Stakeholder Governance Committees

There are three blended governance committees that will work with the CWDS organization throughout the development of the CWS-NS.
The include:

• Oversight Committee
• Program Impact Advisory Committee
• Technical Advisory Committee

Oversight Committee (OSC)

The Oversight Committee consists of the following voting members:

• A county representative selected by the County Welfare Directors’ Association (CWDA) (Co-Chair)
• The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) Children and Family Services Division (CFSD) Assistant Deputy Director (Co-Chair)

County Representation:

• Each of the five (5) CWDA regions shall be represented by a Chldren’s Committee representative

  - Bay Area
  - Mountain Valley
  - Northern
  - Southern
  - Central Valley
  

• Los Angeles County
• 20-Small Counties
• Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC) agency Chief
• CWDA Executive Liaison, CWS/CMS and CWS-NS

State Representation:

• CDSS Program Manager on CWS/CMS
• CDSS Program Manager on CWS-NS
• Office of Systems Integration (OSI) M&O Manager on CWS/CMS
• OSI Project Director on CWS-NS
• CDSS CCL-CR Representative

Non-voting members are:

• University of California at Berkeley (UCB) Representative
• Program Impact Advisory Committee (PIAC) Co-Chairs
• Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Co-Chairs
• CWS/CMS Office Staff
• CWS-NS Project staff
• CDSS Program Staff

The CWS/CMS Oversight Committee provides strategic direction for the CWS/CMS, based on the input of members of the Committee and the advice of both the Program Impact Advisory Committee and the Technical Advisory Committee. The Committee’s purpose and processes are fully described in its Charter. In general, the committee:

• The Oversight Committee provides policy input to CWDS for the development and implementation of CWS-NS and CWS/CMS so that the system supports the achievement of statutory Child Welfare Service (CWS) program goals.
• The Oversight Committee is responsible for confirming strategic policy decisions related to the CWS-NS and CWS/CMS and Organizational Change Management activities.
• Monitors the system and evaluates the consistency of the system with program goals.
• Monitors CWS-NS and CWS/CMS progress toward policy and program objectives.
• Confirms direction of system priorities.
• Sponsors the Technical Advisory Committee.
• Sponsors the Program Advisory Committee.
• Defines communication processes for PIAC and TAC and for their interaction with Regional Committees.

Communication Channels of Oversight Committee and Stakeholders

All members of the Oversight Committee, Technical Advisory Committee, Program Impact Advisory Committee, and the Regional Users Groups have responsibility for effective communication.

“Improve communication with users, keeping them involved, informed, and prepared”.

This communication is supplemental to formal communication from CDSS and the CWS-NS Project. In addition to those responsibilities, those entities will also serve as organizational change management communication channels to stakeholder groups.

The Oversight Committee will regularly seek input from the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), Program Impact Advisotry Committee (PIAC), and Regional Users Groups and communicate policy direction set by the committee. Regional representatives to Oversight Committee will regularly communicate with the Regional Users Group to convey system direction set by OSC and to learn of issues that require OSC attention.

• County representatives will serve as liaisons with the CWDA Children’s Operations Committee and the CWDA Children’s Committee by regularly updating these committees on key system direction and issues while seeking input on county needs.

• The PIAC co-chair, serving on the OSC, will act as a liaison with the PIAC. The co-chair will regularly communicate system direction to the PIAC and obtain input on programmatic issues for consideration by OSC.

• The TAC co-chair, serving on the OSC, will act as a liaison with the TAC. The co-chair will regularly communicate system direction to the TAC and obtain input on technical issues for consideration by OSC.

• The representative of the 20 small counties will act as liaison with the CWDA 20 Small Committee, communicate key system direction to them, and solicit input on CWS/CMS issues.

• The Los Angeles County representative will act as a liaison with Los Angeles County management, program, and technical staff, communicating key system direction and soliciting input.

• The County Welfare Director representative, supported by the CWDA Executive Liaison, CWS/CMS & CWS-NS, will act as liaison with the CWDA Information Technology Committee, CWDA Executive Committee, and CWDA Board of Directors.

• The CDSS Deputy Director for Children and Family Services Division will take responsibility for communication with the CDSS management and program staff.

Escalation of Issues between the Oversight Committee and Stakeholder Groups

The escalation process will be used to ensure critical issues are raised soon enough to prevent undesirable impacts to the CWS/CMS, CWS-NS, or to stakeholders; and to ensure the appropriate parties are informed and involved in critical decision-making. The CWS-NS or CWS/CMS, ELT and stakeholders shall always strive to make decisions and address issues at the lowest possible level, using established processes.

The escalation process is invoked when a member in one of the Stakeholder governance structures determines that an issue requires escalation for resolution.

In the event an individual is unable to resolve the issue, they will identify the appropriate escalation path and determine the urgency of the issue.

The following types of issues are appropriate to escalate from the regional groups to the Advisory Committees (PIAC and TAC) and from there to the Oversight Committee.

