Feasibility Studies, Team Dynamics, and Building the Work Breakdown Structure

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Feasibility Studies, Team Dynamics, and Building the Work Breakdown Structure

System Analysis and Design · Chapter 9: Project Management, Scheduling, and QualitySection 9.5 · lesson 64 of 698 min · free with a free account

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In this lesson

5 feasibility checks, ROI, payback and NPV, Tuckman's stages, and the work breakdown structure.

  • Identify the 5 types of feasibility, and what each assesses
  • Apply ROI, payback period, and NPV
  • Describe Tuckman's stages, and common sources of team conflict
  • Construct a WBS with work packages and a WBS dictionary

Transcript

Everything said in the video, section by section (1,069 words). Read along, or search it.

Project Management, Scheduling, and Quality

Feasibility, Teams, and the WBS

Before a project is committed to, someone has to check that it can succeed, and plan who will do what. This section covers five kinds of feasibility, three tools for weighing costs against benefits, and how teams develop, and clash. Then the work breakdown structure, which turns a project's scope into assignable pieces of work.

Before Committing Resources

5 Types of Feasibility

Before committing real resources, an analyst checks feasibility along five dimensions. Technical feasibility asks whether it can be built with the technology, skills, and infrastructure available. Economic feasibility asks whether the expected benefits justify the costs. Legal feasibility asks whether it complies with laws, regulations, and contracts. Operational feasibility asks whether the organization will actually use it, and whether it fits existing processes. And schedule feasibility asks whether it can be finished in the time actually available. A project can pass one check and fail another. A system that is affordable and technically achievable still fails operational feasibility, if employees refuse to change their workflow to use it.

Cost-Benefit (1 of 2)

ROI and the Payback Period

Economic feasibility is usually backed by numbers. Take a system that costs fifty thousand dollars to build, and saves twenty thousand dollars a year for four years. Return on investment compares net benefit to cost. Total benefits are eighty thousand dollars. Subtract the fifty thousand cost, and the net benefit is thirty thousand. Thirty thousand, divided by fifty thousand, is a return on investment of sixty percent. The payback period is how long it takes for cumulative savings to equal the investment. After year one, twenty thousand is saved. After year two, forty thousand. The last ten thousand takes half of year three's savings, so the payback period is two and a half years.

Cost-Benefit (2 of 2)

Net Present Value

Return on investment and payback share a blind spot. They ignore the time value of money. A dollar saved next year is worth less than a dollar saved today. Net present value, or N P V, discounts each future year's benefit back to today's value, before comparing it with the upfront cost. At an eight percent discount rate, year one's twenty thousand dollars is worth about eighteen thousand, five hundred today. Each later year is worth a little less, down to about fourteen thousand, seven hundred in year four. Together, the four years are worth about sixty-six thousand, two hundred dollars today. Subtract the fifty thousand dollar investment, and the net present value is about sixteen thousand, two hundred dollars. It is positive, so the project is worth pursuing. A negative N P V would say it is not. And a project whose benefits arrive slowly can show a healthy return on investment, yet a weak net present value.

Figure 9.5a

Tuckman's Stages of Team Development

Teams do not become effective the moment they are formed. Bruce Tuckman's model describes five stages most teams move through. Forming. Members are polite and uncertain, and rely on the leader. Storming. Conflict surfaces, as working styles and roles clash. Norming. Norms and trust build, and roles settle. Performing. Trust and productivity are high. And adjourning. The work wraps up, and the team disbands. The path is not strictly one-way. A smooth team that gains two new members may find conflict returning. It has been pushed back into storming. That is a normal part of the cycle, and the team can move back through norming toward performing.

Team Conflict

Sources, and Constructive Responses

Conflict is most likely during storming, but it can resurface whenever membership or direction changes. Differing goals, where members optimize for different outcomes, are answered by revisiting the shared objective. Role ambiguity, where no one is sure who owns a decision, is answered by clarifying ownership explicitly, in writing. Working-style differences, over pace, process, or communication, are answered by agreeing on shared norms. And competition for limited time, budget, or attention is answered by making trade-offs and priorities explicit. Not all conflict is harmful. Disagreement over ideas and approach, handled constructively, often improves the outcome. Conflict rooted in personality clashes, or unclear roles, tends to be destructive if it is left alone.

