FEASIBILITY STUDY

What is pre-feasibility study?

Pre-feasibility study is a preliminary study undertaken to determine, analyze, and select the best
business scenarios. In this study, we assume we have more than one business scenarios, then we
want to know which one is the best, both technically and financially. In pre-feasibility
we select the best idea among several ideas

A feasibility study is an assessment of the practicality of a proposed project or system. A

feasibility study aims to objectively and rationally uncover the strengths and weaknesses of an
existing business or proposed venture, opportunities and threats present in the natural
environment, the resources required to carry through, and ultimately the prospects for success. In
its simplest terms, the two criteria to judge feasibility are cost required and value to be attained.

A feasibility study is an evaluation and analysis of a project or system that somebody has
proposed. The study tries to determine whether the project is technically and financially feasible,
i.e., is it technically or financially viable?

A feasibility study is an analysis that takes all of a project's relevant factors into account—
including economic, technical, legal, and scheduling considerations—to ascertain the likelihood
of completing the project successfully. Project managers use feasibility studies to discern the
pros and cons of undertaking a project before they invest a lot of time and money into it.

Feasibility studies also can provide a company's management with crucial information that could
prevent the company from entering carelessly into risky businesses.

A well-designed feasibility study should provide a historical background of the business or

project, a description of the product or service, accounting statements, details of
the operations and management, marketing research and policies, financial data, legal
requirements and tax obligations. Generally, feasibility studies precede technical development
and project implementation. A feasibility study evaluates the project's potential for success;
therefore, perceived objectivity is an important factor in the credibility of the study for potential

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investors and lending institutions. It must therefore be conducted with an objective, unbiased
approach to provide information upon which decisions can be based

ADVANTAGES OF FEASIBILITY STUDY

1. Can save money and increase profits

2. Productive use of resources
3. Marketing becomes easy
4. Deadlines
5. Making the right choices
6. Gives project teams more focus and provides an alternative outline.
7. Narrows the business alternatives.
8.  Identifies a valid reason to undertake the project.
9.  Enhances the success rate by evaluating multiple parameters.
10. Aids decision-making on the project
11. Get a clear-cut idea of whether the project is likely to be successful, before allocating
budget, manpower, and time.
12. Enhances the project teams’ efficiency and focus  
13. Helps detect and capitalize on new opportunities
14. Substantiates with evidence of why and how a project should be executed
15. Diagnoses errors and aids in troubleshooting them
16. Prevents threats from occurring and helps in risk mitigation
17. Gives valuable insights to both the team and stakeholders associated with the project

TYPES OF FEASIBILITY STUDIES

1. Technical Feasibility

This study takes stock of the technical resources available to undertake a project from an
organization’s perspective. It includes ensuring that the technical resources are adequate, and the
hardware and software requirements are met. Technical feasibility will also include if proven
technologies and methodologies exist to support the proposed development.

2. Economic Feasibility

This assessment performs a cost/ benefits analysis of the project before the financial resources
are allocated. This type of study gives a clear-cut idea of project credibility (viability) as well as
the economic benefits to the organization from the project.

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3. Legal Feasibility

In this type of feasibility study, the legal requirements of the proposed project are analyzed.
Several parameters, ranging from zonal laws to data protection acts are checked, and compliance
mandates are mapped out.

4. Operational Feasibility

This study will help analyze and determine whether the organization’s goals can be satisfied by
completing the project.

5. Scheduling Feasibility

This is the most important assessment for project success. It estimates the time necessary to
complete the project after considering the organization’s capabilities and determines whether that
amount of time is available

NEED AND NEEDS ASSESSMENT

Needs assessment, also called ‘environmental scan,’ is a process that involves determining the
company’s needs and setting criteria for understanding how to best allocate available resources
such as money, people, and facilities so that the business could improve its structure, operations,
and processes.

But what are the needs then?

Needs are the gaps between your company’s current achievements and your desired future
accomplishments. When organizations define a need, they determine it as a priority and start
looking at all possible activities to improve their performance and reach their goals.

The Purpose of A Need Assessment:

Needs assessment plays a pivotal role in a performance improvement cycle, as it makes it

continuous and systematic.

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It happens due to the following reasons:

 Needs assessment guides decision-making. It’s a systematic process that offers a set of

procedures companies can always reflect on and continuously improve to enrich their
decisions in the future.
 It justifies decisions before they are made. Needs assessment allows businesses to
avoid situations when decisions are made spontaneously, and it’s too late for changes.
Instead, it helps organizations think proactively.
 It’s adjustable to any project, time frame, and budget. No matter how monumental
your project is, your needs assessment is a flexible process that can take place at any time
and be scaled up.
 It provides solutions to complex problems. The performance of any company is not a
result of a single decision. Thus, its improvement must be due to complex measures.
Needs assessment allows canning the company’s processes from top to bottom, which
enables management to combine various activities for improving their performance

How to Conduct a Needs Assessment:

Smart companies are used to following four stages of needs assessment: needs identification,
data collection & analysis, data application, and evaluation. 

Needs identification

At this stage, the company analyzes its current state and needs. It should also discover other
undisclosed needs that may be hindering the organization from moving to the desired goals.
Then, the business should rank them in order of importance to the improvement. This way, it sets
the scope for its research.

Data collection & analysis

This stage presupposes gathering information necessary for the company to better understand the
gaps between where it is now and where it strives to be. Data may be collected both from

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internal company records (micro-level research) or externally (macro-level research). The latter
means getting information through market research techniques such as surveys. 

Data application

As soon as the company has collected and analyzed the necessary data, it uses these findings to
evaluate solutions and determine which one is best from the point of costs and benefits. This
helps come up with an action plan on how to implement the chosen solution and also allocate
resources required for this.

Evaluation

Evaluation can help organizations understand what made an action plan successful or find any
weak points in the needs assessment. For example, you may find out that you have missed an
important gap or allocated not enough resources to fill it.