Importance of Feasibility Study

In software engineering, a feasibility study is research done to determine whether a given project or system is feasible. One of the crucial four phases of the software project management process is the feasibility study. As the name implies, a feasibility study is an analysis of the software product’s viability or a gauge of how advantageous product development will be from an organizational standpoint. A feasibility study is conducted for a variety of reasons, including determining whether the software product will be developed, implemented, and contribute positively to the organization, among other things.

Why Feasibility Study?

One crucial step in the management of software projects is the feasibility assessment. Following the completion of the feasibility study, the project is either abandoned or continued if it is found to be feasible. A decision is made regarding whether to develop the idea if it is incorrect or impractical or to reevaluate and analyze the project.

It assists in identifying risk factors related to system development and deployment in addition to this feasibility study. Through the analysis of numerous factors related to the projected project development, risk analysis also plans limited business possibilities and increases success rates.

Importance of Feasibility Study:

If done well, the feasibility study is far more significant. The feasibility study is useless if it is not completed appropriately. Important considerations when assessing the value of a feasibility study are:

• That keeps you from committing to and spending money on an unfeasible undertaking.
• It may uncover novel concepts that fundamentally alter the functionality of your program.
• Increases the team’s confidence to focus on their project.
• Verify if the software is really necessary.
• Calculates the risk associated with creating the program and determines whether it may be reduced.

Types of Feasibility Studies:

The feasibility studies primarily focus on the five topics listed below. Of them, the legal feasibility study is seen as less relevant than the economic feasibility study in terms of feasibility analysis.

Technical Feasibility:

Technical feasibility examines and assesses the available hardware, software, and technological resources for the project’s development. Information on whether the necessary technology and resources are available for use in project development is provided by this technical feasibility assessment. The feasibility study also examines the technical team’s strengths and capabilities, the applicability of the current technology, and how simple it is to maintain and upgrade the chosen technology.

• Examine the members of the software development team’s technical talents and competencies.
• Find out if the pertinent technology is well-established and stable.
• Consider how many people will use the technologies selected for software development so that they can be consulted if issues arise or if they require improvement.

Operational Feasibility:

Operational viability examines how well services are delivered under specifications and how simple it will be to use and maintain the product once it has been deployed. It also evaluates the product’s usability, the acceptability of the software development team’s choices for the suggested solution, and other operational areas.

• Assess whether the user request’s anticipated problem is a high priority.
• Assess the organization’s satisfaction with the different solutions that the software development team has suggested.
• Assess the acceptability of the software development team’s suggested solution.
• Examine whether consumers feel at ease using the new program.

Economic Feasibility:

A profitability study examines the expenses and advantages of the project. This implies that a thorough examination of the development project’s expenses will be conducted as part of the feasibility study. This covers all expenses related to the ultimate development, including those for the necessary hardware and software resources, design and development fees, operational expenses, etc. Next, the project’s financial benefit to the organization is examined.

• The expenditures associated with software development yield enduring advantages for a company.
• Expenses related to carrying out a thorough software analysis, such as requirements extraction and analysis.
• The costs of the development team, software, hardware, and training.

Legal Feasibility:

A legal feasibility assessment examines the proposal from a legal perspective. This involves analyzing the legal roadblocks to the project’s implementation, regulations on social media or data protection, project certificates, licenses, copyrights, etc. In general, a legal feasibility study examines whether a project proposal complies with ethical and legal standards.

Schedule Feasibility:

The primary analysis of a Schedule feasibility study is of the suggested project deadlines and deadlines, including the amount of time the team will need to finish the final product. This has a big effect on the company since if the project isn’t finished on time, its goal might not be met.

Need of feasibility study:

The necessity of a feasibility study is that, once completed, it provides an answer as to whether to proceed with the project as proposed, given its practical viability or to halt the project at this point, given that further development or consideration of the project is not appropriate or feasible. This is why the feasibility study stage of the software project management process is so crucial.

In addition, a feasibility study aids in the identification of risk factors related to the development and implementation of systems, and planning for risk analysis helps to reduce the number of viable business options and increase the likelihood of success by examining various project development criteria.