New York University
Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
CAP-GP 3142-001/3143-001
ADVANCED PROJECTS IN FINANCE & PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS
Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 Terms
Mondays 6:45 – 8:25 pm
Tisch Hall, Room LC3
Karen Schlain
karen.schlain@nyu.edu
COURSE SUMMARY
This is one of the Wagner School’s capstone courses; it offers an important opportunity to
apply concepts and skills taught in other Wagner School courses, as well as your own
professional expertise. Its defining features are that students work on a project with a “real
world” client, that the project requires integrating and applying knowledge acquired in
multiple courses, and that students work as a team to manage and complete the project.
Capstone is learning in action. Part of Wagner’s core curriculum, it provides students with
both a critical learning experience and an opportunity to perform a public service. Over the
course of an academic year, students work in teams to address challenges, solve problems and
identify opportunities for a client organization. Students will design the approach, conduct the
data collection and analysis, and present findings, both orally and in writing, to the client.
As a capstone for students with an interest in finance and policy analysis, the course involves
projects that require financial analysis, program evaluations, and/or prospective policy
analysis. Typically, student teams are asked to develop and assess options that clients may use
to address important problems facing their organizations. This semester, four proposals will
be offered. It is expected that three or four projects will be selected.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Capstone integrates and enhances learning in several arenas: a content or issue area, process
skills including project, client and team management, and research methods for gathering,
analyzing and reporting data. The specific learning objectives are:
A. CONTENT
Students should:
 understand the policy context for their project
 be familiar with specialized vocabularies required to perform the project successfully
 be aware of critical research related to their content area
 be capable of positioning and evaluating their project within its broader policy context
B. PROCESS
 Overall, students should demonstrate a capacity for flexibility and resilience, as shown
by adapting to changing and complex circumstances, balancing competing demands
and accepting uncertainty and lack of clarity when necessary.
1. Project Management
Students should demonstrate the ability to
 assess the client organization and its environment
 frame and refine the problem presented by the client
 develop a work agreement with the client for the project
 develop an internal project work plan with timelines and deliverables
 monitor their progress against the work agreement and work plan
 revise the work plan as necessary
 develop well supported and realistic recommendations
2. Client Management
Students should demonstrate the ability to:
 develop and sustain their relationship with the client
 negotiate a work agreement with timelines and deliverables
 maintain regular and productive contact with the client
 solicit and integrate feedback on progress against the contract and modify as
necessary
 deliver final product to client’s satisfaction
3. Team Management
Students should demonstrate the ability to:
 understand group formation and development
 understand the importance of interpersonal dynamics and team norms
 create and periodically review their team charter
 develop clear role descriptions for team members
 manage team assignments and accountability
 advocate points of view and negotiate differences of opinion
 solicit and offer feedback
 appreciate and learn from cultural differences
C. RESEARCH
Students should demonstrate the ability to:
 identify appropriate quantitative and/or qualitative data gathering and analysis
methods for their particular project
 follow established sampling procedures to create appropriate samples for their
particular project
 carry out data collection methods appropriate for their particular project, potentially
including surveys and questionnaires, individual interviews, focus groups, and access
to already existing datasets
 situate their findings in the broader related literature
 draw conclusions based on their findings
 effectively communicate their work both orally and in writing
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REQUIRED TEXTS
Block, Peter. 2000. Flawless Consulting, 2nd edition. Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.
COURSE MILESTONES
Students will work in teams of three to five people on a project that is expected to require the
entire academic year for completion. The course is divided into the following main
components:
Project Identification and Team Assignments
4 weeks
September 2014
Work plan Development
4-5 weeks
October 2014
Work plan Implementation
4-5 months
Nov. 2014 – March 2015
Final Report Drafting and Revisions
4-8 weeks
March – April 2015
Prepare and Deliver Client Final Briefing
2 weeks
April 2015
Capstone End Event
1 day
May 2015
Specific milestones include:
 Individual learning goals and preference/information forms (September/October)
 “Entry conference” with client and faculty to explain the process of the course,
establish relationship, assess the client organization, and gather data in order to clarify
the presenting problem or issue and client’s initial vision of a successful project
(September/October
 Team Charter (October)
 Summary by team of first meeting with client and clear statement of the problem
(October)
 Final, signed client-team work agreement and detailed team work plan (October)
 Preliminary client-team work agreement; presentation to class/faculty for feedback
prior to client presentation (October/November)
 Meeting(s) with client to negotiate work agreement (October/November)
 End-of-first semester self, team/peer, and course evaluations; discussion of team
process and progress; refine individual learning goals (December)
 First draft of final project report to faculty (March/April)
 Second draft of final project report to faculty (April)
 Oral presentation of final report to class/faculty for feedback before presentation to
client (March/April)
 Final report and presentation to client (April)
 End-of-second semester reflection, positioning project in larger issue context (May)
 End-of-course self, team /peer, client and course evaluations (end April/beginning of
May)
 Presentation for Capstone Expo (May)
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COURSE TIMETABLE
Project Identification and Team Assignments – September 2014
September 8
Introduction and overview of the course
Representatives of organizations seeking project assistance will present their proposals to the
entire class:
Bowery Residents’ Committee
Office of the Manhattan Borough President
September 15
Representatives of organizations seeking project assistance will present their proposals to the
entire class:
CT Office of Policy and Management
Hudson River Trust
Reading for class discussion: Flawless Consulting, chapters 1,2,3.
