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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 06272000 - C130 ' t,�,;.�'r v��tw Y t ��ri err• �i�/ FHS #30 .-. CONTRA COSTA TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS _ tttr," COUNTY Jd:F FROM: Family & Human Services Committee DATE: June 27, 2000 SUBJECT: Update on CWS/CMS (Child Welfare Services/Case Management System) SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONIS): 1. ACCEPT the attached report from the Family and Human Services Committee on CWS/CMS (Child Welfare Services/Case Management System). 2. AUTHORIZE the Chair, Board of Supervisors, to execute a letter to State Department of Social Services opposing any requirements that counties "fully implement" CWS/CMS as a condition for receiving Child Welfare Services' augmentation funds. BACKGROUNDIREASONM FOR EC M NDATION S : On June 19, 2000, the Family and Human Services Committee heard the attached report from John Cullen, Director of Employment and Human Services Department on the status of the CWS/CMS (Child Welfare Services/Case Management System). Joyce Baird, SEIU, stated that she agreed with the department on opposing the state proposed requirement that the County "fully implement„ CWS/CMS as a condition to receiving Child Welfare Services augmentation funds. She stated that SEIU has informed the State Department of Social Services of their opposition to this proposed requirement. With regard to her question regarding timing for installation of new computers, John Cullen announced that the vendor who CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: _„.YES SIGNATURE: – RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR___ RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE —APPROVE �OTHER SIGNATU*- 40"ILLA JOHN M. I0 ACTIO OARD ON u n e20 APPRO D S RECOMMENDEDX,g OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS Xx UNANIMOUS{ABSENT -- – – – 1 I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN AYES: NOES: ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED ABSENT: ABSTAIN: ON MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. Contact:Sara Hoffman,338-1090 ATTESTED .Tune ]•� �(� PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE ARD OF SUPERVISORS cc: CAO A D OU TY ADMINISTRATOR John Cullen,EHS Danny Fabella,EHS BY DEPUTY BACKG UNDI EA N FOR RECOMM NCIATIONS Cont'r3 was working with the upgraded computers statewide apparently went bankrupt on Friday, which disrupted Contra Costa County's installation which was in progress. Computers have been installed at the Antioch district office, but it is unknown when the remaining districts will receive their new computers. Supervisor Joe Canciamilla suggested, and Supervisor John Gioia agreed, that the Family and Human Services Committee recommend that the Chair of the Board of Supervisors execute a letter opposing the state's position that the County must "fully implement" CWS/CMS prior to receiving Child Welfare Services' augmentation funds. 2 EMPLOYMENT AND HUMAN SERVICES CONTRA COSTA COUNTY DATE: June 1, 2000 MEMO TO: Family & Human Services Committee FROM: John Cullen, Director SUBJECT: CWS/CMS Update The implementation of the statewide Child Welfare Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS) continues to see progress in Contra Costa County and throughout California. CWS/CMS is a computer database system that allows California's Child Welfare Services workers to electronically record, retrieve, and present information. It provides access to centrally located information for 58 counties and the State and automatically generates reports and documents. Statistics for May 1, 2000, show 150,699 active cases, 41,893 active referrals, and 17,581 users statewide. In our County we now have 2,994 cases, 385390 staff; 375 PC's and our Department receives funding in the amount of$1,435,717 to support this system. Attached is a copy of the report prepared by the CWS/CMS Coordinator for the next Oversight Committee meeting on June 22, 2000. The CWS/CMS Oversight Committee continues to meet periodically to discuss policy and operational issues. The Department's District Operational Support Team continues to meet on a monthly basis to identify problems and recommend actions for resolution and to propose CWS/CMS enhancements. This team is comprised of the CWS/CMS Manager, the full-time Application Trainer/Mentors, and district staff from various offices, CWS/CMS programs, and staff levels. We have continued to actively participate at the State level in the design sessions for systems enhancements. The following is a summary update of our status report. Functionality On August 28, 1999,a new version of CWS/CMS was released to the counties. This new version was Release v4.0. The significant changes to the application for this release included: • A major technical