• Typical writing situation

• The questions readers ask most often

• Superstructure for feasibility reports

– Introduction

– Criteria

• Two ways of presenting criteria

• Importance of presenting criteria early

• Sources of your criteria

• Four common types of criteria

– Method of obtaining facts

– Overview of alternatives

• Evaluation

– Choose carefully between the alternating and

divided patterns

– Dismiss obviously unsuitable alternatives

– Put your most important point first

• Conclusions

• Recommendations

• Sample outlines

• Planning guide

• Sample feasibility reports

• All feasibility reports share one essential

characteristic: they are written to help

decision-makers choose between two or

more courses of action.

• Even when a feasibility report seems to

focus primarily on one course of action, the

readers are always considering a second

course: to leave things the way they are.

• An example of leaving things the way they

are is to continue to use metal parts rather

than plastic parts in the sailboats.

• In many situations, however, you readers

will already have decided that some change

is necessary and will be choosing between

two or more alternatives to the status quo.

• As they think about the choice they must

make, decision-makers ask many questions.

• From situation to situation, these basic

questions remain the same.

• That’s what makes it possible for one

superstructure to be useful across nearly the

full range of situations in which people

prepare feasibility reports.

• Why is it important for us to consider these

alternatives?

• Are your criteria reasonable and

appropriate?

• Are our facts reliable?

• What are the important features of the

alternatives?

• How do the alternatives tack up against

your criteria?

• What overall conclusions do you draw

about the alternatives?

• What do you think we should do?

• Decision-makers ask this question because

they want to know why they have to make

any choice in the first place.

• Your readers may need a detailed

explanation of a problem to appreciate the

importance of considering alternative

courses of action.

• On the other hand, if the readers are familiar

with the problem, they may see the

importance of considering the alternatives if

you simply remind them of the situation.

• To help your readers choose between the

alternative courses of action, you must

evaluate the alternatives in terms of specific

criteria.

• At work, people want these criteria to

reflect the needs and aims of their

organization.

• Decision-makers want to be sure that your

facts are reliable before they take any action

based on those facts.

• So that they can understand your detailed

discussion of the alternatives, readers want

you to present an overview that highlights

the key features of each alternative.

• The heart of a feasibility study is your

evaluation of the alternatives in terms of

your criteria.

• Your readers want to know the results.

• Based upon your detailed evaluation of the

alternatives, you will reach some general

conclusion about the merits of each.

• Decision-makers need to know your

conclusions because these overall

judgments form the basis for decision-making.

• In the end, your readers must choose one of

the alternative courses of action.

• Because of your expertise on the subject,

they want to help them by telling what you

recommend.

• To answer your readers’ questions about

your feasibility studies, you can use a

superstructure that has the following seven

elements:

– Introduction

– Criteria

– Method of obtaining facts

• Overview of alternatives

• Evaluation

• Conclusions

• Recommendations

• Of course, you may combine the elements

in many different ways, depending on your

situation.

• For instance, you may integrate your

conclusions into your evaluation, or you

may omit a separate discussion of criteria if

they need no special explanation.

• But whether to include each of the seven

elements, based upon your understanding of

your purpose, audience, and situation.

• In the remaining part of this lecture, we will

explain how you can develop each of the

seven elements to create an effective

feasibility report.

• In the introduction to a feasibility report you

should answer your readers’ question,

“Why is it important for us to consider these

alternatives?”

• The most persuasive way to answer this

question is to identify the problem your

feasibility study will help your readers solve

or the goal it will help them achieve.

• Be sure to identify a problem or goal that is

significant from the point of view of your

employer or client.

• Significant goals could include reducing the

number of rejected parts, increasing your

productivity, and so on.

• Consider, for example, the way Fawaz

wrote the introduction of a feasibility report

he prepared.

• A process engineer in a paper mill, Fawaz

was asked to evaluate the feasibility of

substituting one ingredient for another in

the furnish for one of the papers it produces.

• At present we rely on the titanium

dioxide in our furnish to provide the

high brightness and opacity we desire

in our paper. However… the price of

titanium dioxide has been rising

steadily and rapidly for several years.

We now pay roughly $1400 per ton for

titanium dioxide, or about 70 cents per

pound.

• Some mills are now replacing some of

the titanium dioxide in their furnish

with silicate extenders. Because the

average price for silicate extenders is

only $500 per ton, well under half the

cost titanium dioxide, the savings are

very great.

• To determine whether we could enjoy a

similar savings for our 30-pound book

paper, I have studied the physical

properties, material handling require-ments,

and cost of two silicate extend-ers,

Tri-Sil 606 and Zenolux 26 T.

• Generally, the introduction to a long

feasibility report (and most short ones)

should also include a preview of the main

conclusions and, perhaps, the major

recommendations.

• Fawaz included his major conclusion:

• I conclude that one of the silicate

extenders, Zenolux 26 T, looks

promising enough to be tested in a mill

run.

• As another example, consider the way Shazi

wrote the introduction of a feasibility report

she prepared for the board of directors of

the bank that employs her….

• Ellen was asked to evaluate the feasibility

of opening a new branch in a particular

suburban community.

• She begins by announcing the topic of her

report:

• This report discusses the feasibility

of opening a branch office of Al-Shami

Bank in Gulberg, Lahore.

