FEASIBILITY STUDY AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR A KNOWLEDGE-BASED INFORMATION-TECHNOLOGY PLANNING SYSTEM

Failures in attempts to introduce knowledge-based systems, particularl y into small businesses, have been attributed to inadequate feasibilit y exploration and impact assessment at the initial stage of KBS develo pment. The paper shows how these two critical factors have been consid ered within the exploratory study of an ESPRIT project on an IT planni ng system. The analysis of the two factors (a) shows how the problem d omain influences the method of the feasibility study, and (b) consider s prior to development the potential impact of the system on its embed ding environment. The proposed method of the feasibility study was dic tated by the need to characterize the environment of communication and commitment for action between the small business and its actors, the under-theorized status of the problem domain, and the distributed and context-dependent nature of the knowledge involved. On the basis of th e requirements analysis stage of the method, a two-stage procedure was used to evaluate the potential impact of the system. It was concluded that the system will support the organizational and business aims of small firms in terms of improved decision making, an improved decision -making process, and institutionalized decision making. Compared with related work, the method of the feasibility study and the impact-asses sment approach have certain advantages.