The Wisconsin Certified Emergency Manager Advanced Professional level requires the candidate to complete of a major project, author a report for submission and evaluation, receive a passing grade on that report, and finally to give an interactive presentation on this project. The Wisconsin Certified Emergency Manager Advisory Workgroup is the body that will review and evaluate all project submissions. The requirements for this project and its accompanying documentation are outlined below.

The project to be completed should be a “major project” of some sort that the candidate may complete in the day-to-day course of their responsibilities, or that in some way synergizes with their job duties or other interests within the field of emergency management within the State of Wisconsin. The specific nature or details of the required project to be completed are by design open to interpretation and allow the candidate the freedom to incorporate it into their normal workflow. Some examples include: a complete revision to a jurisdiction’s Emergency Operation Plan or Emergency Response Plan where the candidate was the primary author, a debris management plan where the candidate led the development and was the principal author, or an Incident Action Plan or exercise plan for a type 4 incident/exercise where the candidate was the primary author.

This project can be planned and executed anew, specifically for the purposes of completing this WCEM-AP requirement, or alternatively the candidate may select a previously completed project of the correct scope, for submission. If selecting a previously completed project, that project must have been completed or implemented no more than three years prior to submission.

The candidate is encouraged to contact their WEM Regional Office and/or the WCEM Advisory Workgroup prior to selecting a project. This is to ensure that the candidate understands the requirements of the scoring rubric and expectations regarding content, thoroughness, and practical application to the Wisconsin emergency management community. The Regional Office and/or WCEM Advisory Workgroup will provide the candidate timely feedback on their proposal but will not provide approval or any kind of implicit acceptance of or authorization for the proposed project.

Upon completing the project, the WCEM-AP candidate will complete a project report detailing their efforts, methodologies, lessons learned, etc. Candidates may use the pre-approval outline (provided below) to assist in developing their project report. The goal of the project and accompanying project report is to add to the body of emergency management knowledge within the State of Wisconsin, providing interested professionals an opportunity to review and consider the contents of these projects and their accompanying reports for application within their own agencies/departments, jurisdictions, or professional development goals.

All WCEM-AP project reports will be reviewed for content, thoroughness, and practical application to the emergency management profession in Wisconsin. WCEM-AP project reports will be reviewed by the Wisconsin Certified Emergency Manager Advisory Workgroup (including any subject matter experts empaneled by the workgroup to assist with evaluation) for assessment, discussion, comment, and scoring.

The candidate must be awarded a minimum score of 70 out of 100 possible points on the WCEM Project Report Evaluation Rubric (see below) to ‘pass.’ All passing project documentation and project reports will be stored as reference papers in the WebEOC Advance File Library for access by other Wisconsin emergency management professionals.

This project report is an opportunity for candidates to contribute valuable research and their unique perspective on an emergency management initiative, topic, concept, or issue that directly impacts each candidate as an emergency management professional in Wisconsin.

Conducting research, analyzing data, and developing professional papers and presentations to communicate complex concepts or innovative ideas to a professional audience are critical skills that advanced emergency management professionals should possess. The development of these skills through the project report process will provide each WCEM-AP candidate an opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of emergency management concepts and aid in advancing the emergency management profession in Wisconsin.

In addition to the physical report document, candidates will deliver an interactive 15-minute project report PowerPoint presentation to the WCEM Advisory Workgroup. This presentation may be followed by a 10-minute questions/answers session between the candidate and the workgroup related to the candidate’s project report and presentation. This presentation will not be evaluated, but instead is intended to give the candidate an opportunity to summarize and emphasize the areas of their project that were of greatest significance to them, and to interact with the workgroup within their chosen subject.

WCEM-AP Project Approaches 

WCEM-AP candidates may consider a variety of approaches to their project report, including but not limited to: 

• Propose a solution to an organizational problem or an enhancement that improves organizational performance. 
• Introduce innovative ways to influence and coordinate regional actions and outcomes.
• Address national or professional challenges in the field of emergency management and recommend new solutions to those challenges. 
• Conduct a literature review on issues or topics with the aim of establishing a benchmark for their own programs. 
• Study the “next steps” where current research on an emergency management topic of interest or theory requires additional testing, further study, data development, analysis and/or clarity. 

