Effective Project Management

Section A Feasibility Studies

Proper preparation prevents poor performance

Anon.

The principal reasons why projects are undertaken (with some generic examples) are:

Financial:	Oil refinery, Channel Tunnel, business change
Social:	Schools, hospitals, and so on
Strategic:	Enter a new market; military equipment
Legislation:	Environmental and safety laws
Political:	Millennium Dome; Scottish Parliament.

Whilst a single project may have elements of all of the above, usually one reason is overriding and will decide the project's future. Most projects that are the focus of this book will be about making money. Financial appraisal is relatively straightforward, and a detailed explanation is given in Part V, Section H. The remaining four involve weighing up morals, values, social attitudes, and so on; this makes their assessment both subjective and difficult.

The owner's decisions prior to a feasibility study for a particular project and the decision to locate in a particular country are not considered in this book. However, a country risk assessment is covered in Part V, Section M Risk and Risk List, subsection 5. In addition, the basis of this section is that the owner does not have the resources to perform a full feasibility study, using their own resources. Consequently, they have employed a contractor to carry out the study in conjunction with their own personnel.

A feasibility study is carried out following a positive outcome of prefeasibility assessments ...