Choreographing an Elegant Master Plan

How KAIP partnered with the California Department of Public Health’s Office of Health Equity to unify multiple vendors around a single Master Plan

Full circle shadow - CDPH logo

The Challenge: Siloed Plans, Shared Deadlines  

CDPH-OHE’s Youth Co-Lab engaged multiple internal teams and vendors to deliver a coordinated set of activities as they entered the program’s third year.

 

However, planning inputs were distributed across partners, and there was no consolidated Year 3 plan or unified quarter-by-quarter timeline to align workstreams. Without a single source of truth, the project management team and key stakeholders spent significant time reconciling plans, managing overlaps, and clarifying dependencies.

 

With the start of California’s new fiscal year approaching, CDPH-OHE needed an integrated roadmap to support contractual alignment, reduce coordination risk, and keep milestones on track.

Building the Foundation for Success

The KAIP team began by building a shared understanding of what “a successful Year 3” looked like for CDPH-OHE, as well as the obstacles standing in the way. We mapped the team’s priorities, the pressure points created by siloed plans, and the moments where coordination could break down without a shared view of the work.

Then we zeroed in on the questions that mattered most: What needs to happen this year? Who needs to move together to make it happen? And where are overlaps, gaps, or handoffs likely to slow progress?

The newly established clarity set the foundation for an integrated plan while setting the team up to enter into the fiscal year aligned, confident, and ready to execute.  

What we surfaced

  • No integrated Year 3 roadmap across vendors
  • Limited visibility into quarter-by-quarter sequencing and dependencies
  • A need for flexible integration across many parallel workstreams
  • A governance rhythm to reduce confusion and keep decisions moving

 

From Concept to Playbook

A Roadmap Built for Day One  

With the landscape clarified, KAIP got to work aligning disparate inputs into a unified execution playbook that CDPH-OHE could easily put into action. The team also worked to ensure that the playbook took a bidirectional integration approach, a core focus area for CDPH.  

 

Integrated Year 3 Master Plan 

Consolidated all vendor plans into a single roadmap that clarified timing, reduced duplication, and aligned milestones across partners. 

Year 3 Matrix Dashboard

Delivered a detailed, quarter-by-quarter planning matrix that became a living tool for tracking activities, milestones, and timelines in real time. 

 

Governance That Keeps Work Moving

Established a steady meeting cadence and decision structure, supported by planning sessions and retrospectives to refine the plan as realities evolved. 

Collaborative Implementation

Trust was present early, and it deepened as the plan came together. As CDPH-OHE gained a clearer view of the year ahead, coordination became easier, and teams felt more confident leading together.

Cultural Shifts

  • From vendor silos to one shared roadmap
  • From ad hoc planning to a repeatable cadence
  • From uncertainty to confident quarter-by-quarter visibility

Accelerating Success

With the fiscal year approaching, KAIP moved quickly to give CDPH-OHE a unified plan—and a practical way to run it from day one.

checkmark  Master plan integrated in about 30 days

checkmark  Year 3 Matrix operational in 2 weeks

checkmark  At least 90% of planned milestones hit on schedule in each quarter, with quarter-on-quarter improvement leading to 94% in Q3


Day to day, teams moved from piecing together updates to managing a shared, adaptable system. The work became more transparent, more predictable, and easier to adjust without losing alignment. 

The Road Ahead

With tools and governance in place, CDPH-OHE now has a reusable framework they can carry into future planning cycles.

 

While KAIP continues supporting upcoming quarters, the team also prepares documentation and guidance for a clean handoff, thus allowing the CDPH-OHE to run independently with confidence. 

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