The Importance Of Feasibility Studies In Information System Project Management

Types of feasibility studies

The project execution and control phase is useful to assure success. This phase has been dealing with controlling and reporting of project benefit realization, deliverables and timeline ensure project success. Project close-out, on the other hand, is to be planned and anticipated in the early phase of the project life-cycle.

The following report demonstrated the significance of various kinds of feasibility studies of information system project management Lastly, it has used methods to control possible risks about particular IS projects.

Feasibility studies are helpful to preview essential outcomes and decide whether they must continue. A little expenditure on feasibility studies is beneficial to prevent massive losses. While researching, it is clear that most of successful businesses have been conducting feasibility study for assuring that they embark over their viable project. For instance, Microsoft comprises of huge research department located at various cities around the world. The department has collaborated with various organizations creating numerous feasibility assessments every year. While investigating successful firms like Microsoft, it is found that they would never commit to new project without thoroughly examining every variable and then analyzing possibility of success by this study. Here the significance of different kinds of feasibility studies of information system projects is demonstrated.

Types of feasibility studies	Importance Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper
Technical Feasibility	Here transfer of technology between geographical sectors and cultures are assessed.
Managerial feasibility	Here organizational and administrative structure if denoted through the possibility of ensuring that construction of the proponent in submittal is feasible to the type of operations undertaken (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017).
Economic feasibility	This is to generate economic benefits. This is analyzed through breakeven analysis. This is critical even when the nature of the project is non-profitable.
Financial feasibility	Here the capability of project management in raising adequate funds is needed to be implemented. Outside investors and funds are to be considered by proponents regarding their projects. Here, feasibility, sources, applications and soundness are in hindrance. Further, different aspects of economic viability are seen such as creditworthiness, loan schedule, and equity and loan availability (Turner, 2014).
Cultural Feasibility study	Compatibility of this suggested project with a cultural scenario of a project has been inserted into social feasibility. Here, different planned operations are integrated with local cultural practices and beliefs within labor-intensive projects.
Social feasibility	This has been affecting that the project suggested might have on the social system in a project scenario. This is addressed over social usefulness. This has been influencing the social status of participants. This should be analyzed for guaranteeing compatibility. This has been determined by employees in specific industries having particular status symbols under the society.
Safety feasibility	Here another aspect to be considered in project planning is safety feasibility. This has included analysis of projects for ascertaining capacity to deploy and operate security under minimum unfavorable impacts on this environment. Further, in complicated projects, environmental effect analysis if not done correctly (Fuller et al., 2017).
Political Feasibility Study	Here the directions of the suggested projects have been dictated through political considerations. This has been accurate for huge projects with potential visibility important for political implications and government inputs. Moreover, instead of a project’s merit, political necessities have been the origin of the project. Besides, due to political factors, different valuable projects have been facing uncontrollable opposition. This evaluation of project objectives with immediate aims of project systems is needed in the political analysis of feasibility (Hornstein, 2015).
Environmental Feasibility Study	This has been vital to making potential project failed or successful. Here, at every stage of the project, the aspect can be considered. Here, every concern raised or focused must be denoted in environmental feasibility such that proper actions can be regarded as in covering up related issues of that scenario. Further, the ability to acquire the needed permits, licenses and approvals at reasonable costs are also involved in this sector.
Market Feasibility Study	The potential influences over market demand, available market share and competitive activities that the project has not been considered in an analysis of market feasibility (Harrison & Lock, 2017). After this start-up, commercial start up and ramp up stages of projects, and possible competitive tasks are to be assessed for contingency funding and effects on operating expenses.

Since the above feasibility analysis has been very much time consuming and costly a primary study is to be undertaken for finding whether that can be worthwhile. This is to proceed for feasibility analysis under preliminary study. Here evaluation of alternatives must be made though short “Cost and Benefit” analysis. This must be conducted as the project manages discusses every project ideas and probable cases. This should be only when the outcomes are positive and thus, feasibility study starts.

The project communication management has included procedures needed to assure timely and proper collection, planning, creating, distribution, storage, retrieval, management and monitoring, controlling and ultimate disposition of project information. The managers have needed to spend most of their time to communicate with team members and various other project stakeholders. These have been internal and external to those organizations (Meredith et al., 2014). This has developed the bridge between multiple stakeholders having distinct organizational and cultural background, different expertise levels, interests and perspectives affecting and putting influence ob project outcome and execution.

Project communication processes are as follows. The first step is communication management. This is to develop communications from stakeholder information requirements and needs and different available organizational resources. The next one is managing communications. Here, the process to create, collect, distribute, store, retrieve and dispose of project data according to communication management planning are done. The next one controls communications where the process includes control and monitor conversations around the complete life cycle of the project. This is to ensure the meeting of information needs (Walker, 2015).

Importance

Here, the aim of project communication management ensures timely and proper collection, storage, distribution and creation of project information. Here, communication is so vital that it turns out to be an intrinsic part of successful projects. All those projects have been including an effective communication management plan and a document guiding project communications. This has turned out to be a part of a complete project plan. This has been varying with the necessities of the projects. An efficient project manager has needed to spend most of the time in making communication with the project. The communication management has required to be planned during the starting of the project. This communication plan has needed to determine the communication and information necessities of stakeholders. There must be a determination of who needs what information, what kind of information is necessary and in what detail and the goal to communicate and how the data can be provided to them (Heagney, 2016).

As all the elements are known to belong to the project schedule, one can begin to analyze where the various tools for project management used. Here there are multiple ways to approach project scheduling from experience and complicacy of the project. These methods are simple and are particularly for smaller projects. Besides, for a massive project with numerous activities, resources and dependencies, the list must not be feasible to have the complete view and tracking of that project.

