Project Planning & Feasibility Study

1. Project Planning & Feasibility Study R. Ramesh Babu Senior Lecturer/SMBS VIT

2. Project Planning Guidelines for Project Plans. • Use project plans to coordinate rather than to control. • Make use of different personalities within the project environment. • Preschedule frequent revisions to project plans. • Empower workers to estimate their own work. • Describe value-creating tasks rather than activities. • Define specific and tangible milestones. • Use check lists, matrices, and other supplements to project plans.

3. Internal Factors • Infrastructure • Project scope • Labor relations • Project location • Project leadership • Organizational goal • Management approach • Technical manpower supply • Resource and capital availability

4. External Factors • Public needs • Market needs • National goals • Industry stability • State of technology • Industrial competitors • Government regulations

5. Components of Project Plan • Summary of Project Plan • Objectives • Approach • Policies and Procedures • Contractural Requirements (document problematic areas) • Project Schedule • Resource Requirements • Performance Measures • Contingency Plans • Tracking, Reporting, and Auditing

6. Project Development Lifecycle

7. Planning Phase • Define problem • Confirm project feasibility • Produce project schedule • Staff the project • Launch the project

8. Analysis Phase • Gather information • Problem Domain • Application • Define system requirements • Build prototypes for discovery of requirements • Prioritize requirements • Generate and evaluate alternatives • Review recommendations with management

9. Design Phase • Design and integrate the network • Design the application architecture • Design the user interfaces • Design the system interfaces • Design and integrate the database • Prototype for design details • Design and integrate the system controls

10. Implementation Phase • Construct software components • Verify and test • Convert data • Train users and document the system • Install the system

11. Support Phase • Maintain the system • Enhance the system • Support the users • Help desk

12. Technology Development Obsolescence of today’s products

14. Organization

15. Organizational Objective Organization

16. Organizational Objective Organization Organizational Use of Technology

17. Another Illustrated Example…

24. Preventing of Failures

25. Project Feasibility • Measure of how beneficial or practical the development of an information system will be to an organization. • Process by which feasibility is measured • Continuing process of feasibility assessment • Tests of feasibility • Technical feasibility • Operational feasibility • Schedule Feasibility • Economic feasibility

26. Scope of Feasibility Analysis • Need Analysis • Process Work • Engineering & Design • Cost Estimate • Financial Analysis • Project Impacts • Conclusions and Recommendations

27. Feasibility Dangers • A project that was once feasible may not remain so - why not? • Feasibilities can often conflict! • Best solution can often be the most expensive • good operational feasibility • poor economic feasibility • What can you do if the project is not feasible on all levels?

28. Managing Expectations • Often most difficult aspect of a project • Tool for balancing priorities • Rows in matrix are project dimensions: • Cost • Schedule • Scope / Quality

29. Managing Expectations • Columns in matrix are the priorities: • Max or Min: most important • Constrain: median importance • Accept: lowest importance • Impossible to optimize all simultaneously! • Rule: 1 check per row & column

30. Expectation Management Priorities Max or Min Constrain Accept X Cost: $20B Schedule: Deadline 12/1969 Scope / Quality: Man on the moon, return safely X X

31. Frequent Causes of Failures • Taking shortcuts with methodology • when/why do these occur? • Cost of fixing errors, finding an error in: • Requirements: $1,000 • Design: $2,500 • Coding: $6,000 • Testing: $25,000 • Implementation: $75,000

32. Frequent Causes of Failures • Scope & Feature Creep • can be both good and bad, how? • are mgmt intentions clear?

33. Tests of Feasibility • Operational Feasibility • How well will the solution work in the organization? • Technical Feasibility • How practical is the technical solution? • How available are technical resources and expertise?

34. Tests of Feasibility • Schedule Feasibility • How reasonable is the project timetable? • Economic Feasibility • How cost-effective is the project or solution? • Cost-benefit analysis

35. Operational Feasibility • Questions to Ask • Is the problem worth solving? • Will the solution to the problem work? • How do end users and management feel about the solution? • Has a usability analysis been conducted?

36. Technical Feasibility • Questions to Ask • Is the proposed solution practical? • Do we possess the necessary technology? • Do we possess the necessary technical expertise? • Is the schedule reasonable?

37. Economic Feasibility • Cost-benefit analyses • How much will the system cost? • Development costs • Operation costs • Maintenance and support costs • Do we possess the necessary technology? • Do we possess the necessary technical expertise? • Is the schedule reasonable?

38. Cost Analysis

39. Benefit Analysis • Benefit analyses • Tangible benefitscan be easily quantified. • Measured in terms of monthly or annual savings, or of profit to organization • Intangible benefits more difficult to quantify.

40. Benefit Analysis • Tangible Benefits • Fewer processing errors • Increased throughput • Decreased response time • Elimination of job steps • Increased sales • Reduced credit losses • Reduced expenses • Intangible Benefits • Improved customer goodwill • Improved employee morale • Better service to community • Better decision-making

41. Economic Feasibility • Payback analysis • How long will it take to recoup the costs of this project? • Return on investment (ROI) analysis • Net present value analysis

42. Feasibility Analysis • Compare candidate systems on basis of several characteristics • Better analysts always consider multiple solutions

43. Candidate Systems Matrix

44. Feasibility Analysis Matrix