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Department of Mechanical and Construction Engineering
Faculty of Engineering and Environment
Coursework Specification
1 Module Information
1.1 Module Title
Project Feasibility and Economics
1.2 Module Code Number
KB7037/AT7024
1.3 Module Level and Credit Points
Level 7, 20 Credits
1.4 Module Leader
Dr. Haibo Feng
1.5 Assessment Component Number (on Module Specification)
1 of 1
1.6 Assessment Weighting (on Module Specification)
100
1.7 Coursework Title
Feasibility and Economics Report
1.8 Coursework Specification Author
Dr. Haibo Feng
1.9 Academic Year and Semester(s)
2021 – 2022
1 Coursework Submission and Feedback
1.1 Release Date of Coursework Specification to Students
17:00 BST on 21 January 2022.
1.2 Mechanism Used to Disseminate Coursework Specification to Students
In class and via blackboard
1.3 Date and Time of Submission of Coursework by Students
23:59 BST on 23 May 2022.
1.4 The mechanism for Submission of Coursework by Students
Electronic submission on ELP
1.5 Return Date of Unconfirmed Internally Moderated Mark(s) and Feedback to Students
No later than 17:00 BST on 17 June 2022.
1.6 The mechanism for Return of Unconfirmed Internally Moderated Mark(s) and Feedback to
Students
ELP
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2 Assessment Details
2.1 Module Learning Outcomes (MLOs) Assessed by Coursework
• Distinguish the economic perceptions of business organisations as clients/sponsors, professional
advisors (independent practice), and contracting organisations.
• Reconcilethedifferent economic perspectives relevantto demand, supply, costs andrevenues andthe
operation of markets.
• Articulate a broad awareness of economics and project economics nomenclature.
• Develop your skills in recommending appropriate strategies for effective financial control in competition/
collaboration; public/private sector interactions, and in the interpretation of economic data for
resourceforecasting.
• Develop and reinforce the ethical characteristics of a Northumbria graduate as you consider the values
that underpin ethical approaches to project feasibility and justification.
2.2 Coursework Overview
Over the 12 weeks of lectures and seminars, you will learn about a range of concepts, techniques, and
methods for performing project appraisal and feasibility studies. These will cover the whole project lifecycle
from the Concept phase through Deploymentto Operation and Termination (see Figure 1). These concepts,
techniques and methods will help you understand: (1) the different facets of feasibility including financial,
economic, environmental, and social feasibility; (2) the different economic environments surrounding
projects including, macro and microenvironments, and regulatory/legal environments; (3) various
mathematical methods to help support decision making and risk mitigation on feasibility analysis; (4)
stakeholder environments including the Sponsor, Professional, and Contracting environments, and
sustainability approach. You will use your understanding of these techniques to develop a feasibility study
as detailed in Section 2.3.
Table 1. Overview of concepts, techniques and methods taught and discussed during the module1
No. Lecture Themes
1 Assessing financial health using financial statements and ratio analysis
2
Assessing macro-economic environment and applying financial feasibility methods (CBA, NPV,
IRR)
3 Appraising project options using decision trees, LCA, and Simple Addictive Weighting method
4 Multi-dimensional project appraisal using Analytic Hierarchy Process
5
Selection of sources of finance and funding, and understand financial workflows under
different procurement routes
6
Critical assessment of Private Finance Initiative (payment mechanism, sources of finance
leverage, risks, value for money)
7 Project bidding and estimating
8
Schedule Feasibility: developing a WBS, a deterministic (CPM) and a probabilistic (PERT)
project network and duration
9 Project control using Earned Value Analysis
10 Claim, final accounts, and financial settlements (claim scenario)
11 The Legal Environment: Contract, Tort, and Statute
12 Summary and Q&A week
1 The delivery does not necessarily follow these sequences and the distribution of topics over the weeks may change.
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Figure 1. Linear Project life cycle (APM BOK 7
th Edition, p. 27)
2.3 Coursework Tasks to be Completed by Students
You are required to submit a 4000-word report for:
The report will be based on specific characteristics of a real-world project. You will select your own project.
