Feasibility Study – Why needed before programming

The feasibility study is the important step in any software development process. This is because it makes analysis of different aspects like cost required for developing and executing the system, the time required for each phase of the system and so on. If these important factors are not analyzed, then definitely it would have impact on the organization and the development and the system would be a total failure. This step is a very important step in a software development life cycle process.

In the software development life cycle after making an analysis in the system requirement the next step is to make analysis of the software requirement. In other words, feasibility study is also called as software requirement analysis. In this phase development team must make communication with customers and make analysis of their requirement and analyze the system.

By making analysis this way it would be possible to make a report of an identified area of a problem. By making a detailed analysis in this area, a detailed document or report is prepared in this phase which has details like project plan or schedule of the project, the cost estimated for developing and executing the system, target dates for each phase of delivery of system developed and so on. This phase is the basis of software development process; since further steps taken in software development life cycle would be based on the analysis made in this phase therefore, careful analysis must be made in this phase.

Though the feasibility study cannot be focused on a single area, some of the areas or analysis made in feasibility study is given below. But all the steps given below would not be followed by all system developers. The feasibility study varies based on the system that would be developed.

• Feasibility study is made upon the system being developed to analyze whether the system development process require training of personnel. This help in designing training sessions as required in later stage.
• Does the system developed have scope for expanding or for switching to new technology later on if needed in ease? In other study is made to find the portability of the system in future.
• Is the cost of developing the system high or does it meet the budgeted costs? That is a cost benefit analysis is made. In other words, an analysis is made on cost feasibility of the project. This helps in identifying whether the organization would meet the budgeted costs and also helps the organization in making earlier and effective plans for meeting extra costs because of the system development.
• Analysis is made on what software to use for developing the system. This study and analysis would help to choose the best implementation for system and the organization. This feasibility study includes factors like scalability, how to install, how to develop and so on. This feasibility study in short includes the analysis of technical areas. This analysis helps the efficiency of the system developed to get improved. This is because by choosing the correct technology by making analysis on the needs of system helps in improving the efficiency of the system.
• The above feasibilities are analysis which helps in development of the system. But the scope of feasibility study does not end with this. Analysis or feasibility study also includes the analysis of maintenance stage. In other words, feasibility study is made to analyze how one would maintain the system during maintenance stage. This helps sin planning for this stage and helps in risk analysis. Also, the analysis helps in making analysis about what training must be given and how and what all documents must be prepared to help users and developers to face maintenance phase.

Advantages of making Feasibility study:

There are many advantages of making feasibility study some of which are summarized below:

• This study being made as the initial step of software development life cycle has all the analysis part in it which helps in analyzing the system requirements completely.
• Helps in identifying the risk factors involved in developing and deploying the system
• The feasibility study helps in planning for risk analysis
• Feasibility study helps in making cost/benefit analysis which helps the organization and system to run efficiently.
• Feasibility study helps in making plans for training developers for implementing the system.
• So, a feasibility study is a report which could be used by the senior or top persons in the organization. This is because based on the report the organization decides about cost estimation, funding and other important decisions which is very essential for an organization to run profitably and for the system to run stable.

Thus, before developing a product or software it is an essential step that one does feasibility study in some or all the areas mentioned which would help in developing and maintaining the software efficiently and effectively within budgeted costs.