Key Questions

Is the project on track to satisfy the customer's business objectives?Yes

Is the project on track to achieve the objectives in the approved timeframe?Uncertain

Is the project on track to achieve the objectives within the approved budget?Uncertain

Project Overall Health

Comments

Yellow

The Project Overall Health rating continued Yellow in September 2025 due to the current assessment of Time, Cost, and Quality focus areas. -- Time, Cost, Quality, continued as Yellow. -- Governance, Scope, Resources, Risks/Issues, and Transition Readiness continued as Green. • The FFY 2026 APDU was submitted on July 31, and withdrawn on September 12 to provide clarifications requested by the ACF. • Product delivery continues with 16 milestones complete (blue), 9 on track (green), 5 at risk (Yellow), 6 behind (Red), and 1 TBD. • The system scope includes core product development, infrastructure, interfaces, shared services, data conversion, scenario testing, rework based on user feedback, and design blueprints. • In September, 2 high-priority issues and 6 high-priority risks were opened, increasing the total to 11 high issues and 5 high risks. • In the project’s September 2025 Project Status Report (PSR) submission to the CDT, OTSI updated responses from “Yes” to “Uncertain” for the Key Questions: -- “Is the project on track to achieve the objectives in the approved timeframe?” -- “Is the project on track to achieve the objectives within the approved budget?”

