Feasibility Study – What Needs To Be Taken Into Account?

The decision to embark on a new project or venture is not one to be taken lightly – there are a variety of factors that need to be analyzed and evaluated before giving the green light to proceed.

A feasibility study is a perfect way to get a detailed analysis on the likely success or failure of a project and can give you an in-depth look at what you can expect in terms of the possible different project outcomes.

So what do you need to be taking into account when performing a feasibility study?

1.      An extensive plan

This may seem like an obvious one, but the plan for your project needs to be tailored very specifically to fit your desired outcome and realistically define your proposed project – it can’t be a replica of someone else’s plan because theirs has been tailored to fit their needs (though you should look at plans other people have used to get an idea of what your plan needs).

For a feasibility study to be successful it needs to examine all elements of what you are planning on doing in order to guarantee success.

2.      A variety of specific questions

The study won’t work if you don’t have questions in place to thoroughly look at each aspect of your new project.

This includes taking a look at the company history, the desired locations for the project, market analyses, and viable alternatives and seriously asking what each aspect brings in terms of success to the project and identifying where you may be falling short.

3.      Different categories to be examined

To ensure the maximum return on your feasibility study you have to have an exhaustive list of categories examined. These include (but are not limited to): economic, schedule, legal, operational, resource, cultural, technological, and system feasibility.

By including all of these different factors you are allowing the most comprehensive examination to be conducted and helping to identify any weak spots in your plan.

4.      Alternatives

When you’re putting your proposed plan together, you need to include a set of variables that allow for alternative outcomes.

This is one of the most important factors because one of your alternatives could end up being the most viable option for your plan to succeed, and it helps you to branch outside the box during your planning.

Conducting feasibility studies not only give you a good view of what to expect in terms of project outcome, but they also are useful for showing potential investors the likelihood of success of your proposed project and can help in securing them.

They also are helpful in showing you the strengths and weaknesses of your proposed plan so that you can go in and reassess where you need the places that you are lacking and improve them before actually implementing the project.

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