Project Feasibility
and
Initiation
By Walter Maner
With information borrowed from presentations
given by Sylnovie Merchant and T. H. Tse
✳✳
Is it feasible?
Feasibility
The reasonable likelihood that
constraints on time and other
resources will not prevent a
project from meeting its key
objectives
Synonym: ?
Synonym: Achievability
Dimensions of Feasibility
Economic Feasibility
Organizational and Cultural Feasibility
Technical Feasibility
Schedule Feasibility
Resource Feasibility
Human-factors Feasibility
Legal and Regulatory Feasibility
Feasibility Analysis
Existing and
Perceived and Available
Real Needs Resources
Decision Outcome
• Accept project
List of Potential Project • Reject project
Selection • Delay project
and Ongoing • Refocus project
Projects Decision • Outsource project
• Proof of concept only
Current
Evaluation
Organizational
Criteria
Environment
Needs Analysis
Is the need significant enough to
justify the proposed project?
Will the need still exist by the time
the project is completed?
Is there another way to satisfy the
need?
What impacts will the project have?
economic
social
environmental
political
Feasibility Process
Identify Initiate Define scope,
problem or feasibility identify constraints
opportunity study and objectives
Make Evaluate Carry out
recommendation alternatives Feasibility study
Accept project
Reject project
Delay project
Refocus project
Outsource project
Proof of concept only
Project Identification
Projects
are undertaken
because either …
We see a problem
… or …
We see an opportunity
Project Identification
Problems are undesirable
situations that prevent the
organization from fully achieving
its purpose, goals and objectives
Opportunities are chances to
improve the organization even in
the absence of specific problems
0
Problems and Opportunities
IT Job Search App
What problems are we
addressing?
Very difficult to match my skill set with
available jobs
Very difficult to find jobs in specific locations
Very difficult to find jobs in unfamiliar
locations
Very difficult to find a company that coincides
with my career goals
0
Problems and Opportunities
IT Job Search App
What opportunities are we
exploiting?
Opportunity to find a better-paying job
Opportunity to find a better-fitting job
Opportunity to find a better work environment
0
Problems and Opportunities
IT Career Development App
What problems are we
addressing?
IT workers get stuck in dead-end careers
because of devalued job skills
IT workers can’t afford high-cost training, need
low-cost alternatives
Next project demands skills I don’t have
0
Problems and Opportunities
IT Career Development App
What opportunities are we
exploiting?
Opportunity to improve my chances for
advancement
Opportunity to increase my job security
Opportunity to find obscure or unusual career
development avenues
Opportunity to change fields or careers
0
Objectives and Constraints
A project is guided by
objectives and limited by
constraints
0
Objectives and Constraints
An objective is something that you
expect to achieve, if given sufficient
resources
Measurable somehow
Examples
• Reduce the number of uncollectible customer accounts by 50
percent within the next year
• Increase by 25 percent the number of loan applications that can be
processed during an eight-hour shift
• Decrease by 50 percent the time required to reschedule a
production lot when a workstation malfunctions
A constraint is something that will limit
your flexibility in defining a solution to
your objectives
Essentially, constraints are fixed and cannot be changed.
0
Objectives and Constraints
IT Job Search App
What are our objectives?
objectives
Speed job search process
Reduce job-search frustration
Others ??
0
Objectives and Constraints
IT Job Search App
What are our constraints?
constraints
December 1 deadline
st
New iteration every 14 days
Limited staffing
Others ??
0
Objectives and Constraints
IT Career Development App
What are our objectives?
Increase worker marketability
Increase worker flexibility
Identify training opportunities that can lead to
career advancement
Become more promotable
Keep current with relevant technology
Others ??
0
Objectives and Constraints
IT Career Development App
What are our constraints?
[Same as for IT Job Search App]
Initial Feasibility Report
Prepare feasibility report
Current situation
Future expectations
Favourable plan(s) of action
Underlying rationale for management decision
For selected plan, prepare system
proposal
Project description Not part of agile
Resource requirements methodology
Development schedule
Acceptance criteria
Assumption:
Initial
Feasibility
Established
Project Initiation
Organize the team
Establish management policies
and procedures
Continue to refine project
scope
Investigate alternatives
Carry several alternatives
forward either …
as “competing” sibling projects
or
as contingencies
Project Initiation …
Consider building an early-stage
prototype as “proof of concept”
Continue feasibility analysis
Harden estimates
Weigh costs or risks
Weigh benefits
Review contractual requirements
Develop timeline and schedule
Establish unambiguous progress
criteria
Output of Project Initiation
Process
Refined Statement of Scope
[detailed on next slide]
Refined Feasibility Assessment
“Hardened” Estimates
money
effort
time
Project Timeline and Schedule
Alternatives and Contingencies
Progress Criteria
Refined Statement of Scope
General project information
Problem and opportunity statement
Project objectives
Project description
Identification of users
Benefits and risks
Constraints
Duration
Costs
Benefits and Constraints
Tangible benefits Constraints
cost reduction schedule: project must be
error reduction completed before
12/8/98
increase efficiency
increase sales cost: the system cannot
cost more than $100,000
.... technology: the system
Intangible benefits must be on-line, use DB2,
improved planning and run on a Novell network,
control etc.
improved decision making policy: the system must
improve employee morale use double-entry
accounting
more timely information
....