Focus Area/Rating	Comments
Governance Green	The Governance rating continued Green in September 2025. The scope and character of authority for decision-making are documented, with governance bodies meeting regularly. • The last approval document, SPR 6, approved in May 2023, updated the project’s delivery approach and resources. Since approved, the following updates have been made: -- New Build Drop (BD) plan approved on September 18, adding two additional BDs and time extension to finish Legal Action and Service Delivery Tracking functionality. -- A feature-set Build Drop (BD) plan was approved on May 28, 2025. -- A Holistic Design approach was approved on June 10, 2024. -- The project schedule was re-baselined on July 3, 2024. -- The Financial Analysis Worksheets (FAW) were updated in April 2025 to support a FY 2025-26 BCP. One-time costs increased by 1%. • The FFY 2026 Annual APDU was submitted to the ACF CB for review on July 31, 2025. -- APDU withdrawn on September 12 to provide additional contract-related information per ACF request. -- Includes costs for V1 Pilot, Sandbox, and Process Automation which are not delineated in the last approved FAW. • Five decisions were made via the Decision-Making Framework in September: -- 562: Data Retention for Product Metrics and Confidential Trace. -- 561: New Build Drop 5.1 (RFA Portal) and Build Drop 5.2 (FFPSA Portal). -- 558: User Testing Feedback (Formerly Milestone User Feedback). -- 557: Withdrawal of FFY 2026 Annual APDU. -- 549: User Feedback Determination Types. • Constituent engagement includes regular communications to constituents including Pilot Announcement, Progress & Engagement Summary, Explorer Newsletter, Staff Survey, and Data Dictionary update. • ACF Monthly Report on User Engagement & Adoption – August report for July with key accomplishments and stakeholder topics was prepared and submitted. -- Developed a Product Feedback Recap and Updates Summary to share with Core Constituents of how feedback has been addressed and/or is planned to be developed in CWS-CARES. -- Continued supporting the CWS-CARES Sandbox Environment to provide early, hands-on experience with the system. -- Hosted 3 Process Information Sessions to share updates on key process changes and support county understanding of CWS-CARES functionality. • Per an SPR 6 approval condition, the project utilizes Earned Value Metrics (EVM) to monitor project health. The Total V1 Scope is measured in Function Point Equivalents (FPE). The FPE value of 86,859 is consistent since September 2024 (88,568).
Time Management Yellow	The Time Management Focus Area rating continued Yellow in September 2025. • The monthly PSR is reporting “uncertain” that project objectives will be achieved within the approved timeframe. • The project is managing three high-priority issues and two high-priority risks related to Time Management. -- RI-341 (High Issue): Impact from scope delays in Build Drops 1,2, and 3. -- RI-340 (High Issue): Delay of Build Drop 3. -- RI-260 (High Issue): Sprint velocity is inadequate to achieve approved SPR 6 milestone schedule. -- RI-350 (High Risk): PaaS SI misalignment creating bottlenecks. -- RI-349 (High Risk): Downward trend for Product-Only SPI. • The project's performance in achieving the remediated and re-baselined project schedule is reported to be on track. -- Additional standalone schedules for work categories such as Pilot, Sandbox, Process Simulation, External Systems, and Training were incorporated into the master project schedule in September, affecting the schedule metrics reported by PaaS SI. -- As of September end, PaaS SI schedule variance metrics show the overall project is on track at 63% (-17% from last month) and complete, with 86 (12 more than last month) activities Overdue and 859 (776 more than last month) activities behind schedule. -- IPO notes a variance of -18% between percentage of work completed and the elapsed state business days planned for V1 work. --The schedule is duration-based and not effort-driven. The amount of work remaining may take more or less effort than work completed to date. • 16 (no change from last month) of 37 product and interface milestones have completed the Service Delivery Life Cycle (SDLC) stage and will be tested and validated in EUST 3. All product milestones and interfaces have been mapped to EUST testing/validation cycles. -- EUST 1 finished May 2024. All 3 milestones are SDLC complete (blue). -- EUST 2 finished April 2025. All 9 milestones are SDLC complete (blue). -- Of the 21 EUST 3 milestones, 4 are SDLC complete (blue), 8 are on track (green), 3 are at risk (yellow), 6 are behind (Red). -- There are 4 V1 Reporting milestones that will be tested in a separate EUST Reporting cycle. • The BD Schedule is sequenced using service area feature-sets and milestones to improve delivery outcomes, and aligned with the sprint schedule. -- New Build Drop 5.1 (RFA Portal) and Build Drop 5.2 (FFPSA Portal) was approved on September 18, which provides for two additional BDs focused on the completion of Milestone 28: Legal Action, and M23.2: Service Delivery Tracking. -- BD4 (August 11 – October 3): As of September end, BD4 is in progress with 5 out of 556 categorized as Joint Review/Done, 245 SIT Done, 117 Blocked, and other stories in progress. -- BD3 (June 30 – August 8): BD3 was delayed one week and finished August 15 (BD3.1). Focused on completing Build/SIT for milestones 7, 7.1, 16, 17, 18. As of September, internal reporting shows 125 out of 497 total are Done, 53 Joint Review, 274 in QA, and other statuses. -- BD2 (May 19 – June 27): Build focused on completing the Build and SIT phases for milestones 7, 10.1, 20.1, and 21. As of September, Milestone 7 and 10.1 continues in SIT; Milestone 20.1 and 21 are Ready for Feedback. -- BD1 (March 24 – May 16): As of September, 95% of planned user stories have completed the SDLC. • The PaaS SI velocity continues to be less than planned. The User Story Completion Rate for Sprint 25.05 (24%), 25.06 (33%), and 25.07 (40%). -- Sprint 25.07 Closure Report shows 848 user stories were rolled over to 25.08 (aka BD4). • As per an SPR approval condition, the Project is using EVM to gauge performance. The Schedule Performance Index (SPI) decreased to 0.947 as of September 15, indicating the project is on schedule with a variance of less than 5% from the target of 1.0.
