Feasibility Analysis

Feasibility Analysis 3 types of feasibility

Financial Organizational Technical

Feasibility Information Gathering Tasks

1. 2.

Define the business and work environments Describe current system of work

3.
4.

Identify key benefits and leverage points

Identify broad system requirements

Feasibility Analysis
Leverage Points

Business or application benefits that provide competitive advantage.

Examples: Increase market share Increase linkage to vendors or customers Provide desired information that is not currently available

Tangible Benefits

Measurable benefits Examples: Decrease operating cost by 10% this year Increase market share by 5% per year for three years Decrease headcount by 5%

Intangible Benefits

Non-quantifiable
Examples:

Increase goodwill Improve company image Increase customer satisfaction Improve employee job satisfaction Provide faster and more accurate information to customer services representatives Preventive Avoid staff increase

Sources of Risk Hardware Risks

Not installed when needed Cannot do the job Does not work as advertised Installation not prepared in time, insufficient, wrong Hardware delivery incorrect, with damage

Software Risks

Not installed when needed Cannot do the job Does not work as advertised Contains undocumented features that cause compromise on application requirements

Group Risks

Key person(s) quit, are promoted, go on jury duty, etc. Skill levels inadequate Training not in time to benefit the project

Project Management Risks

Schedule not accurate Budget not sufficient Manager change

User Risks
Quits, transfers, is replaced Not cooperative Not supportive Does not spend as much time as original commitment requested

Computer Risks

Test time insufficient Inadequate disk space, computer time

Developing Technical Alternatives

Define the overall application concept Evaluate usefulness of existing hardware/software If new equipment or software is needed:

Determine data sharing requirements Determine the criticality of data to the company

If shared or critical data, select equipment (either LAN or mainframe) and software that allow centralized control over data. If non-critical and single location, select the smallest equipment that allows centralized control. If non-critical and multi-location settings, consider decentralizing or distributing the application.

Define special hardware/software requirements

More on Technical Alternatives

Performance SLA, environment Information I/O form and format Economy budget, cost/benefit Control audit & security: physical, logical Efficiency improves work flow and practice Services functionality and operational support

Security Review Topics

1. Physical facility -- fire prevention, fire drills, and minimize threats from fire. 2. Electrical routing, distribution of power, backup power, etc. 3. Environmental monitoring and control mechanisms, e.g., 'housekeeping' functions of the maintenance staff. 4. Evaluate and protect against:
o o o o o Storm, bomb threat, etc. Unwanted external perimeter access. Unauthorized use of equipment. Unauthorized computer access. Potential database damage.

Data Security Design Process

Users and IS developers consider each process and the data being manipulated, to define classes of users and their allowable actions. A hierarchy of access rights is built to identify, by data item, which actions are allowed by which class of users. A scheme for implementing the access restrictions is designed for the application.

Backup Design Guidelines

Length of Loss Type of Backup

1 Week or longer

Weekly Full with Offsite storage

1 Day

Above + Daily Incremental/Full

1 Hour

Above + 1 or more types of DBMS Logging Above + All DBMS Logging Capabilities: Transaction, PreUpdate and PostUpdate Logs

15 Minutes

Conversion Activities
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Identify current and future locations for all data items. Define edit and validate criteria for all attributes. Define data conversion activities. Define options for data conversion. Recommend and gain approval for data conversion strategy. 6. Develop a schedule for data conversion based on estimates of time to convert one data item. 7. Define options for application conversion and implementation. (direct cutover, geographic, functional or other incremental option). 8. Recommend and gain approval for implementation strategy.

Feasibility Study Documentation

Management Summary Overview of the business and
work environments Current system of work Key benefits and leverage points Broad system requirements

Recommendations

Functional, technical, etc. recommendations Benefits

Financial Feasibility Organizational Feasibility Technological Feasibility Technical Alternatives

Tangible Intangible

Key Leverage Points Risks & Contingency plans

Schedule & responsibilities for next steps