A list of recommended sources is:
• United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) (Link: https://data.unops.org)
• European Commission Fund (Link: https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/funding/)
• International Monetary Fund (Link: https://data.imf.org/?sk=a0867067-d23c-4ebc-ad23-
d3b015045405&sId=1390288795525)
And you could use other sources such as journal articles from sciencedirect.com, and financial reports from
local government. In many instances, the original project brief may not contain all the information you may
require performing your analyses. You may often need to develop your own assumptions based on
information from other reliable sources. When you make assumptions, please make sure they are grounded
and realistic. You must clearly indicate your assumptions using […] entitled ‘Assumption’ throughout your
project report.
You are free to select a project of any type from this database or other databases. It is advised that you
select a completed project as they provide richer documentation and information, but this is not
mandatory. You are free to change any aspect of the project specification(s) to make the project relevant
to the project’s feasibility and economic techniques that you intend to apply. For example, you can arbitrarily
change aspects such as available budget, location of the project, the type of the stakeholders involved, and
the intended benefits. You can also decide to focus on a specific work-package or component of a large
project or exclude scope that is out of interest.
To apply the range of techniques and methods over the whole project lifecycle, you are very likely required
to assume the role of different stakeholder types across the project report. For example, at the very early
Concept stage you may play the role of a Sponsor interested in assessing the financial health of the
organisation/consortium undertaking the project or some of its specific parts; at the Definition phase, you
may play the role of a Professional Service provider who will perform the appraisal of the project options to
the client/sponsor; at the Development phase, you may play the role of a Contractor interested in delivery
aspects (cost, schedule, and their control); during procurement and assuming that Private Finance Initiative
is adopted, you may play the role of a public sector client interested in understanding the contract structure,
the risks, and the value of money. You are required to clearly indicate the stakeholder perspective for each
analysis you present in your report.
The aim, from providing this flexibility in adapting the project brief and your role, is to enable you to challenge
your knowledge of Project Feasibility and Economics while working on a suitable case for the application
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of the concepts, techniques and methods discussed in lectures and seminars.
The project’s report will have four Sections (A, B, C, D) as described hereafter.
Section A. Project Description (1200 words max)
In this section, you are required to conduct a brief literature review regarding your project including:
Background knowledge with proper citations (e.g., what is feasibility analysis and why feasibility
analysis is necessary, etc.)
Introduction of the project as a case study (e.g., name, value, timescale, location, etc.)
Project briefing information (e.g., objectives, scope, critical success factors, etc.)
In the second part of Section A, you are required to present the project specifications by summarizing the
information from the database. You may state your project level assumptions here for you to better apply
different methods and techniques as the project/report progresses. The purpose of this part is to provide
the setting/background for all the subsequent sections/sub-sections of the report. The project specification
could include:
a) A list of main stakeholders (e.g., client, funders, sponsors, etc.)
b) A list of costs throughout the project life cycle (preferred in a table)
c) Macro environment surrounding the project (e.g., political, economic, social, technical,
environmental, legal aspects – i.e. PESTEL analysis)
Section B. Feasibility and Economic Analyses of the selected project (2000 words)
Inthis section, you are required to apply various feasibility, appraisal and economics analyses of the project,
analyse and discuss the findings. You are expected to have a sub-section for each type of analysis
performed. Sub-sections should be numbered B1, B2, etc. and each should be given a representative title.
You are required to apply at least six of the techniques, methods and concepts listed in Table 2, which will
be covered duringthe 12 weeks, and you are free to apply further techniques you have learned
independently. A very good source for further related guidance and techniques is the HM Treasury’s Green
Book (Link: https://bit.ly/35luxhf ). You are required to explicitly state the assumptions (using […] entitled
Assumption) and the stakeholder role (e.g., client, contractor, etc.) you are undertaking when applying each
individual technique or concept.
Table 2: Techniques, methods and concepts that need to be covered in the final report
No. Techniques/Methods/Concepts
1 Financial health assessment using financial statements and ratio analysis.
2
Project appraisal using supply and demand, multiplier effect, NPV, IRR, payback period and/or
profitability index method (these count as one method) – it is important that you specify what is
generating the incoming and outgoing cash streams.
3
Project options appraisal using life cycle costing or cost-benefit analysis – it is important that you
specify what is generating the incoming and outgoing cash streams and how certain benefits are
monetised.
4 Project options appraisal using decision trees and/or Simple Addictive Weighting (SAW).
5 Multi-dimensional project appraisal using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP).
6
Application of Private Finance Initiative or Private-Public Partnership (payment mechanism, sources
of finance leverage, risks, value for money) into feasibility analysis.
