Before implementing a digital project, a business must determine if the project is feasible. “Feasible” means that the project can actually be delivered and will bring a benefit to the business.
In this lesson, we’ll learn about the factors that determine the feasibility of a digital project:
When looking at building a new system, the overall benefit to the business must be assessed. There is no point in spending time and money implementing a new IT system if it doesn’t make things better for the business or its employees.
The benefits of a digital project can include increased efficiency, better user experience, improved data management, increased collaboration and communication, and cost savings. However, these benefits are not guaranteed and may vary depending on the specific project.
On the other hand, the drawbacks of a digital project can include technical problems, high development costs, maintenance expenses, employee resistance, and data privacy concerns.
For example, let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of implementing an automated stock control system (much like we learnt about last lesson) within a business.
Imagine a company was planning on replacing its local network storage with a cloud-based storage service. What might be the benefits and drawbacks of this?
Another critical aspect of determining the feasibility of a digital project is to assess the risks, constraints and dependencies involved.
Risks are problems that may or may not occur during the project development that could cause the project to fail. Risks may include:
Constraints are problems or restrictions that you already know exist and limit what can be achieved in the digital project. Constraints may include:
Dependencies are where one task or activity has a relationship to another, i.e. one task may not start until a previous activity has been completed. For example, a digital project may depend on the availability of certain software or hardware, the expertise of certain personnel, or the completion of another project.
Dependencies may belong to one of the following four categories:
Imagine you have been asked to build a Python program for a client. Would your current knowledge level be a risk, a constraint or both? Why is this?
So, to summarise what we’ve learnt in this lesson: