Feasibility Study

What Does Feasibility Study Mean?

A feasibility study is a study, usually done by engineers, that establishes whether conditions are right to implement a particular project. Feasibility studies can be done for many purposes, and are sometimes done in IT in order to look at feasibility for new hardware and software setups.

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Techopedia Explains Feasibility Study

Sometimes a feasibility study is done as part of a systems development lifecycle, in order to drive precision for the implementation of technologies. Engineers might look at a five-point model called TELOS — this includes the following components:

  • Technical
  • Economic
  • Legal
  • Operational
  • Schedule

Under technical, engineers ask whether the correct technology exists to support a project. Under economic, they look at costs and benefits. Under legal, they look at any barriers to legal implementation, for instance, privacy issues or safety concerns. Under operational, they look at how systems can be maintained after being built. In schedule, they look at chronology for a project.

In general, a feasibility study should cover all of the salient points on whether a project is reasonable, and should have documentation related to any concerns.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…