• Then, after giving a sentence of background

information about the source of the bank’s interest

in exploring this possibility, Shazi emphasized the

importance of such a feasibility study:

• In the past, Al-Shami bank has

approached the opening of new branches

with great care, which is undoubtedly a

major reason why it has become the most

successful small, privately owned

financial institution in Gulberg.

• Shazi also included her major conclusions:

• Overall, Gulberg offers an enticing

opportunity, but would present Al-Shami

Bank with some challenges it has not

faced before.

• The introduction of a feasibility report is often

combined with one or more of the other six

elements, such as the description of the criteria, a

discussion of the method of obtaining facts, or an

overview of the alternatives.

• In addition, the opening of a feasibility report may

also include various kinds of background,

explanatory, and forecasting information.

• Criteria are the standards that you apply in a

feasibility study to evaluate the alternative

courses of action that you are considering.

• For instance, to assess the feasibility of

opening the new branch office, Shazi uses

many criteria.

• Those criteria may include

– The existence of a large enough market

– A good possibility of attracting depositors away

from the competition

– The likelihood that profits on the deposits at the

branch will exceed the expenses of operating it

– The reasonableness of the financial outlay

required to open the office

long reports or in reports where the criteria

themselves require extended explanation.

in the following sentence from the third

paragraph of his introduction.

• To determine whether we could enjoy a

similar savings for our 30-pound book

paper, I have studied the physical

properties, material handling require-ments,

and cost of two silicate extend-ers,

Tri-Sil 606 and Zenolux 26 T.

• For each of the general criteria named in the

quoted sentence, Fawaz had some more

specific criteria.

• For instance, at the beginning of his

discussion of the physical properties of the

two extenders, he named the three

properties he evaluated.

Early

• There are three good reasons for presenting

your criteria early in your report:

• First, your readers know that the validity of

your conclusions depends on the criteria

you use to evaluate the alternatives, and

they want to evaluate the criteria

themselves.

Early

• Second, your discussion of the criteria tells

your readers a great deal about the scope of

your study.

• Third, your decision of the alternative

courses of action will make much more

sense to your readers if they know in

advance the criteria of their evaluation.

• Often the person who asks you to undertake

a study will simply tell you what criteria to

apply.

• In other situations, your readers may expect

you to identify the relevant criteria for them

based on technical knowledge that you

possess.

• As you develop your criteria, you may find

it helpful to know that at work, criteria often

address one or more of the following

questions:

– Will the course of action really do what’s

wanted?

– Can we implement it?

– Can we afford it?

– Is it desirable?

• When you tell how you obtained your facts,

you answer your readers’ question, “Are

your facts reliable?”

• That is, by showing that you used reliable,

you assure your readers that your facts form

a sound basis for your decision-making.

• The source of your facts will depend upon the

nature of your study:

– research

– Calls to manufacturers

– Interviews

– Meetings with other experts in your organization

– Surveys

– Laboratory research

• The amount of detail you need to supply depends

upon your readers and situation, but in each case

your goal is to say enough to satisfy your readers

that your information is trustworthy.

• For example, Shazi used some fairly technical

procedures to estimate the amount of deposits that

Al-Shami Bank could expect from a new branch in

Gulberg, Lahore.

• Deciding where describe your methods depends

on how many different techniques you used.

• If you used one or two techniques, you could

describe each in a paragraph or section, but if you

used several techniques, each pertaining to a

different part of your analysis, you might mention

each of them at the point at which you discuss the

results obtained.

• Before you begin your detailed evaluation

of the alternatives, you must be ure that

your readers understand what the

alternatives are.

• Sometimes you need to devote only a few

words to that task

• For example, imagine that you worked for a chain

of convenience stores that has asked you to

investigate the feasibility of increasing starting

salaries for store managers as a way of attracting

stronger applications for job openings.

• Surely, your readers will not require any special

explanation to understand the course of action you

are assessing.

• However, you may sometimes need to provide

extensive background information or otherwise

explain the alternative to your readers.

• For example, when Jahangir needed to report on a

feasibility of replacing his employer’s company-owned

building- wide telephone system, he helped

his readers piece together the more detailed

comments he later made in his point-by-point

evaluation of the systems.

• The heart of a feasibility report is the

detailed evaluation of the course or courses

of action you studied.

• In most feasibility studies, writers organize

their evaluation sections around their

criteria.

• For example, in her study of the feasibility

of opening a new branch office of a bank,

Shazi devoted one section to the size of the

market, another to the competition, a third

to prospective income and expenses, and so

on.

• Your conclusions are your overall

assessment of the feasibility of the courses

of action you studied.

• You might present your conclusions in two

or three places in your report.

• You should certainly mention them in

summary form near the beginning.

• It is customary to end a feasibility report by

answering the decision-maker’s question “What

do you think we should do?”

• Sometimes your recommendations will pertain

directly to the course of action you studied: “Do

this” or “Don’t do it”

• You may also discover that you were unable to

gather all the information you needed to make a

firm recommendation.

• Page 591 till 595

• Typical writing situation

• The questions readers ask most often

• Superstructure for feasibility reports

– Introduction

– Criteria

• Two ways of presenting criteria

• Importance of presenting criteria early

• Sources of your criteria

• Four common types of criteria

– Method of obtaining facts

– Overview of alternatives

• Evaluation

– Choose carefully between the alternating and

divided patterns

– Dismiss obviously unsuitable alternatives

– Put your most important point first

• Conclusions

• Recommendations

• Sample outlines

• Planning guide

• Sample feasibility reports