All SPOCs:
The CWDS Office and IBM have scheduled a patch update for the System Change Request (SCR) website. The patch window is scheduled for Wednesday, February 12, 2025, beginning at 7:00 PM and concluding at 11:00 PM. The SCR website will be unavailable for approximately one hour within the patch update window.
Action Required
No action needed.
CWDS Bulletins
CWS/CMS: CDT Service Desk Bulletin - GC IBM SVC upgrade
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance on Sunday, February 2, 2025, beginning at 7:00 AM and concluding at 11:00 AM. During the maintenance window, there is no anticipated outage.
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, February 2, 2025, beginning at 7:00 AM and concluding at 11:00 AM. During the maintenance window, there is no anticipated outage.
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 County Access Data (CAD) Business Objects - Issue
All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and CAD Contacts:
The CWS/CMS CAD BusinessObjects (BO) server was unavailable last night, January 29, 2025. It was rebooted this morning at 10:10 AM, and the service was restored. The Search indexing caused logging issues for the DB2. Therefore, the Search indexing has been temporarily paused until the issue is resolved. Additionally, no scheduled reports were run this morning, but the scheduler is now running and will catch up soon. Therefore, you may experience some slowness. Please check in periodically for completed reports throughout the morning.
Action Required
Review scheduled BO reports today and tomorrow morning. Rerun the report jobs, as necessary.
Please contact CWDS Customer Relations if you require more information regarding this issue.
The CWS/CMS CAD BusinessObjects (BO) server was unavailable last night, January 29, 2025. It was rebooted this morning at 10:10 AM, and the service was restored. The Search indexing caused logging issues for the DB2. Therefore, the Search indexing has been temporarily paused until the issue is resolved. Additionally, no scheduled reports were run this morning, but the scheduler is now running and will catch up soon. Therefore, you may experience some slowness. Please check in periodically for completed reports throughout the morning.
Action Required
Review scheduled BO reports today and tomorrow morning. Rerun the report jobs, as necessary.
Please contact CWDS Customer Relations if you require more information regarding this issue.
CARES-Live 2.8.32 Production Release - January 30, 2025 | 6 PM - 9 PM
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:
Effective January 30, 2025, CARES-Live 2.8.32 Release is Scheduled to Move into Production
The CARES-Live team has scheduled release activity that will interrupt connectivity to the CARES-Live application. The release activity will begin at 6:00 PM on Thursday, January 30, 2025, and conclude at 9:00 PM. During this release, the CARES-Live team will focus on application changes, and users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during this scheduled outage.
Users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during this scheduled outage.
CARES-Live 2.8.32:
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.
Effective January 30, 2025, CARES-Live 2.8.32 Release is Scheduled to Move into Production
The CARES-Live team has scheduled release activity that will interrupt connectivity to the CARES-Live application. The release activity will begin at 6:00 PM on Thursday, January 30, 2025, and conclude at 9:00 PM. During this release, the CARES-Live team will focus on application changes, and users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during this scheduled outage.
Users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during this scheduled outage.
CARES-Live 2.8.32:
- This release addresses security findings and Java upgrades and other infrastructure updates and security patches not visible to CARES-Live users.
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 Release 9.6 Go-Live Rescheduled
All SPOCs, Technical Contacts and CTW Registered Testers:
To accommodate the CARES Pilot Support activities, the CWDS Executive Leadership Team has decided to postpone the CWS/CMS Release 9.6 by three months, originally scheduled for Saturday, May 17, 2025. We apologize for any inconvenience this postponement may cause.
The new CWS/CMS Release 9.6 Go-Live date is still to be determined. An update will be sent out as soon as the new release date has been finalized.
Action Required
Please look for the CTW related meeting cancellations. No other actions regarding CWS/CMS Release 9.6 are needed at this time. Release activities are on hold until the release Go-Live date has been finalized.
To accommodate the CARES Pilot Support activities, the CWDS Executive Leadership Team has decided to postpone the CWS/CMS Release 9.6 by three months, originally scheduled for Saturday, May 17, 2025. We apologize for any inconvenience this postponement may cause.
The new CWS/CMS Release 9.6 Go-Live date is still to be determined. An update will be sent out as soon as the new release date has been finalized.
Action Required
Please look for the CTW related meeting cancellations. No other actions regarding CWS/CMS Release 9.6 are needed at this time. Release activities are on hold until the release Go-Live date has been finalized.
CWS/CMS: CDT Service Desk Bulletin – Standard Monthly OS Security Patches to SBCS Infrastructure Servers
All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and SBC Administrators:
The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance on Saturday, January 25, 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, January 25, 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-CARES Scheduled Maintenance - Certificate Renewal - Jan 17, 2025 | 5PM - 6PM
All Pilot County RFA Implementation Coordinators and SPOCs:
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Friday, January 17, 2025, 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 accessible for pilot counties Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara.
There is no anticipated impact for CWS-CARES users. We are sharing this information in the unlikely circumstance that there is an actual impact during the scheduled maintenance window and the CWS-CARES application becomes inaccessible.
