Scenario Four (At Second Glance)
It’s 9:48 am on October 26, 2021.
You got a small check from your work at Cossack Consulting, but Will didn’t have any more work for you; he seemed
apologetic about it.
Out of leads, you hit the papers and the job sites. One ad stands out. Prima Facie Solutions, researcher/editor. It’s a
small company with five employees in the Heights.
After an interview and a few days of sweating the response, you’re employee number six, reporting directly to the
president of the company, Olivia Martinez, though on a part-time, probationary basis. You’re going to need to hustle to
keep this job.
“As I mentioned earlier, we write feasibility studies, mostly site selection work,” Olivia tells you in her office. “We owe
a favor for a past client that should serve well for your first project. They know some creative types looking to relocate
their office from California to Houston. Six programmers and artists. The name is All Martial Studios, or AMS.
Subcontracts for the gaming industry. Lucrative, apparently. They’re not bigger than us, so two thousand square feet
might be overkill. Anything would be in their budget given where they’re coming from, but $1,000,000 even is the
number I’m hearing. They want to buy, not rent, and they want to be far away from downtown.”
You consider this, and she adds, “They could handle this themselves. They just want a push from a local who isn’t an
agent. Fortunately, we do that sort of thing.”
You note that the pandemic has been challenging the idea of a traditional office. Is a new office, even drastically
cheaper and in a more inexpensive area, a cost that they actually need, you wonder aloud.
Olivia nods. “I’ve thought that myself over the last year, but we’re old school here. They’re cagey about the work they
do, but I know they’ve all been working remotely for over a year, they’re doing well in that mode, and yet they’re
eating over $4000 in rent a month for a cramped office in San Francisco. It’s a nice place to live and work and
network – if you have a lot of money.”
She hesitates.
“You could make the report more abstract, more about whether to relocate to Houston or not. It’s not just location, of
course. It’s also about renting vs. holding real estate– or doing neither. I think that’s a harder sell if the answer is no,
though. A big decision. For you, too. But a good report balances what people want to hear and what they need to
hear.”
You consider your options.
Option A: Write the feasibility report and emphasize site selection.
● Study the “Feasibility Report Tips” file in the Scenario Four folder for the basic structure and requirements of
the feasibility report genre.
● Do research on the commercial real estate market in Houston, using online sources, and locate properties
for AMS to consider.
● Analyze the data that you find about the properties and make a recommendation for one or more of the
sites. Your goal in this option is to determine the feasibility of the sites you’ve chosen. They may all be
feasible.
● AMS has specifically requested this kind of recommendation. Consider the parameters (price, location,
terms) that Olivia has described, as well as any that might be implied, or any you think are pertinent.
Option B: Write the feasibility report but focus on the feasibility of relocating/buying.
● Study the “Feasibility Report Tips” file in the Scenario Four folder for the basic structure and requirements of
the feasibility report genre.
● Explore the viability of relocating to Houston vs. a complete remote work arrangement.
● Your goal in this option is to determine the feasibility of AMS’s plan to relocate to Houston. Your
recommendation should therefore be whether to continue with the idea, modify it, or abandon it.
● AMS has not asked for this kind of recommendation, but it may prevent them from making a bad decision –
or help reinforce a good one. Olivia seemed intrigued by the option. It might increase your chances of
keeping your job at Prima Facie – if the report shines.
Feasibility report tips below
I have written this memo to give you some basic guidance on writing a feasibility report.
Feasibility reports are a type of “recommendation report,” which your book discusses starting on p. 123. The major
difference is that while feasibility reports do end with a “recommendation,” this recommendation is filtered through the
somewhat fuzzy concept of “feasibility,” which concerns whether the recommendation has a reasonable chance of
success. Different writers will treat the concept of “feasibility” differently, but for this class, a “feasible” idea is one that
could work, plausibly, given certain reasonable parameters.
Feasibility reports are usually requested when an individual or company is about to make a large, expensive decision
with long-term consequences, and the cost of preparing the report (which may recommend “no”) is negligible
compared to the cost of making the wrong call.
Overall Structure
Feasibility reports have the following sections:
● Memo of Transmittal
● Title Page
● Table of Contents
● Abstract
● Executive Summary (or Summary)
● Introduction
● Methodology
● Results
● Discussion
● Recommendations
● (optional) Back Matter (Works Cited, Tables, etc)
Start all these sections on separate pages, using page breaks, so you can see the logical movement between each
section. Use double-spaced, bolded headings in 14 Arial and single-spaced 12 Times New Roman in paragraphs.
This is not the law, but it will keep you out of trouble.
For the scenarios in this class, 10-12 pages is about the right length.
Graphics are not required, but feel free to include some for clarification. A reasonable rule of thumb is one graphic for
every 2.5 pages–just enough to break up the monotony of text.
I will look the most closely at the executive summary when grading. It is your entire report in a nutshell, on one page.
If it is good, the rest of the report will shine.
Title Page
This should include your names, the date, and the title of the report, formatted as you wish.
Table of Contents
The TOC should list all sections after it. Do not list the TOC on the TOC!
Abstract
The abstract is a one-paragraph summary of your entire report, written for an audience of people searching through
similar reports using keywords. It should summarize each major section of the report with one sentence each and
include your feasibility recommendation. You should also provide a list of at least four keywords.
Executive Summary
The executive summary is a one-page summary of the entire report. It is a bit like the abstract, but it has a different
audience – a decision-maker who does not have the time to read the entire report. You are not restricted to following
the report in order when writing the executive summary but be sure to include your feasibility recommendation.
Introduction
The introduction is a 1–2 page summary of the report, but it is different from the abstract and executive summary.
Here, you are writing for an audience that wants to read the entire report, so you can take your time summarizing
each section. I advise one paragraph for each of the following sections. Include the feasibility recommendation.
Methodology
This section details the methods you followed when collecting data. It can be brief.
Results
This is where you put all of your data that you have gathered. This includes interviews, surveys, books you’ve read,
information from the web, etc.
You should NOT analyze the data here; instead, list it by category using subheadings.
Discussion
This is where you analyze the data you gathered; in other words, this is where you decide what the data in the
previous Results section means. A straightforward way to talk about the pros and cons of specific courses of action,
always backing up your argument with data from the Results section.
Your discussion should be at least a page. Do not make a recommendation, yet, though – and do not introduce any
new data. If you find yourself mentioning new data, put it in the Results section.
Recommendations
This last section should be one paragraph and contain your feasibility recommendation. Whatever you decide, it
should not come as a surprise. Everything in the previous sections of the report, especially Results and Discussion,
should point logically and reasonably toward your recommendation.
Back Matter (Works Cited, Tables, etc)
All other documents that need to be included can go in Appendices. Use letters to keep them separate: Appendix A,
Appendix