Conducting Feasibility Study for Proposed Plan

Feasibility study is crucial part of successful project or business. It is conducted before making financial decision on the investment which in turn save time, effort and cost.it takes into account the practical aspects like legal, economical, technical and operational standpoint. A feasibility study answers whether to go with the proposed plan or not by simply answering if the proposed plan is viable or not based on a successful conduction of feasibility study. To conduct a successful feasibility study one must begin with preliminary analysis as it will give answer whether the feasibility study will be useful or not , followed by defining project scope and objectives, market research , financial assessment and at last reviewing and analyzing all data collected. Document your finding in structured report consisting executive summary, details of all the findings and a clear recommendation with a final “GO” and “NO-GO" decision. Let us study the detail of each step for successful conduction of a feasibility study 1)Preliminary study: The purpose of conducting a preliminary analysis is to check eligibility qualification before going into a full blown feasibility study saving time, money and effort. It basically act as a screening for your project proposal giving a better idea about going further with feasibility study or not. It include a) Outlining the idea about proposed plan by defining everything which you want to achieve by implementing this plan including why is this project important to business or organization. b) Assessment of market success: by finding similar project in the market and analyzing their success whether or not they will be successful in the market. c) Identifying uniqueness or competitive advantage of your proposed plan: what is so unique or different about this project in terms of new technology, talent which will ensure the success of the project. d) Risk identification: this is most important and huge part in determining the viability as it will tell us about possible threats to your project in near future. Once you are done with preliminary analysis you will get to know whether to conduct full feasibility study or not based on findings of your preliminary analysis report. If it is worth conducting a feasibility study then we will go ahead with the following; 1) Defining the scope and objectives: first step to dive into full blown feasibility study is creating project scope which will outline the objectives of the project by simply answering questions like: Is it technically feasible? Is plan legal?, Is it operationally feasible? Is it feasible within timeline? Is it economically feasible? These questions will help to clearly define the project goals, deliverables, tasks, cost and timeline of project along with identification of internal and external stakeholders involved. 2) Market survey: next you need to conduct is market research. One will be able to get a clear idea about the project success in market by analyzing similar project whether they were a success in market or not. This will give a better idea about revenue projection. A) Identify the opportunity for your project in the market like new customers, new requirement etc. Through surveys user interviews, observation, social media listening, public domain data. B) Research about competitor if available in the market including their target audience services they offer, their products etc. C) Market information like which client, how much client to target. D) Reporting on whether the similar project succeeded in the past E) Project execution ideas. 4) Financial assessment: all sort of finances are included in this assessment like income statement, balance sheet etc. you have to basically find answers to some questions like: Will the financial support come from organization or by loan or by some financers, what is breakeven point for project, what will be financial cost of failure, how will the project budget be affected by undue financial burden. 5) Review and analyzing all the data to present to all the stakeholders involved. Basically to ensure that you did not leave any important point to be considered reviewing the study is crucial. Once you are done collect all your research in a structured way and present it to relevant client or stakeholder. There may be some recommendation or changes on your budget or timeline or approaches but that is not something to worry.