upgrade to the application from 16 bit to 32 bit. • An upgrade from MS Word 6 to Word 97. • A navigational tool to assist staff in assuring all data is recorded to meet federal reporting requirements. • Changes to court reports. On June 12, 2000, we will begin replacing old equipment with the installation of 307 new PC's and 42 new laptops. Performance tests have shown that the new equipment will be between 180% faster for more recent equipment and 444% faster than the oldest equipment. lzo To: Family&Human Services Committee ` Subject: CWS/GMS Update Date: Jenne 1,2000 On June 25, 2000, Release v4.1 will be released to the counties. The significant changes to the application for this release will include: • A navigational tool for Case Plan. • A redesign of the Health and Education Notebooks. • The ability to modify disposition information on a Closed Referral. • A new allegation type—"Substantial Risk". • The results of a phonetic search will be displayed from the results that most likely match the search criteria to the least likely matches. • A modification to court report templates, which includes revised hidden text and revised headers and footers. • A new AFCARS (Adoption Foster Care Analysis Reporting System)report. • The ability to log onto the application from any server within your county with your User ID. Staff have been reviewing the Court Report and Case Plan formats to develop specific county instructions for line workers as we implement these two modules of CWS/CMS. Public Health Nurses have been hired to obtain information necessary to complete the Health and Education Passport. We are ready to begin planning for implementation of the Health and Education Passport Module after Release v4.1. SystemSopgrt Staff in district offices continue to rely on Application Trainer/Mentors (ATM's) for support in the use of CWS/CMS. You may recall these positions were initially thought to be temporary, however, based on experience we need to make these permanent. A classification study was commissioned to review these positions and make recommendations regarding the appropriate qualifications and class. State Focus The focus of the state has been to improve the CWS/CMS system via updated software, vendor contract and maintenance changes, and a new governance structure. Under a new State Director and Deputy Director, we are seeing more attention paid to making both short and long-term. changes. The new governing board, effective July 1, 2000, will include an oversight committee consisting of the CWS/CMS Project Director, seven members from CWDA, a union representative from SEIU, and Sylvia Piz..zini, Deputy Director of CRSS. The Project will focus on developing new solutions to meet CWS business needs. JAD (Joint Application Design) sessions will be held and involve all stakeholders. In conjunction with Health and Human Services Agency Secretary, Grantland Johnson, an independent consultant, MGT of America, was hired to provide an independent "health check" of CWS/CMS. MGT's report provided insight on how the system is being used, the benefits it provides and major concerns or opportunities for improvement. MGT's interviews with social workers, supervisors and policy-makers found that the primary benefit that CWS/CMS provides is 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a week access to information that helps them to make better informed decisions to serve children. Available on a statewide basis, this 2 To: Family&Human Services Committee Subject: CWS%CMS Update Date: .lune 1,2000 information includes case and referral histories that provide critical information about past allegations, medical care and education histories. This report also considered whether the CWS/CMS costs for maintenance and operation were reasonable. It concluded that based on information from other states with fully operational systems these costs appear reasonable. A contract extension for the statewide vendor, IBM is in the final stages. The contract will be for two years, effective August 1, 1999, with 2 six-month extensions available. The sole source authorization has been signed by the state, and Price Waterhouse will evaluate the pricing. On a negative note, the Governor's Budget proposes that counties must "fully utilize" the CWS/CMS system in order to receive new CWS Workload Augmentation funding. We worry that such a proposal could limit county flexibility to implement based on local needs.and timetables. Conclusions The Employment and Human Services Department continues to work with the state to resolve workload and funding issues that are apparent to counties due to CWS/CMS implementation. This effort has included participation in design sessions to improve CWS/CMS usability. We also continue to meet with unions and CWS staff to identify changes in CWS/CMS that will improve usability