What is System Analyst?- Definition, Role and Qualities

In this article you’ll learn about what is System Analyst, How Does Analyst Work, Roles of a Systems Analyst and their and Qualities.

What is System Analyst

The system analyst is overall responsible for the development of a software. He is the crucial interface between users, programmers and MIS managers. He conducts a system’s study, identifies activities and objectives and determines a procedure to achieve the objective. He has a very important role in the development of a system.

A Systems analyst is a person who is overall responsible for development of a software. He is the computer professional charged with analyzing, designing and implementing computer based information systems. He is the crucial interface among users, programmers and MIS managers. A Systems analyst can be defined as follows:

A Systems analyst is a computer specialist who translates business problems and requirements into information systems and acts as liaison between IS (Information Systems) department and rest of the organization.

The analyst conducts a systems study, identifies activities and objectives and determines a procedure to achieve the objectives. He is the key member of both MIS organization and the software project team. He is a person with unique skills, experience, personality and common sense. His role has been emerging with advances in technology.

How Does Analyst Work

1. The Analyst starts requirements gathering and analysis activity by collecting all info from the client that may well be wont to develop the necessities of the system.
2. He then analyzes the collected info to get a transparent and thorough understanding of the merchandise to be developed, with a read to remove all ambiguities and inconsistencies from the initial client’s perception of the matter.
3. The subsequent basic queries per the project ought to be clearly understood by the analyst to get a decent grasp of the problem:
   • What is the problem?
   • Why is it important to solve the problem?
   • What are the possible solutions to the problem?
   • What precisely is the information input to the system, and what exactly is the data output by the system?
   • “What are the probable complexities which may arise when finding the problem?
   • If there are external software packages or hardware with which the developed software must interface, then what precisely would the information interchange formats with the external system be?
4. After the analyst has understood the precise client necessities, the payoff is to spot and resolve the assorted necessities issues.
5. The foremost vital necessities problems that the analyst must determine and eliminate are the issues of anomalies, inconsistencies, and unity.
6. Once the analyst detects any inconsistencies, anomalies or unity inside the gathered wants, he resolves them by ending any discussions with the end-users and additionally the shoppers.

Roles of a Systems Analyst

The Systems analyst performs the following roles during various phases of SDLC. He works as a:

• Problem Investigator: The analyst studies the problems and needs of an organization during feasibility and requirements analysis phases of SDLC. He visits the various departments of the organization and interviews the users. He analyses the problems of the current system and collects their new requirements. The analyst initially works as an investigator by extracting the real problems of the users.
  
• Problem Solver: The analyst solves the problems of the current system faced by the users. He determines how people, method and technology can improve the current system. After feasibility analysis, he presents the system proposal to the management.
  
• Systems Designer: The analyst creates a detailed physical (current) and logical (proposed) design of the system.
  
• Motivator: The analyst motivates users to participate in development and implementation of the proposed system. This helps to understands user’s feelings about the proposed system.The analyst interprets the thoughts of users and hence, draws conclusions. He appeals management and users for getting the support in development and implementation of the proposed system.
  
• Project Manager: The analyst monitors the development and implementation of software in relation to quality, cost and time. He works with the project leader for managing the project properly. For development of small systems, the Systems analyst is generally the project leader.

Qualities of Systems Analyst

Success in systems analysis requires interpersonal and technical skills of the analyst. The systems analyst is expected to possess the following qualities:

• Qualified: The analyst must be highly qualified in software technology. Besides software, he should have a good knowledge of hardware and latest communication and networking technology. He must have a thorough awareness about the working (manual and computerized) of financial accounting, sales and marketing, invoicing, inventory control, production and other information systems of different organization.

• Analytical Thinker: The analyst must be capable to extract real problems of the users by analyzing the existing system. He is expected to provide the best solutions to the problems. He should be able to provide more than one solution to a single problem so that the users can select the best one. The systems analyst must be capable of tackling any problem of the user. He must be a problem solver and not a problem creator.

• Good Communicator: The analyst must have a good communication and presentation skills. He must have an excellent command on the language which the user can understand. There should not be any communication gap between the systems analyst and users.

• Experienced: The analyst should be experienced in both information and management technologies. He should be associated with all types of business concerns ( viz., Manufacturing, Trading, Financial, etc.). The present day systems analysts are expected to possess a good experience in development of software using 4GLS (such as Oracle, Sybase, etc.) and object-oriented languages (such as C++).

• Creator: The analyst should possess excellent creativity skills that help to convert ideas of the users into concrete plans. He/she should be capable of creating plans and designing systems by drawing diagrams, charts and other illustrations.

• Trainer: The analyst should be a good teacher for educating and training users in computer based information systems.

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