All passing papers and their accompanying projects will be publicly accessible. Candidates should consider topics that are not sensitive in nature or have content that might require agency approval for access.

Some jurisdictions or agencies may direct candidates to address a particular issue or topic. In this case, make certain to obtain topic direction or approval from your organizational leadership as soon as possible to avoid time constraints.

WCEM-AP Project Report Outline 

• Title page 
  • Paper title 
  • Author’s name 
  • Correct file name 
  • Date due
• Abstract (section usually better written after the paper is completed) 

 Briefly state:

• Purpose 
• Relevance 
• Findings 
• Conclusions 
• Overview
  • Introduction 
  • Overview of sections of the report 
  • Purpose statement 
  • Emergency management challenges 
• Methodology 
  • What was the plan? (how did you intend to do the paper) 
  • What happened? (what did you do in developing your paper) 
  • What conditions and challenges did you have to plan for? (special logistics, issues, resources, or authority limitations you needed to consider) 
• Results and Findings 
  • Describe hypothesis or expectations 
  • What happened? 
  • What was learned? 
  • What were the results and outcomes? 
• Lessons Learned
  • Was the paper purpose achieved? Why or why not? 
  • What is the impact of this research to the profession? 
  • Provide suggestions for future work or analysis of this issue. 
  • What if any impacts or implications are there regarding whole community? 
• Summary 
• Restate purpose statement 
• Summarize key points 
• Provide clear transitions
• Include general conclusion sentence 

OTHER REVIEW ELEMENTS: 

• Content 
  • Substantiates claims with specific facts or illustrations and contributes to the topic with more than one example of his or her own critical analysis
  • Supported by citations where necessary 
• Citations 
  • 5 or more sources
  • Sources may consist of articles, management papers, association bulletins, internal documents, etc.
  • Up to 2 interviews may be used as references. Additional interviews will not count as references. 
• Formatting 
  • Meets format specifications for margins
  • Meets specifications for font
  • Meets specifications for line spacing
  • Meets specifications for page numbering 
• Mechanics 
  • No major grammatical errors (sentence fragments, wrong word, unnecessary capitals, verb tense shifts, etc.)
  • Correct sentence structure
  • Appropriate word usage
  • Correct punctuation
  • Correct spelling 

Format of Wisconsin Certified Emergency Manager-Advanced Professional (WCEM-AP) Project Report

• 8-to-14-page report (note that the cover page, references, and abstract do not count in the page count)
• FOR ALL REFERENCE and FORMAT: Current American Psychological Association (APA) style (https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format)

Wisconsin Certified Emergency Manager-Advanced Professional (WCEM-AP) Project Report Timeline

• Candidates should contact their WEM Regional Director and/or the WCEM Advisory Workgroup, prior to initiating the project or (if intending on submitting a previously completed project) project report, for confirmation that the project meets the intent of this requirement.
• Candidates will submit their completed WCEM-AP Project Documentation, Project Report and Project Presentation through their WEM Regional Director by November 15^th or May 15^th for the consideration at the next WCEM Advisory Workgroup meeting (December or June, respectively).
• The WCEM Advisory Workgroup will contact the candidate to set up a mutually agreed time and date for the interactive Project Presentation.
• On that day, the candidate will conduct a 15-minute multimedia presentation to the WCEM Advisory Workgroup, which may be followed by a 10-minute question/answer session between the candidate and the workgroup related to the project report and presentation.

WCEM-AP Project Report Grading Criteria

• The WCEM-AP project report grading criteria are listed in the rubric below. Evaluators must award from 0 to 10 points for each required category based on the described criteria. If the criteria are either absent or not met at all, the evaluator must award 0 points for that category. Evaluators must provide a written explanation of any 0 (zero) score awarded. Criteria that are partially met will be awarded a lesser amount of points.
• At the end of each category, evaluators will indicate the total number of points awarded. The combined total of categories will result in the individual evaluator’s final score. The scores for all of the evaluators will be averaged together to determine the candidate’s final score.
• Papers are pass/fail. Papers are considered passing when the total score is at least 70 out of 100 possible points.
• If a paper does not pass, Candidates will have the opportunity to revise the paper and resubmit for the next meeting of the WCEM Advisory Workgroup.