Feasibility Study Quarter

Feasibility Study Quarter (hereinafter, the Quarter) is the first of four lectures of Operations Quadrivium (hereinafter, the Quadrivium):

• The Quarter is designed to introduce its learners to enterprise discovery, or, in other words, to concepts related to obtaining data needed to administer the enterprise effort; and
• The Quadrivium examines concepts of administering various types of enterprises known as enterprise administration as a whole.

The Quadrivium is the first of seven modules of Septem Artes Administrativi, which is a course designed to introduce its learners to general concepts in business administration, management, and organizational behavior.

Outline

The predecessor lecture is Idea Generation Quarter.

Recitals

Strategy analysis is the enterprise effort undertaken in order to analyze concepts generated during strategy discovery with regard to their feasibility. The analysis can be divided in four batches:

1. To discover the concepts generated during strategy discovery;
2. To analyze feasibilities of the discovered concepts;
3. To select most feasible concepts;
4. To formulate the selected concepts and the reasons that make them most feasible for their further selection or, in other words, as the input for strategy design.

Concepts

1. Feasibility study. In enterprise administration, an assessment of the practical potential of a proposed change. Depending on the nature of the proposed change and the complexity of its implementation, this assessment may consist of one or more evaluations. If the proposed change implementation is a single project, a cost-benefit analysis may be needed. If the proposed change refers to the enterprise portfolio, another evaluation, portfolio appraisal, is needed. A feasibility study is especially feasible itself when its change stimulus is a business opportunity. If its change stimulus is a business need, complete feasibility study is not necessarily needed; cost analysis can be sufficient enough. The change support analysis may be feasible for bureaucracies.
   • Feasibility study. An evaluation of proposed alternatives to determine if they are technically possible within the constraints of the organization and whether they will deliver the desired benefits to the organization.
   • Change. In enterprise administration, the act or instance of becoming different and/or doing business differently.
   • Organizational change. Creation and/or creative alteration of how the organization conducts its overall business and/or what it offers to its stakeholders. The change can include its enterprise portfolio, organizational structure, people, work environment, technology, etc.
   • Competitive strategy change. Creation and/or creative alternation of a competitive strategy. This proposed change may be a new or existing product on the market, its scope or features, pricing, presentations, production personnel, and/or way of production usually in order to (a) offer new and/or additional benefits to the customer and/or (b) serve some organizational needs.
   • Unexpected change. Change activities that are unintentional and not necessarily goal oriented.
   • Planned change. Change activities that are intentional and goal oriented.
   • Proposed change. Any change that is proposed to be implemented.
   • Proposed change implementation. The implementation of the proposed change. This implementation can be a project or a strategic decision, especially related to the enterprise portfolio.
2. Idea evaluation. An appraisal of potential solutions to problems to identify the best one.
   • Evaluation. The systematic and objective assessment of a solution to determine its status and efficacy in meeting objectives over time, and to identify ways to improve the solution to better meet objectives. See also metric, indicator and monitoring.
   • Domain. The problem area undergoing analysis.
   • Opportunity analysis. The process of examining new business opportunities to improve organizational performance.
   • Enterprise environmental complexity. The number of components in an enterprise's environment and the extent of the enterprise's knowledge about its components.
   • Enterprise environmental uncertainty. The degree of change and complexity in an enterprise's environment.
   • Social screening. Approving social criteria (screens) to investment decisions.
   • Idea prioritization. The process that arranges proposed changes in order of importance relative to each other.
     1. Prioritization. The process of determining the relative importance of a set of items in order to determine the order in which they will be addressed.
   • Abstraction. The ability of engineers to think of design concepts that are not dependent on specific solutions.
3. Cost-benefit analysis. Studies of the difference between the change benefit estimate, which is what the enterprise is going to obtain, and change cost estimate, which is what the enterprise is going to lose, is the primary target of the feasibility study if the proposed change is a project.
   • Cost-benefit analysis. Analysis done to compare and quantify the financial and non-financial costs of making a change or implementing a solution compared to the benefits gained.