Complete information and preference form and attach your resume. E-mail to
karenschlain@nyu.edu by September 19. Teams will be announced on September 22.
Note: teams will be created based not only upon your preferences, but on your previous coursework,
work and life experience, other expertise, and team size. Teams are comprised of 3-5 students.
September 22
Team assignments and initial team meetings; discussion of ground rules for team work,
including the development of a team charter. Draft team charter is due (by e-mail)
September 29.
September 29 NO CLASS
Reading Assignment: Flawless Consulting, chapters 4 and 5.
Work Plan Development – October 2014
After selecting projects, each team will meet with their client and develop a work plan for the
project. I must be present at the initial meeting with the client; please coordinate scheduling
with me. The work plan is a written document that identifies the specific tasks to be
completed, estimates the time required for each task and the expected completion date, and
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specifies the team member(s) assigned to each task. The work plan must be approved by both
the client and myself.
During the period when teams are developing their work plan, there will be two sessions with
the entire class. In addition, I will schedule meetings with the individual teams.
October 6 – Review of a model work plan and discussion of the essential elements of a good
work plan. Finalize team charters.
October 13 - NO CLASS, University holiday
October 20 — Instructor-team meetings; no formal class session.
October 27 — Capstone Advanced Team Session at Kimmel Student Center, 60 Washington
Square South, Rooms TBD. Attendance for all teams is required.
November 3 – Each team presents its work plan in class. Discussion of lessons learned from
the task of preparing a work plan.
Reading Assignment: Flawless Consulting, chapters 10 11, and 13.
Work Plan Implementation – November 2014 to March 2015
During this period, the teams will work with the clients to complete the tasks in the work plan.
The class will meet as a whole approximately once per month during this period to deal with
common problems and tasks. I will schedule periodic meetings with each team to assess
progress and provide advice. The timing of these meetings will be linked to the scheduled
dates for completion of interim work products and other milestones identified in the work
plan.
Written interim peer evaluations will be required near the middle of the academic year and
near the end of the team’s work. These peer evaluations are to be taken seriously, as they are
an important opportunity to assess and improve group dynamics. They will also provide a
basis for assigning any differential grades among team members.
February 23, 2015: Presentation Skills training at Kimmel Center for University Life, 60
Washington Square South, 4th Floor, Eisner & Lubin Auditorium. Attendance by all teams is
required.
Preparation of Final Reports and Presentation – March and April 2015
The outcome of the capstone project is a final report to the client and a briefing for the client
based on that report. The written report should be submitted to the client in advance of the
briefing, so that the client can review it before the oral briefing.
The procedure for submitting a written report to the client requires these steps:
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1. Submission of a draft of the report to the instructor
2. Meeting with the instructor to receive comments and suggestions for revisions
3. Preparation of a revised report and submission to the instructor for approval
4. Approval from the instructor to submit the report to the client
Note that steps 1-3 typically are repeated two or more times before faculty approval is
given. This is not necessarily a sign of a weak report; professional work typically is revised
several times before final submission. You should anticipate the need for revising your
final report and allow sufficient time for this process.
The briefing for the client should be scheduled after the instructor has approved the final
report. The timing should allow sufficient lead time for the client to review the report before
the briefing. Class sessions will be scheduled for “dry run” presentations of the briefing by
each team. These sessions will be an opportunity for practice and for peer and faculty
suggestions for improvement of the presentation.
NOTE:
Each team must make its final presentation to the client no later than May 8, 2015.
A final written report must be approved by the faculty supervisor and submitted to the
client no later than May 1, 2015.
These are absolute final deadlines; teams are encouraged to submit reports and make
presentations before the final deadline.
In order for the final report to be approved by the instructor by May 1, 2015,
a complete first draft should be submitted to the instructor for comments no later than (and
preferably before) April 10, 2015.
Remember that more than one round of revisions to the draft is likely to be necessary to
have an approved report.
Capstone Expo Event – Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 5-6:30 PM.
The Wagner School sponsors a capstone expo event in which all capstone teams are expected
to participate. You will be asked to prepare a poster board summarizing the team project.
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COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING
In order to receive a passing grade, students must meet these minimum requirements:
1. Attend scheduled class sessions.
2. Participate actively in team meetings.
3. Complete on-time specific tasks assigned by the team and identified in the team work
plan.
4. Work with other team members to produce a written report and to make an oral
presentation to the client.
Within the range of passing grades (A to C), differential assessment will be made primarily on
the quality of the written final report and briefing. Grades are the responsibility of the
faculty, but I will consult the clients regarding their judgment of the quality of the written
product and the team’s overall work.
All other things being equal, each team member will receive the same grade based on the
faculty evaluation of the team’s written product. However, in circumstances where there is
clear evidence of uneven contributions among team members, adjustments may be made to
individual team member’s grades. Since such situations typically are identifiable in advance
of submission of the final report, individuals who may be graded differently than the rest of
the team typically will be so advised in advance. Written peer evaluations (as well as the
faculty members’ independent observation and judgment) will provide a basis for assigning
any differential grades among team members.
Timeliness and meeting deadlines are important aspects of professional behavior.
Accordingly, late projects will be penalized in terms of grading. Teams who do not submit a
draft report by April 10, 2015, or do not have an approved final report by May 1, 2015, will
have the grade based on the quality of their report lowered by one full letter grade (for
example, from A- to B-) due to lateness.
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