FEASIBILITY STUDY
In simple terms, a feasibility study involves
taking a judgment call on whether a project is within your capabilities (doable).
A feasibility study evaluates the project's potential for success.
The two criteria to judge
feasibility are cost required and value to be delivered. A
well-designed study should offer a historical background of the business or
project, a description of the product or service, accounting
statements, details of operations and management, marketing
research and policies, financial data, legal requirements and tax
obligations. Generally, such studies precede technical development
and project implementation.
1. Technical
Feasibility - assessment is centred on the technical
resources available to the organization. It helps
organizations asses if the technical resources meet capacity and
whether the technical team is capable of converting the ideas into working
systems. Technical feasibility also involves evaluation of the hardware
and the software requirements of the proposed system.
2.
Economic Feasibility - helps
organizations assess the viability, cost, and benefits associated with projects
before financial resources are allocated. It also serves as
an independent project assessment, and enhances project credibility, as a
result. This
assessment typically involves a cost/ benefits analysis of the project.
3. Legal Feasibility -
investigates if the proposed system conflicts with legal requirements like data
protection acts or social media laws.
4. Operational
Feasibility - this involves undertaking a study to analyze
and determine whether your business needs can be fulfilled by using
the proposed solution. It also measures how well the proposed system
solves problems and takes advantage of the opportunities identified during
scope definition.
These include
such design-dependent parameters such as reliability, maintainability,
supportability, usability, disposability, sustainability, affordability, and
others.
5.
Scheduling Feasibility is the most
important for project success. A project will fail if not completed on time. In
scheduling feasibility, we estimate how much time the system will take to
complete, and with our technical skills we need to estimate the period to complete
the project using various methods of estimation.
Conducting a feasibility study is always
beneficial to the project as it gives you and other stakeholders a clear
picture of your idea.
Below are the key benefits of conducting a
feasibility study:
·
Gives project teams more focus and provides
an alternative outline.
·
Narrows the business alternatives.
·
Identifies a valid reason to
undertake the project.
·
Enhances the success rate by evaluating multiple
parameters.
·
Aids decision-making on the project.
