City of Bryan Capstone AY 2019-2020

For the 2019-2020 school year, I worked with a team of 10 for our final capstone project where I learned the importance of effective communication and teamwork as I learned how to work in several types of teams and juggle multiple projects. My capstone project was assigned to work with the City of Bryan, specifically looking at five different departments to conduct a technological needs assessment (TNA) and a follow-up implementation plan based on our research of best practices in the field.

Fall semester our group of ten was split into sub-sections of two to work directly with an assigned department in the city. My teammate, Faith Dingas, and I worked closely with the Planning and Development Services Department to administer a department-wide survey, attend four field visits, conduct multiple interviews with various individuals within the department, and prepare a case study with best practices in other Planning and Development departments across the state of Texas. We collected our data and research to develop a single document outlining the best practices in the field and our recommendations for which technologies our department should adopt, taking into consideration the desires of the department and our observations from our field visits. This document was later combined into a single, cohesive document with the four other departments (Library Services, Information Technology, Parks and Recreation, and Fire).

Spring semester our group created an Implementation Plan Report, drawing from our recommendations in the first TNA report and finding feasible solutions. For Planning and Development Services, my teammate and I called several companies to find quotes on different municipal online permitting systems, developed a cost-effort matrix outlining each of our potential solutions based on the monetary cost to the organization and the amount of effort it would take for the city to develop our final recommendations. Once our individual implementation plans were complete, they were combined with the other four sub-teams' plans to develop a comprehensive Implementation Plan Report for the City of Bryan.

This has been a unique experience because I am a member of several teams at once for a single project. Our team was successful in overcoming minor scheduling conflicts and was able to provide an in-depth TNA, in the form of a formal presentation and written report, for the city in December. This team structure is unlike one I have experienced before, but I believe this is the most practical experience I have taken from the Bush School because in my career I am likely to be a part of several committees and sub-committees at once. With my future in municipal government, I believe my capstone has given me the greatest hands-on experience in working with a local government and seeing not only how different departments operate on a daily basis, but how their daily operations are a part of a larger long-term goal of improving their community and their mission to provide excellent customer satisfaction.