The California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS) is responsible for a wide range of services for Californians including healthcare, social services, mental health services and disability services. CHHS seeks to evolve into a more data-driven agency to help it make smart decisions for more effective services.

FUSE Fellow Venkat Suresh partnered with the agency to create the infrastructure and process for the sustainable collection and use of data across the department. During his fellowship, Venkat overhauled the agency’s data analytics, using visual representations and dashboards to more easily share and showcase the agency’s multi-sourced streams of data, to efficiently produce reports, and help leaders understand and address gaps of coverage. Venkat put together a process to help the various departments within the agency to share data more securely. He also created an audit trail of existing systems to help each department understand how all the systems work together, what actions need to be taken at what points, and to provide insights on how they can leverage other resources, which has helped save time and money for the agency.