Costs
Tangible One-time
hardware system development
labor hardware/software
operational user training
.... site preparation
data conversion
Intangible Recurring
loss of customer goodwill maintenance
employee morale data storage expense
.... communications expense
software licenses
supplies (paper, toner,
etc.)
Select a Design Strategy
Generate a comprehensive set of
alternative design strategies.
Select one* that is most likely to result
in the desired information system given
all of the organizational, economic, and
technical constraints that limit what can
be done.
* In a large organization, several
competing designs might be
carried forward in parallel
Select a Development Strategy
These are the standard choices:
Keep the old system as-is
Reengineer the old system
Purchase off-the-shelf software
Design a new system
• in-house
• outsource
Comparing Alternatives
Compare tangible and
intangible benefits
Compare tangible and
intangible costs
Weigh costs against
benefits
•0
•Intangible Benefits
Improved employee morale Increased strategic or
competitive advantage
Improved corporate image
Improved public and
Increase in perceived community relations
quality of products or Improvements in addressing
services environmental concerns
Perceived decrease in time Reduced employee turnover
to market by customers Increased quality of work
Improved decision making for employees
More timely information Proactive attention to
ethical issues
Increased organizational Proactive addressing of
flexibility legal issues
Improved resource Increased workplace and/or
allocation and control community safety
Lost customers (stop using
email) or sales
Survival in the market
0
Our Intangible Benefits
IT Job Search App
0
Our Intangible Benefits
IT Career Development App
0
A “Benefits Grid”
Tangible Intangible
Enhancement
Improve Profitability of New Business Cross-Selling Opportunities
Less Paperwork and Administrative Costs Improved Member Retention
Revenue
Increase in Prospecting of New Business Higher System Availability
Elimination of Duplicate Data Entry Accurate Rating (Single-Rating
Reduction
Engine Concept)
Multiple Proposal/Improved
Communication Improved Audit Process
Cost
Rekeying of Proposals in Word Improved Speed of Turnaround
Miscellaneous 0
Other Factors
Functionality
Firm’sculture
Connectivity
Vendor credentials
Maintenance
Adaptability
0
Comparing Alternative Designs:
One Possible “Naïve” Model
Select primary comparison factors
(usually includes cost, among others)
Assign relative weights
For each factor …
select sub-factors
allocate sub-factor weight
Rate each alternative on each sub-
factor
for example, a scale of 1 (bad) to 5 (good)
Comparing Alternative Designs:
0
One Possible “Naïve” Model …
Do the math:
Multiply sub-factor rating times sub-
factor weight
Sum sub-factor scores for each
alternative
Compare scores among alternatives
Favor alternative with highest score
PREVIEW
0
Confirming Project Feasibility
Economic Feasibility
Cost/benefit analysis
Cash flow analysis
Organizational and Cultural
Feasibility
Technological Feasibility
Schedule Feasibility
Resource Feasibility
Human-factors Feasibility
Legal and Political Feasibility
0
Disclaimer
Costsand benefits cannot always
be measured
Why? There are many intangibles
0
Intangibles
Improved employee morale Increased strategic or
Improved corporate image competitive advantage
Increase in perceived Improved public and
quality of products or community relations
services Improvements in addressing
Perceived decrease in time environmental concerns
to market by customers Reduced employee turnover
Improved decision making Increased quality of work
More timely information for employees
Increased organizational
Proactive attention to
ethical issues
flexibility
Proactive addressing of legal
Improved resource issues
allocation and control Increased workplace and/or
Lost customers or sales community safety
Survival in the market
0
Organizational and Cultural
Feasibility
Each company has own culture
New system must fit into
culture
0
Technological Feasibility
Doessystem stretch the state-
of-the-art?
Leading edge or bleeding edge?
Does sufficient expertise exist
in-house for development?
Does sufficient technology exist
in-house for development?
0
Schedule Feasibility
Can project be completed on time?
What is the risk of schedule slippage?
When we answer these questions,
what assumptions are we making?
0
Schedule Feasibility
Our Assumptions:
Everybody will work hard
Necessary software gets installed
Increasing amounts of time will be
available as the project nears
completion
Specs that cannot be met will be
dropped (time-boxing)
0
Schedule Feasibility
Our
Assumptions:
Others ??
