The Texas Water Development Board's (TWDB) WaterDataForTexas.org (WDFT) is the most trafficked site within the TWDB suite, supporting a wide array of users from policymakers to scientists and the public. While its success is clear, the TWDB recognized the need to enhance and future-proof the platform. In partnership with RESPEC, TWDB embarked on a strategic digital transformation initiative aimed at creating an agile roadmap for modernizing WDFT. This session will explore how a collaborative, public-private partnership resulted in an actionable roadmap for enhancing WDFT’s capabilities to better serve users, while embracing emerging technologies and approaches. Session Highlights: • Strategic Stakeholder Alignment: The process included several workshops to align internal programs at the TWDB. This collaborative alignment ensured all stakeholders were on the same page about objectives, resulting in a shared vision for the future of WDFT. • User-Centered Research: The team utilized surveys, interviews, and prioritization exercises to gather insights on user needs, guiding the development of the platform to ensure it was both responsive and aligned with user requirements. • Architecture and Strategy for Growth: Through a comprehensive system review, the team discovered that the primary issue wasn’t the existing codebase but the lack of a unified strategy and a future-ready architecture to scale effectively. This shift in focus prioritized strategic planning to enable long-term growth. • Leveraging Lessons Learned: The TWDB leveraged lessons from the successful Texas Water Data Hub project to inform the WDFT roadmap. This interagency learning ensured the use of best practices and consistency across projects. • Public-Private Collaboration: The partnership with RESPEC exemplified how government agencies and private industry can collaborate to streamline project timelines, reduce workloads, and increase efficiency, all while ensuring that the platform is built for long-term sustainability. Learning Objectives: • Explore the importance of aligning stakeholders for successful digital transformation initiatives. • Learn how user-centered research can guide the development and optimization of digital platforms. • Understand how a future-ready architecture enables scalability and adaptability. • Discover how interagency and public-private collaboration can drive innovation and efficiency in government IT projects. • Gain insights into how strategic planning can turn digital transformations into actionable and sustainable success stories. • This session provides attendees with actionable insights into applying a strategic approach to digital transformation, modernization, and application development in the public sector.