Case- IT systems are a major capital investment and the systems analyst is called to investigate the feasibility of a system and help answer the questions - Will the system pay for itself? In how long will it pay off? Are the other technologies that will have a better return on the investment? Module 3 emphasizes the need of making management recommendations in a proposal called the feasibility study report. Feasibility is defined as the value that an IT system will provide to the organization in terms of tangible and intangible benefits. Following the problem analysis definition and requirements, the feasibility study is prepared considering elements such as economic, technical, operational, schedule, legal/contractual, and political challenges. This analysis determines the readiness and worthiness of an IT system, and the category domains are defined as follows.
Economic - What is the TCO (total cost of ownership)? Is the ROI positive?
Technical - Is hardware available? Do we need to purchase it?
Operational - Are resources available? Do we need training and change management plans?
Schedule - Can the system be available within a reasonable time?
Legal - Are permissions being filed with state and federal regulations?
Political - Is the system in compliance with federal and state agencies?