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.
The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Friday, January 17, 2025, 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 accessible for pilot counties Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara.
There is no anticipated impact for CWS-CARES users. We are sharing this information in the unlikely circumstance that there is an actual impact during the scheduled maintenance window and the CWS-CARES application becomes inaccessible.
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.
CWS/CARES: Thank You for Your Feedback – Core Constituent Survey Results Overview
All Core Constituent Survey Participants:
Thank you for participating in our third quarterly Core Constituent Survey and sharing your valuable insight on the CWS-CARES Core Constituent meetings.
For your awareness, we’ve attached a 1-page summary of the survey results, highlighting some of the feedback we received from participants.
You may forward this to members of your organization who completed the Core Constituent Survey or others who might find this information helpful.
We appreciate your contributions and look forward to using your input to continue improving the Core Constituent meetings.
Action Required
Please forward this email to any others who completed the Core Constituent Survey.
Thank you for participating in our third quarterly Core Constituent Survey and sharing your valuable insight on the CWS-CARES Core Constituent meetings.
For your awareness, we’ve attached a 1-page summary of the survey results, highlighting some of the feedback we received from participants.
You may forward this to members of your organization who completed the Core Constituent Survey or others who might find this information helpful.
We appreciate your contributions and look forward to using your input to continue improving the Core Constituent meetings.
Action Required
Please forward this email to any others who completed the Core Constituent Survey.
CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar - January 2025 to March 2025 - UPDATE
To: Child Welfare Directors, Child Welfare Director-Alternates, Tribal Leadership, Probation Leadership, and Core Constituents CC: All CARES SPOCs and Implementation Coordinators
Child Welfare Leadership and Core Constituents,
January 15, 2025 UPDATE: Correction: The previous version of the calendar included an RFA Prototype Demonstration on 2/10/2025. This has been removed in the updated attachment.
_____________________________________________________________________________
As part of our ongoing effort to provide you greater insight into upcoming meetings for the CWS-CARES project, please see the attached updated CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar for January – March 2025. This calendar includes all meetings hosted by the CWS-CARES project, including Core Constituent demonstrations, implementation meetings, and key workgroups.
This calendar includes the following Core Constituent sessions:
Please share this information with those at your organization you feel should be informed. Note: This calendar is point-in-time and subject to change. The CWS-CARES project plans to deliver a sustainable, more real-time calendar solution that will be accessible to all meeting participants and leadership in late Winter 2025.
If you have any questions, please contact CWDS Customer Relations.
Child Welfare Leadership and Core Constituents,
January 15, 2025 UPDATE: Correction: The previous version of the calendar included an RFA Prototype Demonstration on 2/10/2025. This has been removed in the updated attachment.
_____________________________________________________________________________
As part of our ongoing effort to provide you greater insight into upcoming meetings for the CWS-CARES project, please see the attached updated CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar for January – March 2025. This calendar includes all meetings hosted by the CWS-CARES project, including Core Constituent demonstrations, implementation meetings, and key workgroups.
This calendar includes the following Core Constituent sessions:
- Prototype Demonstrations: Core constituents review prototypes, or pre-build designs of CWS-CARES, to represent system functionality, to provide early feedback on user experience, navigation, and screen actions before the designs go into development.
- Build Review Demonstrations: Core Constituents see some of the feedback they provided in the Prototype Demonstrations reflected in CWS-CARES and provide further feedback on the developed product.
- Extended User Scenario Testing (EUST) 2: Participants will test end-to-end real-world scenarios in CWS-CARES. A 1.5-hour EUST kickoff session is planned for the week of March 17-21, 2025, with the testing period scheduled from March 24 to April 18, 2025.
Please share this information with those at your organization you feel should be informed. Note: This calendar is point-in-time and subject to change. The CWS-CARES project plans to deliver a sustainable, more real-time calendar solution that will be accessible to all meeting participants and leadership in late Winter 2025.
If you have any questions, please contact CWDS Customer Relations.
CARES Compass – Volume 2, Issue 1 – January 2025
We are pleased to present the third issue of the CARES Compass, the two-page executive summary with upcoming project communications and brief informational highlights:
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.
- Stakeholder Briefing #2: This is a reminder of the next CWS-CARES Stakeholder Briefing session on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 – 9AM to 12PM. This session will provide you with valuable insights into CWS-CARES and an opportunity to ask questions.
- Coming Soon - CARES 101 Video: Get ready for the CWS-CARES video #3, coming in early spring 2025.
- Extended User Scenario Testing (EUST) 2: Read about how many counties have volunteered to participate in this activity and important dates to keep in mind.
- RFA with CWS-CARES: In the future, Resource Family Approval (RFA) features will be integrated into CWS-CARES. We highlight the activities in progress.
- Upcoming Events and Communications: This is a list of CWS-CARES communications that will be released in the next three months.
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.
If unable to find a specific Bulletin, please contact Communications.