   • Change cost estimate. The expected total cost of a set of enterprise efforts undertaken in order to implement a proposed change when it is implemented. In other words, it is what the enterprise is going to lose as a result of the proposed change implementation. Because the cost likely depends on the payroll and the payroll depends on work time, a schedule estimate needs to be evaluated before the cost. Because the schedule likely depends on the work to be accomplished, a effort estimate needs to be evaluated before the schedule. Because the work definitely depends on the product scope, a product scope needs to be developed first of all.
     1. Product scope. All the features and functions that characterize a product.
     2. Effort estimate. The expected effort or work that needs to be accomplished to deliver a product with the specified features and functions.
     3. Schedule estimate. The expected time of the delivery of a product with the specified features and functions.
   • Readiness assessment. An assessment that describes whether stakeholders are prepared to accept the change associated with a solution and are able to use it effectively.
     1. Business capability. A function of an organization that enables it to achieve a business goal or objective.
     2. Compliance feasibility. An assessment of how the proposed change would conflict with legal, corporate, and other mandated requirements.
     3. Integration feasibility. An assessment of how the proposed change would conflict with existing systems that the enterprise already employs.
   • Impact analysis. An impact analysis assesses the effects that a proposed change will have on a stakeholder or stakeholder group, project, or system. This analysis estimates the expected total value that the enterprise is going to obtain after a proposed change is implemented. In other words, it is what the enterprise is going to obtain as a result of the proposed change implementation. This expected value may have several components and, therefore, several evaluations may be needed. The components may include political, economic, social, and technological benefits. compliance and integration feasibilities may be needed to be assessed before the benefit evaluations.
     1. Political benefit. A political advantage gained from the proposed change implementation.
     2. Economic benefit. A profit gained from the proposed change implementation.
     3. Social benefit. A social advantage gained from the proposed change implementation.
     4. Technological benefit. A technological advantage gained from the proposed change implementation.
4. Market analysis. Studies of the attractiveness, the risks, and the dynamics of the market that is identified by the analysis' buyer. Sometimes, market research is considered being the first phase of the market analysis.
   • Market. A place or space in which commercial dealings are conducted including a regular gathering of people for the purchase and sale of products. Collectively, the buyers create the market demand; the sellers create the market supply.
   • Planned economy. An economic system in which economic decisions are planned by a central government.
   • Free market economy. An economic system in which resources are primarily owned and controlled by the private sector.
   • Competitive intelligence. The ability to control market research, to identify the data about the competitors, to process the identified data in order to acquire knowledge, and to apply the knowledge towards understanding and anticipating competitors' actions rather than merely react to them.
     1. Competition. The activity or condition of competing on the market. The buyers may compete over purchases of a product; more frequently, the sellers compete over sales of a product.
     2. Competitive analysis. A structured process which captures the key characteristics of an industry to predict the long-term profitability prospects and to determine the practices of the most significant competitors.
     3. Competitor analysis. Performing an audit or conducting user testing of competing websites and apps; writing a report that summarises the competitive landscape.
   • Valuation. The process by which a company's worth or value is determined. An analyst will look at capital structure, management team, and revenue or potential revenue, among other things.
5. Portfolio appraisal. An appraisal of practical potentials of enterprise portfolios undertaken in order to identify the best one.
   • Enterprise portfolio. A collection of all businesses in which a particular organization is.
   • Startup business (or, simply, startup). A business in its search of its business model or its ways of making money.
   • Startup. A startup company is a company in the early stages of operations. Startups are usually seeking to solve a problem of fill a need, but there is no hard-and-fast rule for what makes a startup. A company is considered a startup until they stop referring to themselves as a startup.
   • Ongoing business. A business that executes its business model in order to make money.
6. Change support analysis. An evaluation of the stakeholder support of the and, vice versa, the resistance to this change.
   • Restraining force. A force that hinders movement from the existing equilibrium (Kurt Lewin).
   • Driving force. A force that directs behavior away from status quo (Kurt Lewin).

