
When Business Objects informs the user of a type mismatch error after a numeric field is used as a condition in a data provider, and the data provider is edited, then the user must remove and re-enter the condition. The query will run, without issue, as long as the data provider is not edited again.

Action Required
Until the issue is corrected with the appropriate patch update, users will need to perform the workaround listed above, by removing and re-entering the condition when they receive a type mismatch error message.
Update, Maintenance, CWS/CMS

CARES-Live Meeting Role Added to the CWDS Website - REMINDER

November 20, 2024 Communications
All SPOCs:
November 20, 2024 UPDATE: Resending this reminder to include the CARES-Live Profile – Create Account document that was missing with the previous reminder communication sent on November 19, 2024.
_________________________________________________________________________
As discussed at the last CARES-Live Meeting in September, we will now be using a newly added ‘Role’ on the CWDS website (cwds.ca.gov) as our foundation for the CARES-Live Quarterly Meeting attendees list.  This new ‘Role’ allows a user to self-select it to be added to the new CARES-Live Quarterly Meeting series, beginning in January 2025.

In an effort to form this list and perform some distribution list cleanup, we kindly ask that you follow the steps detailed in the ‘CARES-Live Profile – Create Account’ document, to add the role to your CWDS website profile. 
 
Please complete this by 5:00 PM on November 27, 2024, so that we have sufficient time to create the new CARES-Live Quarterly Meeting series and send out the invite to everyone who wants to participate in the meeting.

Action Required
Please share this information with any relevant individuals in your organization who may be interested in attending this meeting series.

If you have any questions or issues on the process to add this role to your profile, please reach out to Customer Relations.
Announcement, Meeting, CARES-Live

CWS/CMS: Business Objects Issue and Workaround - REMINDER

November 20, 2024 Communications
All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and CAD Contacts:

November 20, 2024 UPDATE: This is a reminder that the Business Objects production environment is not available this morning, to install a patch update. A follow-up communication will be sent out once the environment has become available, estimated to occur at around 12:00 Noon.
_____________________________________________________________________________

UPDATE: We are applying a patch to address this Business Objects issue, which will be implemented in both the Training and Production Environments. These environments will be unavailable during the following patch periods:
  • Training Environment  - November 19th, 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
  • Production Environment - November 20th, 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Action Required
If users experience any issues please follow your county process for reporting issues or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.
_____________________________________________________________________________
An issue has been discovered with the current version of Business Objects used with the CWS/CMS application.

Issue Description:
Whenever a numeric field, such as government entity code, is used as a condition in a data provider (query), the query will run correctly the first time. Whenever the data provider is edited, the system will return a type mismatch error and require the user to remove and re-add the condition. The query will then run, as long as it is not edited again.

This only appears to be an issue with numeric fields; character fields, such as Client Name, do not experience this issue. Once the query is run, it operates normally as long as the user does not go back and edit the data provider. The user can refresh the data and save, as well as edit the report formatting, without issue.

Issue Resolution:
A patch level update will be required to resolve the issue. The CWDS Office and IBM are evaluating the next Business Objects patch to determine if it will resolve the issue, without generating any new issues. There is currently no estimated time of when the patch will be implemented. Additional updates will be sent out as new information is received.

Workaround:
When Business Objects informs the user of a type mismatch error after a numeric field is used as a condition in a data provider, and the data provider is edited, then the user must remove and re-enter the condition. The query will run, without issue, as long as the data provider is not edited again.

Action Required
Until the issue is corrected with the appropriate patch update, users will need to perform the workaround listed above, by removing and re-entering the condition when they receive a type mismatch error message.
Maintenance, CWS/CMS