Exploratory or Formative Study - I

When

The exploratory study is conducted quite early in the development cycle, when a product is still in the preliminary stages of being defined and designed (hence the reason it is sometimes called "formative"). By this point in the development cycle, the user profile and usage model (or task analysis) of the product will have (or should have) been defined. The project team is probably wrestling with the functional specification and early models of the product. Or perhaps the requirements and specifications phase is completed, and the design phase is just about to begin.