Cost & Contract Management Yellow	The Cost & Contract Management rating continued Yellow in September 2025. • The FFY 2026 APDU includes costs for V1 Production Pilot, Sandbox, and Process Automation differ from the last approved FAW, and could trigger SPR 6 approval condition 7.a) – a reconciliation effort is in progress. • The monthly PSR is reporting “uncertain” that project objectives will be achieved within the approved budget. • To provide additional contract-related information requested by the ACF, the FFY 2026 APDU was withdrawn on September 12, with intent to resubmit. • ACF confirmed via email on July 14, that CCWIS claiming status is restored with a Federal Financial Participation (FFP) ratio of 73.5% Federal; 26.5% State; and retroactive to FFY 2024. • The Total Project Costs approved with SPR 6 are $1,711,011,443 with One-Time Costs of $1,228,909,579, Continuing Costs of $301,567,793, and Future Operations Costs of $180,534,071. -- Total One-Time Cumulative Expenditures are reported as $538,200,347 – 25% less than the planned $716,430,660 Total Cumulative One-Time Budget planned for at this time. • State funding requested in a Spring Finance Letter (SFY) 2025-26 BCP was approved in the budget signed by the Governor on June 27, 2025. -- The Executive Budget Display presented monthly to the Board of Directors does not yet report Current Year Actual Expenditures and Total Actual Expenditures For FY 2025-26. -- Senate Budget Subcommittee 3 requested on June 10, 2025, "Budget Bill Language to (1) withhold 10 percent of the funding based on the project's historical underspending, (2) require reporting on the federal government's decision on project status, and (3) require written notification of any implementation of human services program changes delays." • As per an approval condition, the Project is using EVM to gauge performance. -- The 1.087 CPI reported as of September 15 validates the payment of vendor invoices is improving. The variance from the target 1.0 continues greater than 10% but is less than the peak CPI of 1.378 in August. • There are currently 13 services contracts for delivery of the CWS-CARES solution. -- 6 procurements are planned or in progress. -- 6 contract amendments are in progress. • Contract amendment negotiations for key contracts specified in SPR 6 have completed as of July, and pending ACF approval. -- Deloitte (PaaS SI): The amendment increases the total value from $273,514,765 to $326,519,306. -- Deloitte (Implementation services): The amendment increases the total value from $35,819,365 to $158,318,055. -- KPMG (PVS): The amendment increases the total value from $80,239,017 to $90,413,910. -- OnCore (CDI): The amendment increases the total value from $132,338,965 to $167,048,731.81.
Scope Management Green	The Scope Management rating continued Green in September 2025, although there is one high-priority issue and one high-priority risk currently being managed. -- RI-323 (High Issue): Resource Management rework not in current roadmap. Escalated to High August 6. Due September 30. -- RI-355 (High Risk): Mandatory API Fields Requirement for AAP Functionality. Due September 19. • SPR 6 approval condition #1 is satisfied. The PMO continues to provide monthly extracts of the CARES Version 1 (V1) product scope -- The September V1 Scope Extract provided by the project shows V1 is organized by the Extended User Scenario Testing (EUST) cycles and consists of 4,144 (-204 from last month) User Stories categorized into 37 Milestones (plus Rework, Forms, and Shared Services), 127 (n/c) Building Blocks, and 514 (-9) Epics. -- 2,404 (58% of total) user stories are done. -- 596 out of 1,805 (33%) user stories for EUST 3 are done. -- The CDT expects the total number of epics and user stories to continue fluctuating as V1 SDLC and user feedback activities progress. • Holistic Design Blueprints continue to progress, with the flow of blueprints achieving a “Ready for Development” status progressively increasing. -- 1,555 (95% of the total 1,643) are Ready for Development. • Development of 450 Statewide and 2,700 County-specific forms continues in progress. As of September, the business requirements for all stories are baselined with additional review in progress for letters and notices. • Data conversion cycles continue, with 5 out of 6 total cycles complete. Cycle 6 has not yet started.
Resources Green	The Resources rating continued Green in September 2025. • The approved FY 2025-26 project budget allocates 126 positions, an increase of three positions above FY 2024-25. • The project’s overall position vacancy percentage remained at 6% with one hire made in September, within the Project’s goal of 10%. • Total primary vendor resources increased to 694 (+58) staff overall to improve delivery of product functionality by December 2025, including: -- PaaS SI – 378 (+44) -- CDI – 151 (+7) -- PVS – 55 (-1) -- Implementation – 100 (+8) -- QA/Testing – 10 (n/c) • State and Vendor Resources have the tools and time necessary to complete tasks as assigned and demonstrate a detailed level of understanding to fulfill their assigned roles.
