There is national recognition of the need for cross-programmatic data as well as system coordination and integration for surveillance, prevention, response and control implementation. To accomplish this, public health must develop an informatics competency and create an achievable roadmap, supported by performance measures, for the future. Within the New York State Department of Health, Office of Public Health (OPH), a cross-organizational and cross-functional Public Health Information Management Workgroup (PHIM-WG) was formed to align public health information and technology goals, objectives, strategies and resources across OPH. In June 2011, the OPH Performance Management Initiative, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Public Health Improvement Initiative, offered strategic planning workshops, funded by the Association for State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), to PHIM-WG.