No off the shelf software was available that met local health department system requirements and budget constraints. Thus, a collaborative team of public health professionals and database programmers convened to establish a project charter that outlined the system requirements, personnel responsible, timeline and budget. A qualitative analysis of current county level systems and data helped to establish the requirements of the FITS system, as well as direct the reporting capabilities and features. The fixed budget expenditure and early deadline led to an expedited timeframe; the system was completed within 4 months.