Roles

1. Change agent. An individual who acts as a catalyst and assumes the responsibility for supporting proposed change implementation.
2. Idea champion. An individual who takes on a particular change and actively and enthusiastically promote the change idea, build support, overcome resistance, and ensure that the change is implemented.
3. Subject matter expert (SME). A stakeholder with specific expertise in an aspect of the problem domain or potential solution alternatives or components.
   • Implementation subject matter expert (SME). A stakeholder who will be responsible for designing, developing, and implementing the change described in the requirements and have specialized knowledge regarding the construction of one or more solution components.
   • Domain subject matter expert (SME). A person with specific expertise in an area or domain under investigation.
4. Investor.
   • Angel investor. A private investor or group of private investors who offers financial backing to an entrepreneurial venture in return for equity in the venture.
   • Angel investor. Individual who provides a small amount of capital to a startup for a stake in the company. Typically precedes a Seed Round and usually happens when the startup is in its infancy.
   • Venture capitalist. External equity financing provided by professionally managed pools of investor money.
   • Venture capitalist. An individual investor, working for a venture capital firm, that chooses to invest in specific companies. Venture capitalists typically have a focused market or sector that they know well and invest in.
5. Customer (or Client). The person or group of people who are the direct beneficiary of a particular product or service. Idealy, these are the people for whom the product is designed.

Methods

1. Idea evaluation technique. An established procedure for carrying out idea evaluation.
   • Visual comparison. An idea evaluation technique that represents a comparison of two or more proposed ideas by eye. The ideas may be placed side by side, overlaid, or being dynamically alternated. This technique also include a pairwise comparison.
   • Scoring. An idea evaluation technique that encourages its participants to score proposed changes with one or more criteria in order to prioritize those changes. This technique also include the five star assessment and pass or fail test. Those techniques can be implemented in various ways, either online or onsite, including a simple or anonymous voting.
   • Proof of concept. Evidence, typically derived from an experiment or pilot project, which demonstrates that a design concept, business proposal, etc., is feasible.
     1. Proof of concept. A demonstration of the feasibility of a concept or idea that a startup is based on. Many VCs require proof of concept if you wish to pitch to them.
2. Due diligence. An analysis an investor makes of all the facts and figures of a potential investment. Can include an investigation of financial records and a measure of potential ROI.
   • ROI estimating. An idea evaluation technique that represents an attempt to expect the return on investment (ROI) ratio for a proposed change.
   • ROI. This is the much-talked-about "return on investment." It's the money an investor gets back as a percentage of the money he or she has invested in a venture. For example, if a VC invests $2 million for a 20 percent share in a company and that company is bought out for $40 million, the VC's return is $8 million.
   • Funding. The act of providing financial resources, usually in the form of money, or other values such as effort or time, to finance a need, program, and project, usually by an organization.
   • Equity crowdfunding. The online offering of private company securities to a group of people for investment and therefore it is a part of the capital markets.
   • Venture capital (VC). Money provided by venture capital firms to small, high-risk, startup companies with major growth potential.
3. Project estimate technique. An established procedure for carrying out project estimating.
   • Precedence diagramming method (PDM). A network diagramming technique in which activities are represented by boxes (or nodes). Activities are linked by precedence relationships to show the sequence in which the activities are to be performed.
   • Critical path method (CPM). A network analysis technique used to predict project duration by analyzing which sequence of activities (which path) has the least amount of scheduling flexibility (the least amount of float). Early dates are calculated by means of a forward pass, using a specified start date. Late dates are calculated by means of a backward pass, starting from a specified completion date (usually the forward pass' calculated project early finish date).
   • Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT). An event-oriented network analysis technique used to estimate program duration when there is uncertainty in the individual activity duration estimates. PERT applies the critical path method using durations that are computed by a weighted average of optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely duration estimates. PERT computes the standard deviation of the completion date from those of the path's activity durations.
     1. PERT network. A flowchart diagram showing the sequence of activities needed to complete a project and the time or cost associated with each.
     2. PERT activity. The time or resource needed to progress from one event to another in a PERT network.
     3. PERT event. End point that represents the completion of major activities in a PERT network.
4. Three-step risk evaluation technique. A three-step pattern used to evaluate risks. Risks are identified first, qualitatively analyzed second, and those, that are selected as the most important ones, quantitatively analyzed third.
   • Risk identification. Determining which risks might affect the project and documenting their characteristics.
   • Qualitative risk analysis. Performing a qualitative analysis of risks and conditions to prioritize their effects on project objectives. It involves assessing the probability and impact of project risk(s) and using methods such as the probability and impact matrix to classify risks into categories of high, moderate, and low for prioritized risk response planning.
   • Quantitative risk analysis. Measuring the probability and consequences of risks and estimating their implications for project objectives. Risks are characterized by probability distributions of possible outcomes. This process uses quantitative techniques such as simulation and decision tree analysis.
5. Assumptions analysis. A technique that explores the assumptions' accuracy and identifies risks to the project from inaccuracy, inconsistency, or incompleteness of assumptions.
   • Assumption. Assumptions are influencing factors that are believed to be true but have not been confirmed to be accurate.
6. Force field analysis. A graphical method for depicting the forces that support and oppose a proposed change. Involves identifying the forces, depicting them on opposite sides of a line (supporting and opposing forces) and then estimating the strength of each set of forces.