Scheduling techniques and tools	Discussion
Gantt Chart	Depending on task dependencies and availability of resources, the bars are sequential and can be run in parallel.
Schedule network analysis	As projects progress constant study of network diagram is to be checked to assure that the project is on track.
Critical Path method	This determines the following activities taking the longest time to finish, identify dependencies between tasks in proper order. This also determines adding time is every task over a critical path, the earliest time that the project can be finished (Mir & Pinnington, 2014).
PERT or Program Evaluation and Review Technique	Here for every activity, three estimates have been obtained, shortest time, longest time and most likely time.
Schedule compression	This is shortened in two ways. The first one is crashing or using more resources than that has been tasked with every task. The second one is fast-tracking or adjusting schedule having mindful of task dependencies, and more activities are done in parallel than planned (Fleming & Koppelman, 2016).
Risk multipliers	This includes including of time or resource contingency regarding actions considered to be at enormous risk of overrunning.
Resource tools and techniques	The first one is levelling. This has involved adjustment of tasks under the schedule to assure that there has been a minimal peak and through this use of resources. It has been ensuring effective methods of those resources. This has been helping project managers towards the right resources as needed for more complex tasks. The next one is a critical chain process (Serra & Kunc, 2015). The acts are planned in the focus of the latest probable beginning and finishing of dates. This extra time has resulted between few activities and is used for better use of resources. Lastly, there are resource histograms where the column chart has depicted the resources used on a project in due time.

Through looking at the complete process of risk management included in these projects, one can fetch critical phases in those processes for risk identification. Here the actual risks and the sources are recognized. Errors or mistakes as failure to spot those risks at previous stages of investment projects have been leading to severe outcomes at project implementation and operation stages (Lock, 2017). Moreover, failure to recognize various risk sources at stages of risk identification has been resulting in improper risk quantification and wrong response planning.

There have been various well-established techniques and tools to manage project risks. There have been different project management techniques and tools that are categorized as per the stages of the risk management process. There have also been various background processes involving techniques and tools of requirement management, prototyping training methods (Richardson, Earnhardt & Marion, 2015). The AS/NZS 4360:2004 standard has reported multiple technologies and tools to identify risks as checklists, brainstorming flow-charts, scenario analysis, judgment from records and methods of system engineering. This standard has provided numerous sources of data for risk analysis. This includes previous documents, prototypes and experiments, expert and prototype judgment, relates literature surveys, market researches, engineering and economic and various models, instances of tools for risk analysis including structured interviews with different expert areas of interest (Kerzner, 2017).

Feasibility Study Techniques and Tools

Depending on the kind of investment project, project managers or risk managers have been freely selecting and modifying those methods. The efficiency of risk identification processes used, in the investment projects has meant positive impacts in this area (Sánchez, 2015). Hence concerning effects of risk identifications, the sources of risks are to be identified. The negative events are to be identified probably happening and leading to failure. Besides, there has been an identification of risk effects that has been especially vital to assure more effective protection against risks. This is through additional insurances, developing reserves or meaningful risk distribution. This is among investment project participants across the contracts (Teller, Kock & Gemünden, 2014).

Conclusion:

Here, a discussion is made on how project quality management planning has been providing adequate standards in controlling global projects. There have been sufficient logics regarding cultural awareness, legal issues and training. Further, there has been an analysis of input and value of project related legal issues and ethnic differences of cultures. The study helps in understanding that to control and monitor the project during this phase, the managers require implementing various ranges of management procedures. Here, the methods have been helpful to manage issues, risks, changes, quality, cost and time. This is also helpful to control customer acceptance, communications and procurements. Moreover, it is vital to note that quality controls of projects are highly crucial to the project cycle.

References:

Fleming, Q. W., & Koppelman, J. M. (2016, December). Earned value project management. Project Management Institute.

Fuller, M. A., Valacich, J. S., George, J. F., & Schneider, C. (2017). Information Systems Project Management: A Process and Team Approach, Edition 1.1. Prospect Press.

Harrison, F., & Lock, D. (2017). Advanced project management: a structured approach. Routledge.

Heagney, J. (2016). Fundamentals of project management. Amacom.

Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), 291-298.

Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards: a guide to measuring and monitoring project performance. John Wiley & Sons.

Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Lock, D. (2017). The essentials of project management. Routledge.

Meredith, J. R., Mantel, S. J., Shafer, S. M., & Sutton, M. M. (2014). Project management in practice. Wiley.

Mir, F. A., & Pinnington, A. H. (2014). Exploring the value of project management: linking project management performance and project success. International journal of project management, 32(2), 202-217.

Richardson, T. M., Earnhardt, M. P., & Marion, J. W. (2015). Is project management still an accidental profession? A qualitative study of career trajectory. SAGE Open, 5(1), 2158244015572098.

Sánchez, M. A. (2015). Integrating sustainability issues into project management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 96, 319-330.

Serra, C. E. M., & Kunc, M. (2015). Benefits realisation management and its influence on project success and on the execution of business strategies. International Journal of Project Management, 33(1), 53-66.

Teller, J., Kock, A., & Gemünden, H. G. (2014). Risk management in project portfolios is more than managing project risks: A contingency perspective on risk management. Project Management Journal, 45(4), 67-80.

Turner, J. R. (2014). Handbook of project-based management(Vol. 92). New York, NY: McGraw-hill.

Walker, A. (2015). Project management in construction. John Wiley & Sons.