The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) plays a critical role in safeguarding public health across the state. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Department of Technology (CDT) rapidly developed systems and applications to manage pandemic response efforts. However, for long-term sustainability, CDPH needed to establish operational ownership of these assets, including applications, data, analytics, and vendor management—to ensure continued public health resilience.
Case Study
Public Health Data Leadership During Covid-19 Pandemic
Company
California Department of Public Health
The Challenge
While CDT successfully deployed pandemic-response systems, CDPH faced major hurdles in assuming full operational leadership over these critical assets. The key challenges included:
- Integrating multiple applications and data systems from CDT into CDPH’s operational framework without disrupting public health services.
- Navigating complex inter-agency coordination between CDT and CDPH, which historically operated in siloed environments.
- Managing a multi-vendor ecosystem, including large system integrators like Accenture, while ensuring accountability and strategic alignment.
- Establishing governance structures to maintain high data integrity, security, and compliance with state and federal regulations.
- Leveraging data analytics for real-time decision-making while ensuring pandemic response efforts remained uninterrupted.
Our Approach
To enable CDPH to take full operational leadership of its pandemic-response assets, Data Roadmaps (DR) provided strategic data leadership, governance oversight, and program execution expertise:
- Developed a Public Health Data & Systems Ownership Strategy – Designed a structured roadmap to consolidate 10+ pandemic-response applications, improving data integration and operational resilience.
- Led Multi-Agency Collaboration to Break Down Silos – Engaged executive leadership, bridged gaps across 15+ working groups, and aligned policies across CDPH and CDT to establish a unified governance approach.
- Designed a Scalable Data Governance Framework – Established automated data quality and security protocols, reducing data discrepancies by 42% while ensuring full compliance with public health regulations.
- Optimized Vendor Management & Accountability – Introduced structured vendor engagement reducing contract escalations by 37% and ensuring efficient contract execution.
- Integrated Advanced Analytics for Real-Time Public Health Insights – Improved the speed and accuracy of pandemic response reporting, reducing data processing time by 53%.
- Ensured Seamless Operational Readiness Without Disrupting Pandemic Response – Developed a risk-mitigated plan that maintained 100% uptime across mission-critical applications while shifting full operational control to CDPH.
Key Deliverables
- Public Health Data & Systems Ownership Strategy – Ensuring structured leadership over pandemic-response applications.
- Data Governance Framework – Embedding best practices for data integrity, compliance, and security.
- Cross-Agency Operational Model – Defining collaboration protocols across CDPH, CDT, and key public health stakeholders.
- Vendor Management Playbook – Establishing best practices for contract accountability and efficient system integrator engagement.
- Analytics-Driven Public Health Reporting Framework – Enhancing data accuracy and speed of critical insights.
Results
10+
Enabled full operational leadership over 10+ pandemic-response applications at CDPH with zero disruption to public health services.
45%
Increased inter-agency efficiency by 45%, eliminating bureaucratic bottlenecks and streamlining collaboration between CDPH and CDT.
53%
Reduced data processing time by 53%, ensuring real-time pandemic insights for rapid decision-making.
42%
Decreased data inconsistencies by 42%, improving the reliability of public health reporting.
37%
Lowered vendor-related contract escalations by 37%, creating a more structured and accountable engagement model.
100%
Ensured 100% uptime for mission-critical pandemic response systems, securing seamless operational leadership transition to CDPH.
Why It Matters
By leveraging thought leadership in data strategy, governance, and analytics, DR played a pivotal role in empowering CDPH to take full operational command of its pandemic response infrastructure while maintaining continuity of critical services. The integration of strong data governance, vendor accountability, and real-time analytics positioned CDPH to lead future public health initiatives with data-driven resilience and agility.