and advocate for those changes at the state level. Locally, we continue to support use of ATM's in district offices, offer optional clerical assistance to offload data entry from social workers,provide CWS/CMS training, and we are upgrading our equipment. However, we oppose the State's requirements that counties must "fully utilize" CWS/CMS to receive CWS Augmentation funding. We believe our phased-in approach working with staff and the union is a viable way to eventually get to full utilization. We ask the Committee and the Board to keep this issue on referral and recommend the following: + Continue your support of the Department's phased-in approach in implementing CWS/CMS; + Continue your support of the additional social worker, technical, and application-support personnel.that allows an effective implementation process; + Continue your support of the Department's requests for State funding of the necessary staff and hardware to efficiently utilize this statewide system. + Write a letter to California Department of Social Services(CRSS)opposing any requirement for receiving CWS Augmentation funds to "fully utilizing"the CWS/CMS. 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U ZT � to t7 ca 2 EE C) L d N w3 C w d w Q CD aim m2 ° 3z z —s w 0 U- i 7 i CWS/CMS STATISTICS FOR MAY 19 2000 CONTRA COSTA COUNTY • Active Cases 2,994 • Active Referrals 207 • Total Children in Placement 21>152 • Active User Ids 396 The.Board of Supervisors Contra leek Batchelor ciEPk of the Board Cosh Cauntyand County Administration Building Administrator 651 rine Street, Room 106 (925)335-1900 Martinez, California 94553-1293 County John Gioia, 1st District Gayle Uilkema,2nd District f Donna Gerber,3rd District Mark DeSaulnler,4th District Joe Canclamllla,5th District June 27,2000 Rita L. Saenz, Director California Department of Social Services 744 P Street Sacramento, CA 95814-5512 Dear Ms. Saenz: The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors strongly opposes linking the increased allocation for the Child Welfare Service Programs to "fully utilizing" the automated Child Welfare Services Case Management System (CWS/CMS), unless "fully utilized" is defined to allow continued phased-in implementation consistent with Contra Costa County's current practices. As you are aware, we, like many California counties, have struggled to implement CWS/CMS. Serious design issues affecting user acceptance, system reliability, and equipment problems have made implementation extremely difficult. Our progress to date is due to the extraordinary efforts of our County staff and local unions working together to develop reasonable implementation options. We remain committed to utilizing this State mandated system, but believe that the 2000-2001 budget language linking Child Welfare allocation to full utilization of the system is inappropriate. At face value, the budget language would seem to require counties to be "fully utilizing all CWS/CMS functionality with all cases effective with the beginning of the fiscal year in order to access our Children's Services Program funding. This is clearly unrealistic. We recommend that a definition of"fully utilize" be developed which acknowledges and allows for continuance of local implementation plans. In our County, we've long relied on a CWS/CMS Oversight Committee, consisting of union representation and Department management, plus a CWS/CMS Implementation Team, made up of IT professionals, line supervisors and workers. These groups have been effective in rolling out useful components of the system in a manner which causes the least disruption and offers the most support to users. While we are not fully Implemented, we are continuing to phase-in usage of system functionality. Additionally, the Children's Services allocation increase is a separate issue, justified by growing workloads that have not been adequately addressed in past years' State budgets. The recently published American Humane Association Yardstick Study, commissioned by your office, clearly confirms that increases are necessary due to work process changes, case complexity, and new mandates occurring over the past fifteen years. Utilization of CWS/CMS does not decrease the need for CWS increased funding. We strongly encourage you to adopt a definition of "fully utilize" that recognizes both the County's commitment to the system and the State's obligation to resolve design, reliability, and equipment issues; allows continuance of a phased- in implementation; and most importantly, provides all counties with Immediate access to our Children's Services allocations. Sincer ly, Donna Gerb , Chair cc: Board Members Assemblywoman Dion Aroner Assemblywoman Lynne C. Leach Senator Dan Perata Senator Richard K. Rainey Assemblyman 'Tom Torlakson John Cullen, Director, Employment & Human Services Dept. Joyce Baird, SEIU