Quality Yellow	The Quality rating continued Yellow in September 2025. • The project is responding to five high-priority issues and one high-priority risk related to Quality. -- RI-354 (High Issue): Non-Adherence to Best Practices in APEX Custom Code Management. -- RI-345 (High Issue): Insufficient QA capacity to support Build Drop volumes. -- RI-342 (High Issue): Issues identified by Salesforce Code Quality Review. -- RI-339 (High Issue): Automation Regression Test (ART) execution failures are poor and not showing an improvement or improving trend. -- RI-324 (High Issue): San Bernardino's inability to process and test files may impact the JNET interface implementation for CARES V1. -- RI-351 (High Risk): High volume of feedback from EUST 2. • Rework identified from user feedback indicate that some functionality may not fully meet user expectations, requirements, or usability standards. -- Of the total 805 Rework user stories, 572 (71%) are Done. • The quantity of Defects identified during System Integration Testing (SIT) and Quality Assurance (QA) phases indicate there may be gaps in system reliability, functional alignment, and integration readiness. -- 6,850 (+1,008 from last month) defects have been identified in System Integration Test (SIT) and 3,214 (+329) defects in QA. -- 892 (+294 from last month) Open defects with 18 prioritized as Critical and 208 High. 69 defects are Fixed, in Joint Review. -- 1,638 (+535) SIT and 23 (+5) QA Defects are for Holistic Design. -- 601 (67% of total) Open defects are Development Fixes. • The project continues to monitor and prioritize Technical Debt for V1 with 2 issues sized at 8 story points.
Risk And Issues Green	The Risks and Issues rating continued Green in September 2025. The administration and management of risks and issues is mature, with all items recorded and updated in the Risks and Issues Jira Backlog. • The CWS-CARES team is managing 49 open project-level risks and issues, including 16 high priority issues risks. Twenty-three (23) of the currently open risks and issues have been opened since August 1, 2025, including 7 high priority issues and 4 risks. High priority issues and risks late or with resolution due dates in the next month include: -- RI-345 (High Issue): Insufficient QA capacity to support Build Drop volumes. Opened September 3, 2025. Due October 3. Related to Quality. -- RI-340 (High Issue): Delay of Build Drop 3. Opened August 11, 2025. Due August 18. Related to Time Management. -- RI-330 (High Issue): County feedback on data templates for External Systems. Opened July 28, 2025. Due September 30. Related to Transition Readiness. -- RI-324: San Bernardino's inability to process and test files may impact the JNET interface implementation for CARES V1. Opened April 23, 2025. Due October 1, 2025. Related to Quality Management. -- RI-260 (High Issue): Sprint velocity is inadequate to achieve approved SPR 6 milestone schedule. Opened September 29, 2025. Due October 3. Related to Time Management. -- RI-355 (High Risk): Mandatory API Fields Requirement for AAP Functionality. Opened September 17, 2025. Due September 19. Related to Scope Management. -- RI-351 (High Risk): High volume of feedback from EUST 2. Opened September 8, 2025. Due October 27. Related to Quality. -- RI-350 (High Risk): PaaS SI misalignment creating bottlenecks. Opened September 8, 2025. Due October 3. Related to Time Management. -- RI-327 (High Risk): Long processing time for Micro-conversion may impact Cutover and Pilot planning and implementation. Opened June 10, 2025. Due October 1. Related to Transition Readiness. • Breakdown of active Risks and Issues: -- 22 Issues: 11 High, 6 Medium, 5 Low -- 27 Risks: 5 High, 11 Medium, 11 Low
Transition Readiness Green	The Transition Readiness rating continued Green in September 2025, although there are high priority issues and a risk currently being managed. -- RI-330 (High Issue) Delayed County feedback on data templates for External Systems. -- RI-321 (High Issue) Insufficient time and resources to complete the development of County forms needed for CARES V1 Go-Live. -- RI-327 (High Risk) Long processing time for Micro-conversion may impact Cutover and Pilot planning and implementation. • Management plans for Transition Readiness continued to be iteratively developed. -- Pilot Plan, Iteration 3 – 75% overall complete; Draft 100%. -- Sandbox Strategy – 99% complete -- Training Plan Iteration 3 – 100% complete -- Go-Live Support Plan – 71% complete -- Master Implementation Plan – 100% complete -- Rollout Contingency Plan – 100% complete • Continued to conduct monthly readiness meetings with County Child Welfare, Probation, CDSS, and Tribes with CA Title IV-E Agreements. • Developed two new readiness dashboards: 1) a weekly view for project leadership of statewide organizational readiness and 2) an updated monthly view for organizations with the status of organization-specific readiness activities. • Conducted weekly Go-Live Support Plan Working Group sessions in September to continue collecting input from project teams on command center structure and team roles and responsibilities. • The CWDS-CARES Engagement and Adoption workgroup meets weekly to plan activities and review outcomes. Agendas are regularly used with minutes and attachments published. • The next Stakeholder Briefing is scheduled for October 22. • To