0
Resource Feasibility
Availability of project leaders
Availability of team members
Team skill levels
Equipment
Support staff
Physical facilities
Communication and collaboration
facilities
0
Human-factors Feasibility
Ease of use
How easy is the system to use within the
context of the day-to-day activities of the
intended end-user?
Perceived usefulness
Does the system support the job the end-user
needs to do?
Overall satisfaction
Will the end-user like using the system?
Who is our intended end-
0
user?
IT Job Search App
A graduating senior with an IT degree who only wants a part-time job
because they are going to grad school
A college senior searching for his/her first post-graduation IT job
At IT-majoring college grad who wants to pursue an IT career working
from home
A female senior IT major looking for jobs of special interest to women
A recent college graduate who majored in IT
A recent college graduate, with a so-so IT job offer already in hand,
who wants to find an even better job before a decision is required on
the offer (so … not much time for search)
A recent college graduate, with an IT job offer already in hand, who
wants to determine what the going rate is for such IT jobs in order to
negotiate a starting salary
A recent graduate with the intention of finding an entry-level IT job
with their required specifications
A recent IT graduate who wants to start an IT consulting business,
where work would be done for companies under contract
Who is our intended end-
0
user?
IT Career Development App
A company that wishes to organize in-service training for its
IT employees
A person with a dead-end IT skill who wants to “switch horses”
A person with at least an associate’s degree in an IT related
field
A self-taught freelance IT professional who needs to establish
credibility with prospective clients
A working professional with 3 or more years of experience in
the IT field, but is looking for ways to further their expertise
Already experienced person looking to advance in career or
change jobs
An IT professional seeking to advance their technical skills
An IT professional with at least 1 year minimum experience
Legal and Political Feasibility
Legal
Will the solution violate any contracts, licenses,
copyrights, non-disclosures, laws or regulations?
Policy and Procedures
Will the solution violate corporate policies or
procedures?
Political
Who might resist migration to the new system?
What measures are in place to overcome this inertia?
Estimation
Typically, we estimate resource
(human effort, time, and cost) requirements
We associate numbers with resources
based on …
past experience
industry experience and standards
detailed analysis
guesswork
Estimation is extremely difficult and
almost always inaccurate to some
degree
Estimation Interactions and
Trade-offs
Size of project
affects
Size of team
affects
Length of Schedule
affects
Size of budget
Schedule Estimation:
Task Identification
Top-down approach
Identify highest level tasks
Break them into increasingly smaller
units
May rely on standard list of tasks
Top Down Task Identification
Phases Sub-phases
Work Plan Deliverables Estimated Actual Assigned
hours hours To
*
*
*
*
Top Down Task Identification
Phases Sub-phases
Okay, let’s make a list of
phases and subphases
for our project
Our phases and subphases
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 4
Phase 5
Phase 6
Did you include a
planning phase?
Time Estimation
Estimating a Project Based on Industry
Information
Planning Analysis Design Implementation
Industry
Standard
For Web 15% 20% 35% 30%
Applications
Time
Required 4 5.33 9.33 8
in Person
Months
Time Estimation:
Murphy’s Rule of Thumb
Very early, estimate how long
the project will take
Double this number
Raise the number to the next
order of magnitude
Example
3 weeks 6 weeks 6 months
Cost Estimation When done by
experienced estimators
Type of Estimate When Done Why Done How Accurate
Rough Order of Very early in the Provides rough –25%, +75%
Magnitude (ROM) project life cycle, ballpark of cost for
often 3–5 years selection decisions
before project
completion
Budgetary Early, 1–2 years out Puts dollars in the –10%, +25%
budget plans
Definitive Later in the project, < Provides details for –5%, +10%
1 year out purchases, estimate
actual costs
Four Basic Techniques for
Cost Estimation
1.Analogous or Top-down
Use the actual cost of a previous, similar
project as the basis for the new estimate
2.Bottom-up
Estimate individual work items and sum
them to get a total estimate
Four Basic Techniques
for Cost Estimates …
3. Parametric
Use project characteristics in a
mathematical model to estimate costs
4. Computerized
Use spreadsheets, project
management software, or other
software to help estimate costs
Constructive Cost Model
(COCOMO)*
Barry Boehm helped develop the
COCOMO models for estimating
software development costs
Parameters include source lines of
code or function points
COCOMO II is a computerized model
available on the web
This model is also used to estimate
time and effort * Not to be confused
with the Beach Boys
1980 hit of the same name
Final Caveats
Many people doing estimates have
little experience doing them
Many people doing estimates have a
poor track record
People have a strong bias toward
underestimation (over-confidence)
Management often wants a number for
a bid, not a real estimate
