What Is a Feasibility Study? How to Conduct One for Your Project
Why is a feasibility study so important in project management? For one, the feasibility study or feasibility analysis, is the foundation upon which your project plan resides. That’s because the feasibility analysis determines the viability of your project. Now that we got your attention, read on to learn what you need to know about feasibility studies.
What Is a Feasibility Study?
A feasibility study is simply an assessment of the practicality of a proposed project plan or method. This is done by analyzing technical, economic, legal, operational and time feasibility factors. Just as the name implies, you’re asking, “Is this feasible?” For example, do you have or can you create the technology to do what you propose? Do you have the people, tools and the resources necessary? And, will the project get you the ROI you expect?
When should project managers do a feasibility study? It should be done during that point in the project management life cycle after the business case has been completed.
So, that’s the “what” and the “when” but how about the “why?” Meaning, why do you need a feasibility study? Well, it determines the factors that affect project feasibility, making it pretty important.