Feasibility Study for Student Projects

Objectives and Aims

The aim of the feasibility study isto ensure that the student and supervisor understand and agree to the aims and objectives of the project. It should be no more than 10 pages in length, excluding attached proformas. The objective of the study is to establish whether the project is technically and financially feasible and practically viable. It is also important to demonstrate commercial awareness when possible within the context of the particular project. It should include details of the action plan showing how the project work is to be undertaken together with planned time scales and any difficulties foreseen in obtaining components or specific items of hardware or software.

It is very important that your feasibility study is concise, as vagueness will hinder your progress at the start of the project period.

The feasibility study/research proposal must consist of, at least, the following elements:

(a) The FORMAL TITLE of the project, as agreed with the projectsupervisor.

(b) A clear description of the AIMS AND OBJECTIVES.

(c) AN OUTLINE OF THE VARIOUS STAGES OF WORK that will be undertaken during the project, together with the purpose and objectives of each stage in relation to

the overall objectives. Some examples of 'work stages' might be:

· 'Literature search' (objectives here might be to find references to previous work on the topic,or might be to learn about the subject, etc)

· 'Block diagram design' (objective might be to allow a larger problem to be broken down into manageable parts, etc)\

· Experimental design for projects which involve experimental investigation the purpose isto design the actual experiments.

· 'Write pseudo-code' for software based projects (to decide logical integrity of proposed algorithms prior to coding)(d) A PROJECT TIME PLAN / Gant chart for the work stages, showing anticipated start and finish times for each work stage, and for the overall project. Tasks may overlap or run in parallel.

Note:

· A very important part of your project is time management, and how well you manage yourtime is one of the factors used in assessing your project.

· Project plans are NOT intended to be restrictive. It is part of good project management to recognise when time plans are not being met, and to react appropriately either to bring the project back into the planned timescale or to modify the timescale in the light of new information and ideas, if appropriate.

(e) A RISK ASSESSMENT for the project .

(f) Students wishing to undertake an industry-based project will also need to complete and hand the appropriate documentation

Technical documents are created as a means to communicate information for a number of purposes:

• To inform colleagues, supervisors or managers within your organisation about what has been done or found out. Example: tests were performed on a new design of component and there is a need to inform others in the company whether it meets requirements so they can consider using it on a product.

• To communicate with customers or external bodies. Example: a proposal to a customer as part of a bid for work, a report on safety tests on a product to be sent to a regulatory body or a requirements specification provided by a customer that a system must be designed to fulfil.

• To document technical information for the future. Example: a new technology has been developed and the technical information needs to be captured and archived for use in the future or a test procedure has been developed that someone in the future must follow to test a component.

• To inform the wider scientific and engineering community about novel research results. Example: a formal journal paper published in an international technical journal.