support end-user adoption goals, the project is implementing a Sandbox environment for stakeholders. -- Distributed communication to Implementation Coordinators and Single Points of Contact to request Cohort 2 Sandbox User Lists -- Conducted Intro to CWS-CARES Training Webinars -- Completed the CWS‐CARES Sandbox Environment Cohort 1 started in August 2025, with 270 unique users having started at least one Enablement Program. -- EUST 2 Functionality Available in July 2025. -- EUST 3 Functionality Available in Q2 of 2026. • County organizations are responsible for completing tasks related to Implementation Management, Organizational Change Management, Training, Data Quality, and Technical work categories. -- As of July 2025, all 51 counties have submitted the External Systems Scope Assessments. -- Counties in all regions (Bay Area, Central Valley, Mountain Valley, Northern, and Southern) have tasks overdue for multiple sub-categories including External Systems, Process Tailoring, Forms, and Reports. -- External Systems Monthly Meeting series continue to provide foundational education and realignment on key activities such as Scope Assessments, Data Conversion, Continued Operations, and Decommissioning.
Conditions For Approval Green	The SPR 6 Approval Letter stipulates that the project must adhere to the following conditions (abridged language below): 1. Complete an elaboration of the Product Backlog to clarify program needs further and establish the inventory of functions and features required to complete the project. -- a) Satisfied – V1 product scope (Epics) must be elaborated into requirements (Stories) not later than October 31, 2024. IPO reviewed the materials in November 2024 and determined it satisfies the condition. As per CDT request, the project is also providing: 1) Tabular data that demonstrates completion progress and adjustments in total stories by milestone in future Project Status Report (PSR) and Quarterly Project Report (QPR) submissions to the CDT, commencing with the PSR due in December 2024. 2) The PSR and QPR reports include tabular data specifically on the details and progress of the "Rework" milestone stories, including identification of the original source milestone (e.g., 157 Rework milestone stories are sourced from "Milestone 03: Screening"). -- b) Satisfied – “V1 reporting and V2 Epics must be elaborated into Stories not later than February 28, 2025”. On February 28, 2025, the project submitted to the CDT materials intended to satisfy condition #1b. IPO reviewed the materials in March and determined that it satisfies the condition. CDT acknowledges that the V2 Baseline scope information must be kept "procurement confidential" now. The project is requested to provide the CDT: 1) An updated version of the V2 scope at the Epic/Scenario level immediately after the V2 PaaS SI contractor procurement is completed. (Date TBD) 2) An updated version of the V2 scope elaborated to the Story level immediately upon completion of V2 Business Requirements activities. (Date TBD) 2. Conduct annual Development Progress Demonstration for stakeholders and CDT during the first quarter of each Calendar year. -- Satisfied. The most recent annual demonstrations were held on April 4, 2024, and May 7, 2025. 3. Commence Earned Value Management (EVM) reporting in the monthly Project Status Reports (PSR) and Quarterly Project Reports (QPR) submissions beginning in October 2023. -- Satisfied. The Project began reporting EVM in October 2023. The Project continues to refine the approach and calculations using Function Point Equivalents. 4. Provide a Board of Directors-approved V1 Pilot Plan to the CDT upon completion of the SPR 6 Major Milestone in September 2023. -- Satisfied. The Project Director obtained Board of Directors approval on September 28, 2023, for the initial Pilot Plan version to satisfy the CDT SPR 6 approval condition. -- Board approval is conditional, stipulating that all future iterations be returned for approval. 5. The Independent Advisor (IA) consultant must assess the efficacy of the project’s constituent engagement, communications, and adoption model and provide a report that includes improvement recommendations to project leadership, the CalHHS, and the CDT by March 31, 2024. -- Satisfied. Per IPO request, the findings and recommendations were presented to executive stakeholders on June 3, 2024. 6. Provide an updated Vendor Management Plan that includes a revised Work Order Authorization (WOA) process that aligns with the PaaS SI and PVS vendor contract amendments described in SPR 6 before the amendments are executed. -- Satisfied. In August 2023, the CDT IPO team reviewed the new WOA Management Plan with updated WOA templates. -- Per IPO request, the WOA Management Plan was updated in October 2023 to include recurring activities, deliverables, and org readiness details for Implementation WOAs. 7. The CWS-CARES project must submit a new SPR if one or more of the following occurs: a) Estimated One-Time Cost increases by $15 million. b) Estimated Project End Date extends by three months. c) Product scope or requirements vary by 10 percent. d) Service Delivery Lifecycle (SDLC) undergoes major changes, as determined by the CDT. -- Condition has not been triggered
Corrective Action Green	Not currently applicable

• Special Project Report 6 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 5 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 4 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 3 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 2 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 1 (pdf)