Feasibility Study

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.

BCS/CER/IS/DIP/SE1/ Prototype Model

Prototype Model

Prototyping is a working model of a real system. There are two types of prototypes. The basic idea here is that instead of freezing the requirements before a design or coding can proceed, 

• Throw-away prototype
• Evolutionary Prototype 

Throw-away prototype
Model is use to gather requirements, after gathering requirements development start from the beginning. 

Evolutionary Prototype
Model is use to get the user feedback and finalize the model and deliver the system

Throwaway prototype is built to understand the requirements. This prototype is developed based on the currently known requirements. By using this prototype, the client can get a “what users really want” of the system, since the interactions with prototype can enable the client to better understand the requirements of the desired system.  Prototyping is an attractive idea for complicated and large systems.

Advantages of Prototype model:

• Users are actively involved in the development
• Since in this methodology a working model of the system is provided, the users get a better understanding of the system being developed.
• Errors can be detected much earlier.
• Quicker user feedback is available leading to better solutions.
• Confusing or difficult functions can be identified
• Requirements validation, Quick implementation of, incomplete, but functional, application.

Disadvantages of Prototype model:

• Leads to implementing and then repairing way of building systems.
• Increase the complexity of the system as scope of the system may expand beyond original plans.

BCS/Dip/SE1/ Waterfall Model

Waterfall Model

The waterfall model is a popular version of the systems development life cycle model for software engineering. Often considered the classic approach to the systems development life cycle, the waterfall model describes a development method that is linear and sequential. Waterfall development has distinct goals for each phase of development. Imagine a waterfall on the cliff of a steep mountain. Once the water has flowed over the edge of the cliff and has begun its journey down the side of the mountain, it cannot turn back. It is the same with waterfall development. Once a phase of development is completed, the development proceeds to the next phase and there is no turning back.

Advantages

• Simple and easy to understand and use
• Easy to manage due to the rigidity of the model . 
• each phase has specific deliverable and a review process.
• Phases are processed and completed one at time.
• Works well for smaller projects where requirements are very well understood.

BCS/PGD/MIS/DIP/ITSM/CER/IS/TPS

Transaction Processing and Management Reporting Systems

Functions of Transaction Processing Systems

A transaction is an elementary activity conducted during business operations. Transaction processing systems (TPS) process the company's business transactions and thus support the operations of an enterprise. A TPS records a non-inquiry transaction itself, as well as all of its effects, in the database and produces documents relating to the transaction.

TPS are necessary to conduct business in almost any organization today. TPSs bring data into the organizational databases, these systems are also a foundation on which management oriented information systems rest.

Transaction Processing Modes 

Transaction processing may be accomplished in one of two modes:

1. On-line mode

2. Batch mode

Characteristics of on-line transaction processing:

1. Each transaction is completely processed immediately upon entry.

2. OLAP is the most common mode of used today

3. More costly than batch processing

4. Database is always up to date

5. Require the use of fast secondary storage such as magnetic disks

Characteristics of batch transaction processing:

1. Relies on accumulating transaction data over a period of time and then processing the entire batch at once.

2. Batch processing is usually cyclic: daily, weekly, or monthly run cycle is established depending on the nature of the transactions

3. Cheaper than on-line processing

4. Easier to control than on-line processing

5. Database is constantly out of date

6. Batch processing is now being captured using disk files

 Transaction Processing Subsystems in a Firm

Overall transaction processing, also known as data processing, reflects the principal business activities of a firm. The principal transaction processing subsystems in a firm are those supporting:

·         Sales

·         Production

·         Inventory

·         Purchasing

·         Shipping

·         Receiving

·         Accounts payable

·         Billing

·         Accounts receivable

·         Payroll

·         General ledger

BCS/CER/IS/Hard System Methodology(SSADM)

Hard System methodology

Hard problems

In hard systems approaches (or Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology (SSADM)), rigid techniques and procedures are used to provide unambiguous solutions to well-defined data and processing problems. These focus on computer implementations.

·         Problems can be well defined

·         Assumption of definite goals & solutions

·         Can pre-define success criteria

·         Technologically-oriented

e.g. - SSADM

What is SSADM?

Stand for Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method, a set of standards developed in the early 1980s for systems analysis and application design widely used for government computing projects in the United Kingdom. SSADM uses a combination of text and diagrams throughout the whole life cycle of a system design, from the initial design idea to the actual physical design of the application.

Stage 0: Feasibility

The Feasibility stage is a short assessment of a proposed information system to determine if the system can meet the business requirements of an organization, assuming the business case exists for developing the system. The analyst considers possible problems faced by the organization and produces various options to resolve these issues. Either the organization or you must decide if the cost of resolving the problems is worth the likely benefit to the project.

Stage 1: Investigation of the Current Environment

Detailed requirements are collected and business models are built in the Investigation of the Current Environment stage. This stage is where you develop a business-activity model, investigate and define requirements, investigate current processing in the data flow model, investigate current data and derive the logical view of current services.

Stage 2: Business System Options

The Business Systems Options, or BSO, stage allows the analyst and you to choose between a number of business-system options that each describe the scope and functionality provided by a particular development and implementation approach. After you present these to management, the management then decides which BSO is the better option.

Stage 3: Definition of Requirements

This stage specifies the details in the processing and data requirements of the selected BSO option. In this stage you define the required system processing, develop the required data model, determine the systems for existing or new functions, develop the user job specifications, enhance the required data model, develop specific prototypes and confirm the system objectives.

Stage 4: Technical Systems Options

This stage allows you and the analyst to consider the technical options. Details such as the terms of cost, performance and impact on the organization is determined. You identify, define and select the possible technical system option in this stage.

Stage 5: Logical Design

This stage involves you specifying the new system through designing the menu structure and dialogues of the required system. The steps in this stage include defining the user dialogue, defining update processes and defining the inquiry processes.

Stage 6: Physical Design

This is the implementation phase of SSADM. The Physical Design stage is used to specify the physical data and process design use the language and features of the chosen environment and incorporate installation standards. This stage concentrates on the environment in which the new system will be running.

BCS/CER/IS/Soft System Methodology

Soft System Methodology

Soft problems

• ·         Difficult to define - they are problem situations
• ·         High social, political & human activity component
• ·         Sometimes wicked!
• ·         Soft systems thinking

Soft systems methodology is a qualitative methodology developed by Peter Checkland and his colleagues at Lancaster University.  It applies systems concepts to qualitative research (as does the Snyder process).

The 7-stage description

1   The problem situation unstructured

The problem situation is first experienced, as it is, by the researcher.  That is, the researcher makes as few presumptions about the nature of the situation as possible.

 2   The problem situation expressed

In this step the researcher develops a detailed description, a "rich picture", of the situation within which the problem occurs.  This is most often done diagrammatically.

Throughout the 7 stages, both and logic and the culture of the situation are taken into account.  These twin streams of enquiry, logic and culture, are incorporated into the rich picture.

Checkland puts it this way.  In addition to the logic of the situation, the rich picture also tries to capture the relationships, the value judgments people make, and the "feel" of the situation.

3   Root definitions of relevant systems (CATWOE)

Now the "root definitions", the essence of the relevant systems, are defined.

For the logical analysis, Checkland provides the mnemonic CATWOE as a checklist for ensuring that the important features of the root definitions are included:

·         Customers...................who are system beneficiaries

·         Actors......................who transform inputs to outputs

·         Transformation..............from inputs into outputs

·         Weltanschauung..............the relevant world views

·         Owner.......................the persons with power of veto

·         Environmental constraints...that need to be considered

 "transformation" element is one of the features that signal this as a "systems" approach.

The cultural analysis has three parts:

A role analysis, focusing on the intervention itself.  This seeks to identify the client, the would-be problem solver (the researcher), and the problem owner (roughly, stakeholders).  In the terms that we used in earlier sessions you could think of this as the diagnostic part of entry and contracting.
 A social system analysis.  This identifies, for the problem situation, three sets of elements: roles, norms, and values.
 A political system analysis.  This identifies the use of power in the problem situation.

4   Making and testing conceptual models

The researcher now draws upon her knowledge of systems concepts and models.  She develops descriptions, in system terms, of how the relevant parts of the situation might ideally function.

One of the important questions here is: ideals from whose point of view? If you adopt those who pay you as your client, you may well just help the organisation exploit its members more effectively.  If you adopt everyone in the system as a client, you will avoid this problem.  But perhaps people outside the system will bear some of the cost of this.  Here, as elsewhere, a careful identification of stakeholders can make a large difference to the outcomes.

 5   Comparing conceptual models with reality

The purpose is not to implement the conceptual models.  Rather, it is so that models and reality can be compared and contrasted.  The differences can be used as the basis for a discussion: how the relevant systems work, how they might work, and what the implication of that might be.

 6   Identify feasible and desirable changes

From the discussion at step 5, certain possible changes are identified.  They are likely to vary in desirability and feasibility:

desirable: is it technically an improvement?

feasible: especially, does it fit the culture?

 7   Action to improve the problem situation

The most desirable and feasible changes identified at step 6 are now put into practice.

 I would like now to offer a different description.  My hope is to do this in such a way that the cyclic nature of the process, and the use of dialectic comparisons, are made more evident. 

BCS/ CER / IS / FEASIBILITY STUDY

Feasibility Study (TELOS)

Feasibility study is carried out to select the best system that meets performance requirements.
The main aim of the feasibility study activity is to determine whether it would be financially and technically feasible to develop the product. The feasibility study activity involves the analysis of the problem and collection of all relevant information relating to the product such as the different data items which would be input to the system, the processing required to be carried out on these data, the output data required to be produced by the system as well as various constraints on the behavior of the system.

Technical Feasibility

This is concerned with specifying equipment and software that will successfully satisfy the user requirement. The technical needs of the system may vary considerably, but might include :
• The facility to produce outputs in a given time.

• Response time under certain conditions.

• Ability to process a certain volume of transaction at a particular speed.

• Facility to communicate data to distant locations.

In examining technical feasibility, configuration of the system is given more importance than the actual make of hardware. The configuration should give the complete picture about the system’s requirements:
How many workstations are required, how these units are interconnected so that they could operate and communicate smoothly. What speeds of input and output should be achieved at particular quality of printing.

Economic Feasibility

Economic analysis is the most frequently used technique for evaluating the effectiveness of a proposed system. More commonly known as Cost / Benefit analysis, the procedure is to determine the benefits and savings that are expected from a proposed system and compare them with costs. If benefits outweigh costs, a decision is taken to design and implement the system. Otherwise, further justification or alternative in the proposed system will have to be made if it is to have a chance of being approved. This is an outgoing effort that improves in accuracy at each phase of the system life cycle.


Operational Feasibility

This is mainly related to human organizational and political aspects. The points to be considered are
• What changes will be brought with the system?

• What organizational structure are disturbed?

• What new skills will be required? Do the existing staff members have these skills? If not, can they be trained in due course of time?

This feasibility study is carried out by a small group of people who are familiar with information system technique and are skilled in system analysis and design process.

Proposed projects are beneficial only if they can be turned into information system that will meet the operating requirements of the organization. This test of feasibility asks if the system will work when it is developed and installed.