7 Uncertainty and/or sensitivity analysis for project feasibility studies.
8
Schedule Feasibility: a deterministic (Critical Path Method) and/or a probabilistic (PERT) project
network and duration supported by a Work Breakdown Structure.
9 Project control using Earned Value Analysis (EVA).
10 The effect of tax and inflation on feasibility outcomes.
11 The importance of legal environment on project feasibility analysis.
12 The impact of sustainability (environmental, economic, and social) on project feasibility outcomes.
At the start of Section B, you should include a table summarising the list of techniques, methods and
conceptsappliedthroughout SectionB andthestakeholder roleundertaken. Followingtheapplicationofeach
technique, method or concept you are required to critically analyse and evaluate the findings. Whenever
possible, support your work with a clear theoretical rationale, academic references, relevant data, and
references to project specifications. The integration among different techniques is important. Therefore, it
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is necessary to develop a storyline to show the links between different sections/sub-sections. An example
of a link between two sections/sub-sections is when you take forward the best project option you identified
at the concept (e.g. through performing an appraisal study) into the development stage (e.g., assess
schedule feasibility / plan budget for the selected project option). Details of the calculations can be placed
in the appendix, and they do not count towards the word limit.
Section C. Discussion (500 words max)
This section requires you to conduct a further discussion based on the conclusions drawn in Section B as in
a proper feasibility report. It is suggested you link the overall project financial situation with the six (or more)
feasibility analysis results and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the project in terms of overall
investment strategies, cost-benefit comparisons and financial management, etc.
Section D. Executive Summary (300 words max)
The Executive Summary is usually the first section of the project report. However, in this coursework, you
will include it as the fourth/final part. You should start this part only when the project (Sections A to C) has
been finalised.
It should be a concise and compelling summary of the report. Readers of the executive summary should get
the essence of the project without the need to get into the details. Sentences should be short and concise.
Avoid technical jargon and acronyms. Use active verbs (e.g., “the project achieved its goals” instead of “the
goals of the project were achieved”).
In your Executive Summary you should address the following: What is the need or the problem the project
is addressing?; Who is involved (the stakeholders)?; What are the project options?; What are thetechniques
used to analyse the project and what are the corresponding findings?; What are the implications(social,
environmental, legal, etc.) of the key findings/decisions?; What are the limitations affecting the findings
validity?, and, What are the recommendations (e.g., future short/long term steps, responsibility for
implementation)?
Student Checklist:
Section A: A brief literature review of the project (background to the concept of feasibility and
economic analyses; an introduction of the project as a case study; project briefing information) is
included.
Section A: A table for the project specification (project’s stakeholders, project costs, macro environment
surrounding the project etc.) is included.
Section B: A tableatthebeginningof Section B listingthefeasibilityandeconomics techniques/concepts
(at least six) applied and thestakeholder position assumed is included.
Section B: Assumptions made (where applicable) for different techniques are clearly stated.
Section B: Details of the calculations are included in the appendix.
Section B: A brief explanation of the results for each feasibility and economic technique is included.
Section C: Overall discussion based on the feasibility analysis results is conducted.
Section D: Executive Summary that complies with specification given above.
Citations and references of relevant resources are included at the end of the report.
2.4 Expected Size of Submission
4000 words in total, the word limit for each section is listed above.
2.5 Referencing Style
You are to write your coursework using the Cite Them Right version of the Harvard referencing system.
An online guide to Cite Them Right is freely available to Northumbria University students at:
https://www.citethemrightonline.com/
2.6 Assessment Criteria
Weight Criteria
15% Background, choice of project, title, and project specification
1) The background knowledge of feasibility analysis
2) The relevance of the project selected to the module
3) The title conveys what the project is about
4) The project specifications are clearly identified and presented.
5) Inclusion and exclusion of scope of feasibility and economics study are clearly explained.
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50% Choice of feasibility and economics techniques and their applications
1) The selection (type and amount) of feasibility and economics techniques applied on the case studies including a table
summarising the list of techniques applied and the stakeholder position assumed.
2) The assumptions are clearly stated.
3) The techniques are correctly applied and the outcomes are analysed and discussed.
4) The conclusions clearly and logically articulate the findings that arise from the applications of the selection techniques.
5) The sources used demonstrate clear relevance to the paper and are used critically, with original commentary on their
value and limitations.
6) A good range of key source references are drawn upon.
7) All citations are suitably referenced using the Harvard-type referencing system.
