The feasibility study will make three recommendations: no change, develop a new system, or investigate other solutions. The management will select the most appropriate option.The feasibility study will make three recommendations: no change, develop a new system, or investigate other solutions. The management will select the most appropriate option.

Planning → second stage in system development lifecycle

• Involves: identifying possible solutions and analysing their feasibility (feasibility study)
  • Feasibility study → Preliminary analysis conducted to determine if proposed project is feasible (if there are constraints on the system)
  • Feasibility report → Report that summarises findings of the feasibility study
  • feasibility → is the solution capable of being achieved using available resources and time in order to meet the requirements?

Feasibility study of proposed solutions

Feasibility study/report → an analysis that is conducted to assess the viability of a proposed information systems

• indicates nature of problem and indicates constraints.

• Analyses potential solutions and makes recommendations. Does not give detailed solutions

• Sections of feasibility study:

  Section	Content
  Title page	Project name, report title, authors, date
  Contents	A list of report sections and page numbers
  Problem definition	Exact nature of the problem
  Requirement report	Aims and objectives of the new system
  Summary of investigation	Overview of the existing system; benefits, costs and constraints of the new system
  Alternative solutions	Expanded details of each proposed new system
  Recommendations	Recommended course of action; justify the decision

  | Appendix | Supplementary material, such as surveys, Gantt charts and diagrams |

Study is based off of different criteria including:

• Economic feasibility → Also known as cost-benefit analysis. Determined through analysing and comparing costs and expected benefits
  • Financial analyst is often employed to assess economic feasibility
  • is the budget enough?
  • Steps include:
    • Define project and its objectives; also assumptions and limits of study
    • Gather/analyse data on market demand. Includes → size of target market, growth potential and customer preferences
    • Estimate costs associated with project.
      • Includes fixed costs (such as rent, equipment, and salaries)
      • Includes variable costs (such as materials, labour, and utilities)
    • Finally presents findings/recommendations along with whether project is economically feasible as well as strategies for mitigating risks/maxing profits
• Technical feasibility → Ability of project to be created and used with available tech.
  • do end users have sufficient tech to use the product?
  • Evaluates technical requirements (identifies what software/hardware is needed) and if new tech is needed or new system must be updated
  • Identifies what tech is available, and if they are sufficient to meet requirements of system/can be used in future
  • Steps include:
    • Define project and its objectives; also assumptions and limits of study
    • Identify technical requirements of system (E.g. Hardware, software, network infrastructure)
    • Assess availability of tech. If there is enough, or if tech is sufficient to meet requirements of project
    • Identify costs which can be used in economic feasibility study
    • Present findings/recommendations, including risks and challenges, and mitigation strategies
• Operational feasibility → Ability of project to be implemented and operated
  • can the new system be implemented and operated to meet the goals within the existing organisation?
  • are management + staff supportive of the new system?
  • do the users have the skills to use the new system
  • will the nature of work change for participants?
  • Steps include:
    • Define objectives of project or system (E.g. functions, features)
    • Determine if new system will fit into existing organisation by evaluating existing operational framework
    • Determine operational requirements of project (E.g. staffing, training, operational processes)
    • Identify costs which can be used in economic feasibility study
    • Present findings/recommendations, including risks and challenges, and mitigation strategies
• Scheduling feasibility → Determines if system will be able to be implemented within a given period of time

  • is the timeframe reasonable?

  • will staff need training? how long it will take to retrain team members?

  • what are the consequences of not meeting deadlines?

  • Steps include:

    • Defining project schedule
    • Identifying available resources. (E.g. personnel, equipment, and materials)
    • Analyzing the scheduling feasibility. Can project be completed within given time frame?
    • Recommending alternative solutions. If cannot be completed, are there other possible solutions

    The different ways that a system is developed. They are listed below:

    • Present findings/recommendations, including risks and challenges, and mitigation strategies

Choosing the most appropriate solution

The feasibility study will make three recommendations: no change, develop a new system, or investigate other solutions. The management will select the most appropriate option.

System development approaches

Traditional/Waterfall → Step by step stages. Previous step must be completed before next is started

• One stage produces parts necessary for next stage