Figure 9.5b

A Work Breakdown Structure

A work breakdown structure, or W B S, decomposes a project's total scope into progressively smaller pieces. Here, an intranet redesign splits into four parts. Requirements and planning, design, development, and testing and launch. Each part splits again, into work packages, such as create wireframes, or build back-end. A work package is small enough to assign, estimate, and track on its own. Every W B S follows the one hundred percent rule. The pieces at every level must account for exactly all of the project's scope. No more, and no less. A W B S with design and development, but no testing, breaks that rule. The testing work would never be planned, estimated, or assigned.

The WBS Dictionary

Defining Each Work Package

Each work package is then documented in a W B S dictionary. Take create wireframes. It produces low-fidelity layouts for all core intranet pages. It is owned by the U X designer, takes five days, and is accepted when the product owner approves wireframes for every page. Or build back-end. It covers the server-side logic, database schema, and A P Is. It is owned by the back-end developer, takes fifteen days, and is accepted when every endpoint passes integration testing and matches the spec. That detail is what lets each package be assigned, estimated, and later verified as complete.

Key Terms

The Vocabulary of This Section

Let's lock in the key terms. Operational feasibility asks whether the organization will actually adopt the system. Return on investment compares net benefit to cost. The payback period is the time to recover the investment. Net present value discounts future benefits to today's value, and subtracts the investment. A work package is the smallest unit of a W B S, small enough to assign, estimate, and track. The one hundred percent rule says every level of a W B S covers exactly the whole scope. And a W B S dictionary defines each work package's scope, owner, and acceptance criteria.

Key Takeaways

What to Carry Forward

To pull this together. Technical, economic, legal, operational, and schedule feasibility are all assessed separately, because a project can pass one and fail another. Return on investment and payback are simple, but ignore the time value of money. Net present value accounts for it. Tuckman's five stages, forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning, describe how most teams develop. Task-focused conflict can improve a project, while role and personality conflict tends to harm it. And a W B S decomposes a project down to work packages under the one hundred percent rule, with a W B S dictionary defining each one.

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Universities that work with NCCRS

System Analysis and Design carries a NCCRS credit recommendation. These universities work with NCCRS; some are UPI Study's signed partners. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.

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FAQ

Questions students ask us

About Feasibility Studies, Team Dynamics, and Building the Work Breakdown Structure

What are the five types of feasibility in a feasibility study?
The five types are technical, economic, legal, operational, and schedule feasibility. Technical asks whether the system can be built with available technology and skills. Economic asks whether benefits justify costs. Legal checks compliance with laws, regulations, and contracts. Operational asks whether the organization will actually use it, and schedule asks whether it can be finished in the available time. A project can pass one check and fail another.
How do you calculate ROI and payback period for an IT project?
Return on investment is net benefit divided by cost, and the payback period is the time until cumulative savings equal the investment. A system costing $50,000 that saves $20,000 a year for four years yields $80,000 in benefits and $30,000 net, so ROI is 60 percent. Savings reach $40,000 after two years, and the remaining $10,000 takes half of year three, giving a payback of 2.5 years.
Why is net present value better than ROI for judging a project?
Net present value accounts for the time value of money, which ROI and payback ignore. NPV discounts each future year's benefit to today's value before subtracting the upfront cost. At an 8 percent rate, $20,000 a year for four years is worth about $66,200 today, so a $50,000 investment has an NPV of about $16,200. A positive NPV suggests the project is worth pursuing.
What is the 100 percent rule in a work breakdown structure?
The 100 percent rule says the pieces at every level of a work breakdown structure must account for exactly all of the project's scope, no more and no less. A WBS decomposes scope down to work packages small enough to assign, estimate, and track. If a WBS lists design and development but leaves out testing, the testing work is never planned, estimated, or assigned.

About the System Analysis and Design course

How many college credits is System Analysis and Design?
System Analysis and Design (Computer Science 390) carries a NCCRS credit recommendation for 3 semester credits. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.
How much does System Analysis and Design cost and what is included?
$250, paid once, with lifetime access: all 69 video lessons, a practice quiz after each, the graded work and final exam, and an official transcript when you finish. Students who want several courses choose UPI Study PRO instead.
Which universities accept UPI Study credits?
UPI Study has signed partner agreements with universities such as Thomas Edison State University, University of the People and Charter Oak State College, and works with universities such as Penn State, SNHU and SUNY. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities. Use "Find my college" on this page to check yours.
How long does System Analysis and Design take?
It is self-paced with no deadlines. The 69 lessons total about 9 hours of video; most students add reading and practice time and finish in a few weeks to a few months, on their own schedule.
How are the exams done?
Quizzes and assignments are online in the course. The final exam is taken online with proctoring; a person on the UPI Study team checks assignments, usually within two days.
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