Instruments

1. • Affinity diagramming. A business tool used to organise a large number of ideas, sorting them into groups based on their natural relationships, for review and analysis.
2. Idea evaluation tool. A tangible or software implement used to carry out idea evaluation.
   • Pros and cons table. An idea evaluation tool that usually represents two columns, one of the advantages called "pros" and another for disadvantages called "cons."
   • What if question. An idea and risk evaluation tool that encourages asking "What if?" while evaluating an idea.
   • Should we question. An idea evaluation tool that encourages asking "Should we?" while evaluating an idea.
3. Gantt chart. A project tool that represents actual and planned output over a period of time. In other words, it is a graphic display of schedule-related information. In the typical Gantt chart, activities or other project elements are listed down the left side of the chart, dates are shown across the top, and activity durations are shown as date-placed horizontal bars. The chart was initially developed by Henry Gantt.
   • Gantt chart. A project management tool in the form of a bar chart showing the start and finish dates of activities.
   • Load chart. A modified Gantt chart that schedules capacity by entire departments or specific resources.
4. Market analysis tool. A tangible or software implement used to carry out market analysis.
   • SWOT framework. A market analysis tool that maps the analysis of the organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
     1. Strength. Any activity the organization does well or its unique resource.
     2. Weakness. An activity the organization does not do well or a resource it needs but does not possess.
     3. Opportunity. A positive trend in the external environment.
     4. Threat. A negative trend in the external environment.
   • SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It is a model used to understand influencing factors and how they may affect an initiative.
   • Porter's five forces framework. A market analysis tool that maps the analysis of competition of a business. The five forces include (a) threat of new entrants, (b) threat of substitutes, (c) bargaining power of customers, (d) bargaining power of suppliers, and (e) industry rivalry.
5. BCG matrix. A strategy tool that guides resource allocation decisions on the basis of market share and growth rate of strategic business units.
   • Strategic business unit. A single independent business of an organization that formulates its own competitive strategy.

Results

• Business case. An assessment of the costs and benefits associated with a proposed initiative.

Practices

1. Methods and instruments used for stakeholder engagement can be always or nearly always applied to change support analysis.
2. Some researches agree that the SWOT framework shall be outsourced if an enterprise decides to employ it.

The successor lecture is Business Modeling Quarter.