10% Overall discussion
1) The comparable discussion for different feasibility and economic analysis results are conducted.
2) The positive and negative impacts of financial management strategies conducted in the project are discussed.
3) The potential solutions and suggestions for a better success of the project are proposed.
4) The overall statement would be drawn based on the detailed analysis.
10% Executive summary
1) A summary of the main findings of the performed feasibility and economics study.
2) A deduction made about the project options to pursue based on the performed feasibility and economics study.
3) A personal professional opinion on what has been discussed.
4) A statement about the limitations of the work.
5) A comment about the future based on what has been discussed.
15% Integration between sections
1) The feasibility and economics study shows links between its different parts.
2) The links are explicitly stated and explained.
3) The links properly illustrate the logic of the argument followed.
4) Any diagrams, illustrations, etc. are clearly and appropriately presented.
3 Referral
The Referral Attempt opportunity will generally take place after the end-of-level Progression and Awards
Board (PAB). If you become eligible to complete a Referral Attempt but are subsequently unable to
undertake the opportunity when required, you will be permitted to re-sit the module at the next scheduled
sitting of the module assessment. This will typically entail the suspension of your progression on your
programme of study until such time that you have completed the level and become eligible to proceed.
4 Guidance for Students on Policies for Assessment
The University has several policies for assessment. The following information, which is available to you
from the link below, provides guidance on these policies, including relevant procedures and forms.
(1) Assessment Regulations and Policies
(a) Assessment Regulations for Taught Awards
(b) Group Work Assessments Policy
(c) Moderation Policy
(d) Retention of Assessed Work Policy
(e) Word Limits Policy
(2) Assessment Feedback
(a) Anonymous Marking Policy
(3) Late Submission of Work and Extension Requests
(4) Personal Extenuating Circumstances
(5) Technical Extenuating Circumstances
(6) Student Complaints and Appeals
(7) Academic Misconduct
(8) Student Disability and Unforeseen Medical Circumstances
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/university-services/student-library-and-academicservices/quality-and-teaching-excellence/assessment/guidance-for-students/
KB7037/AT7024 Project Feasibility and Economics
Name ………………………………… Mark:
OUTCOMES I CAN’T BELIEVE
IT!
[ 100%]
WOW! [ 85%] DISTINCTIVE [ 75%] COMMENDABLE
[ 65%]
PASS [ 55%] FAIL [ 45%] POOR FAIL [ 0%]
Quality of
background and
project specification
description 15%
This work is of
outstanding quality
and has surprised
the markers.
Shows deeper learning
than would normally be
expected.
Excellent and very
clear with few
problems.
Very good and
reasonably clear with
some problems.
Quite a few problems
but overall the
message was received
Too many problems so
the presentation was
unclear.
Very poor with little
ability to express the
ideas in a clear and
interesting manner.
Depth of analysis of
the project feasibility
with 6+ techniques
50%
The student has an
excellent grasp of
possible solutions.
The student has a
good grasp of possible
solutions although
there are some minor
problems.
The student does not
fully grasp the
solutions but there is
some merit in what is
said.
The student is not able
to analyse solutions
though there is
evidence of a fair
attempt.
The student has little
or no grasp of the
issues.
Overall discussion
and criticism on the
project with proper
suggestions 10%
Solutions are clearly
and cogently linked to
problems.
Solutions arise from
problems in most
instances although
there is some lack of
clarity.
Some linkage of
solutions and problems
but the work lacks
depth.
Evidence of only
surface understanding
of linkages.
Little evidence of ability
to derive the solutions
from the problems.
Executive summary
based on the
feasibility results
10%
Analytical and clear,
well grounded in both
literature theory and
practical analysis.
Ability to recognise
limitations of study.
Good development
shown in summary
based on the analysis.
Evidence of findings
and conclusions
grounded in literature.
Limited evidence of
findings with very
superficial, surface
approach to
information.
Misses the point of the
assignment.
Unsubstantiated /
invalid conclusions
based on anecdotes
and generalisations
only.
Integration between
sections 15%
The clarity of
expression and
cogency of the
argument are generally
excellent with few
problems.
The clarity of
expression and
cogency of the
argument are generally
good though there are
a few problems.
The clarity of
expression and
cogency of the
argument are generally
acceptable but there is
some confusion.
The work lacks clarity
and cogency – difficult
to follow.
The work is confusing
and has little merit.
Feedback – 3 areas of good practice, 3 areas for potential improvement:
