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Development Plan (Typical Outline)

For the capstone, you will produce a ten section document, Development Plan (DP), during the capstone course that is presented to the client organization(s) as well as the instructor. Following the presentation of the DP, the client will submit comments to the instructor with respect to the student’s performance as input for grading.

Below is a typical DP outline: 

  1. Sponsoring Organization(s)
    • Mission & values
    • Business Model & Goals: (Financial, Community, Environmental)

  2. Community Description
    • Characteristics
    • Challenges & Requirements
    • Note: Development Plans may be created for communities within the U.S. as well as for international requirements.

  3. Development Project Objectives
    • Outline the objectives, scale and scope of the Development Project.

  4. Stakeholder (Partner) Engagement & Management
    • Identify and describe key stakeholders who will support and/or impact the project.

  5. Opportunities & Risks
    • Describe specific opportunities related to the sponsoring organization implementing the plan as well as possible risks of not doing so.

  6. Recommended Initiatives, Risks & Mitigation Strategies
    • Recommend actionable initiatives that will enable the sponsoring organization to achieve the project objectives.
    • Describe project risks and mitigation strategies.

  7. Vision, Governance and Staffing
    • Vision – describe the future when the plan is implemented.
    • Describe how leadership and staff will be engaged in support of the project.
    • Governance – describe the organization; e.g., project team, which will be responsible for implementation of the plan.
    • Staffing – outline staffing requirements for on-going management of the project.

  8. Funding Required, Sources and Processes
    • Identify funding requirements, sources and funding management processes.

  9. Performance Management, Reporting and Verify Progress
    • Define Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to enable measurement of results vs. project objectives.
    • Outline a simple reporting process as well as the position responsible for reporting.

  10. Milestones and Timeline
    • Define milestones/timeline and deliverables for launching and on-going management of the project.