• Program Issues
• Policy Issues
• CWS/CMS or CWS-NS Issues
• Resource Issues
• Budget Issues
• Schedule Issues
• Control Agency Issues

If resolution of the stakeholder concern can be delayed until the next scheduled Oversight Committee meeting without negative impact to either the CWS/CMS or CWS-NS or to state and county programs, and the associated schedule or budget, the OSC will be asked to address the issue. If timing is critical, the OSC co-chairs will coordinate with committee members to resolve the issue on an emergency basis.

Issues with anticipated negative impacts to scope, schedule or cost will be elevated through the chain of communication to the CWDS Executive Leadership Team. Examples of other issues that might be escalated:

• Requirements
• Technical System/Automation
• Schedule
• Adverse Program Impacts
• Implementation/Testing
• Go/No-Go recommendations
• Workarounds
• Stakeholder Disagreements
• Governance
• Legal
• Funding

Program Impact Advisory Committee (PIAC)

The Program Impact Advisory Committee is an advisory body to the OSC with a primary purpose to aid in the analysis and prioritization of proposed changes to the automated case management system by providing statewide perspective and guidance where program, policy and practice issues arise.

The committee membership consists of the following members:

County Representatives

• Each of the five (5) CWDA regions shall be represented, whether by a Children’s Committee representative, or by a User Group representative. (one is Co-Chair)
• Los Angeles County Representative
• 20 Small County Representative
• Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC) Representative
• CWDA Executive Liaison, CWS/CMS & CWS-NS

CDSS Representatives

• Chiefs, Operations, Program and Policy Bureaus (one is Co-Chair)
• Chief, CDSS CWS/CMS Support Bureau
• Data Analysis Bureau
• CDSS CCL-CR Representative

Other members include:

• CWS/CMS Program Manager
• CWS-NS Project Director
• Other CWS/CMS Office staff
• Other CWS-NS Project staff
• Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) representative
• Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are to be included as appropriate.

The committee’s purpose and processes are fully described in its Charter. In general, the committee will:

• Advise and consult, from a customer perspective, with OSC on systems issues related to program, policy and practice issues.
• Assist with the early identification of policy and practice issues as they relate to system change, and refer said issues to CDSS and the CWDA Children’s Committee for clarification. Advise on outstanding policy and practice issues when appropriate.
• Advise on systems related program, policy and practice issues
• Facilitate communication amongst OSC and Regional User Groups on system issues impacting program, policy and practice.
• Serve as a working group on systems-related policy and program issues including those related to CWS-NS and CWS/CMS changes, training support, application maintenance, release content and forms.
• Recommend changes for inclusion in system change releases
• Provide subject-matter experts for the entire release process and for CWS/CMS and CWS-NS development related activities.
• Coordinate with Release Sponsors appointed by the Children’s Operations Committee to act as point of contact for policy issues for each major release.
• Monitor system design changes in releases.
• Provide guidance on policy and practice for data entry to improve data consistency and quality. This includes, but is not limited to data entry workarounds identified pending releases.
• Review the solutions identified in All County Letters (ACL) and All County Information Notices (ACIN) drafted to address automation issues. Provide feedback prior to finalization of ACL and/or ACIN.
• Conduct annual review of legislation and all mandates, including federal and state, to identify potential impact on the CWS/CMS application

Communication Channels

• Members of the Program Impact Advisory Committee seek input from the Regional Users Groups and CWDA Regional Childrens Committees.
• PIAC provides input and recommendations to the Oversight Committee on various program and system related issues .

Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)

The primary purpose of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is to provide statewide user perspective on CWS/CMS technical issues identified at the state or county level. OSC further charters the TAC to be a communication channel between the Oversight Committee and the CWS/CMS Regional User Groups, and is expected to add necessary statewide perspective and context to issues and processes stemming from both. The committee consists of voting members as follows:

• A county representative selected by the County Welfare Directors’ Association (CWDA) (Co-Chair)
• 2 representatives from each Regional Users Group; preferably one to be a manager or supervisor.
• 1 representative from Los Angeles County
• 1 representative for the 20 small counties
• 1 county probation representative
• CWDA Representative
• CWS/CMS Maintenance and Operations Manager (Co-Chair)
• CDSS technical representative
• Prime CWS/CMS Vendor and State Data Center representatives
• CWS-NS Representative

The committee’s purpose and processes are fully described in its Charter. In general, the committee:

• Advises and consults with OSC on technical issues from a customer perspective.
• Facilitates communication amongst OSC and Regional User Groups on issues of technical direction as well as tactical and strategic technical solutions.
• Serves as a working group to assist planning, design and implementation of CWS/CMS technical solutions.
• Works with CWS/CMS Office staff to develop proposed technical policy.
• Provides a liaison to the Program Impact Advisory Committee (PIAC) to advise and consult on technical issues from a user perspective.
• Recommends changes for inclusion in system change releases based on committee findings and consensus.
• Provides a working group of subject matter experts to provide a technical perspective for the entire release process, any CWS/CMS initiatives, and for CWS-NS development.

Communication Channels

• Members of the Technical Advisory Committee will seek input from the CWS/CMS Regional Users Groups and from counties whose technical staff are not directly represented on the TAC.
• TAC provides input and recommendations on various technical and system related issues to the Oversight Committee.