Lecture 10 The Role of System Analyst Tuesday

Lecture - 10 • The Role of System Analyst Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Definition • System Analyst < < < Systems analysts are people who understand both business and computing. Systems analysts study business problems and opportunities and then transform business and information requirements of the business into the computer-based information systems and computer applications that are implemented by various technical specialists including computer programmers. A systems analyst facilitates the study of the problems and needs of a business to determine how the business system and information technology can best solve the problem and accomplish improvements for the business.

What Does a System Analyst Do? • System Analyst Posses Various Skill < Interpersonal Skill < Technical Skill

Interpersonal Skill • It deal with relationships and the interface of the analyst with people in business. • They are useful in establishing trust, resolving conflict and communicating information. • The interpersonal skills include: – Communication – Understanding – Teaching – Selling

Interpersonal Skill – Communication- • having the ability to articulate and speak the language of the user and • a knack for working with virtually all managerial levels in the organization. – Understandingüidentifying problems and assessing their ramifications having a grasp of company goals and objectives and üshowing sensitivity to the impact of the system on people at work.

Interpersonal Skill �Teaching�educating people in use of computer systems, selling the system to the user and �giving support when needed –Selling – • selling ideas and promoting innovations in problem solving using computers

Technical Skill • Technical skills focus on procedures and techniques for – operations analysis, – system analysis and – computer science.

Technical Skill • Technical skills include: – Creativity- • helping users model ideas into concrete plans and • developing candidate systems to match user requirements. – Problem solving- • reducing problems to their elemental levels for analysis, • developing alternative solutions to a given problem and • delineating the pros and cons of candidate systems.

Technical Skill – Project management • scheduling, • performing well under time constraints, • coordinating team efforts and • managing costs and expenditures. – Dynamic interface • blending technical and nontechnical considerations in functional specifications and general design

Interpersonal and Technical Skill During SDLC • System analysts require INTERPERSONAL as well as the TECHNICAL SKILLS, although the necessity for both skills depends on the stages of system development. • During analysis there is greater need for interpersonal skills - working with the user to determine requirements and translate them into design criteria. • During design, the major thrust is to develop a detailed design of the candidate system - highly technical procedures and methodologies. • During program construction, coding and testing are carried out with some user participation-technical skill.

Interpersonal and Technical Skill During SDLC • During system implementation, technical and interpersonal skills CONVERGE. – The technical aspects focus on “proving” the software and preparing for the final conversion of files and documentation. – The interpersonal aspects deal with user training and selling the user on the benefits and potential of the candidate system. • During the maintenance stage, the role of the analyst drops off, except when unanticipated problems develop.

Academic and Personal Qualification • Systems Analyst must have following qualifications: – Bachelors degree in an IT or engineer field – Must have a good understanding of IT architecture, IT systems, programming and development skills. • For a Business Analyst: – Bachelors degree in an IT or business field. A combination of the two is advantageous. – Some employers may require an MBA although this is not common place for Business Analysts and is normally associated more with Consultants. – Understanding of IT strategy applied to business, excellent communication skills must be obtained as a Business Analyst is often the interface between technical and business teams.