Although a feasibility study is a useful tool for project deliberation, it has limitations. A feasibility study is not an academic or research paper, but is a pragmatic information and data analysis document. It is confidential to the group for which it is conducted, and is not for public dissemination. A completed study should permit a group to make better decisions about the strategic issues of its specific project.

The study is also not a business plan, which is developed later in the project development process and functions as a blueprint for a group's business operations for implementation (see Appendix B). Given a group's decision to proceed after evaluating a feasibility study's results, the business plan presents the group's intended responses to the critical issues raised in the study. Many of the outcomes presented in the feasibility study form the basis for developing a business plan if a decision to proceed is made.

A feasibility study is not intended to identify new ideas or concepts for a project. These ideas should be clearly identified before a study is initiated. Assumptions that are partially developed from these ideas provide the basis for the feasibility study, so the more realistic they are, the more value the study's findings will have for a group's decision-making.

A study should not be conducted as a forum merely to support a desire that a project be successful. Rather, it should be an objective evaluation of a project's chance for success. Even studies with negative conclusions are useful for group decisions.

As stated earlier, financiers may require a feasibility study before providing loans, but this should not be a study's only purpose. Although a study can enhance a banker's ability to evaluate a project, the primary goal should be to aid a group's ultimate decision on going forward, not only whether financing can be secured.

A feasibility study will not determine if the project will be initiated, since that depends on the potential members, who will invest in and become the owners of the business. However, the information, data, and facts offered in a study, given realistic assumptions, provide the basis for a decision. Potential members must decide if the benefits justify the risks involved in their continuing the project and the study findings will assist them in that assessment. A study uses basic project assumptions to develop an analysis, shows how results vary when assumptions change, and provides guidance as to critical elements of a project. Conducting a study should provide the group with project-specific information to assist it in making decisions. This should lower the risk of continuing with a business development project that ultimately would fail.