A systems analyst is an IT professional who specializes
in analyzing, designing and implementing information systems. Systems analysts assess the suitability of information
systems in terms of their intended outcomes and liaise with end users, software
vendors and programmers in order to achieve these outcomes. A systems analyst is a person who uses
analysis and design techniques to solve business problems using information
technology. Systems analysts may
serve as change agents who identify the organizational improvements needed,
design systems to implement those changes, and train and motivate others to use
the systems.
Although they may be familiar
with a variety of programming languages, operating systems, and computer hardware platforms, they do not normally involve themselves in the
actual hardware or software development. They may be responsible for developing
cost analysis, design considerations, staff impact amelioration, and
implementation timelines.
A systems analyst is typically
confined to an assigned or given system and will often work in conjunction with
a business analyst.
These roles, although having some overlap, are not the same. A business analyst
will evaluate the business need and identify the appropriate solution and, to
some degree, design a solution without diving too deep into its technical
components, relying instead on a systems analyst to do so. A systems analyst
will often evaluate code, review scripting and, possibly, even modify such to
some extent.
Some dedicated professionals
possess practical knowledge in both areas (business and systems analysis) and
manage to successfully combine both of these occupations, effectively blending
the line between business analyst and systems analyst.
- Identify, understand and plan for organizational and human impacts of planned systems, and ensure that new technical requirements are properly integrated with existing processes and skill sets.
- Plan a system flow from the ground up.
- Interact with internal users and customers to learn and document requirements that are then used to produce business requirements documents.
- Write technical requirements from a critical phase.
- Interact with designers to understand software limitations.
- Help programmers during system development, e.g. provide use cases, flowcharts or even database design.
- Perform system testing.
- Deploy the completed system.
- Document requirements or contribute to user manuals.
- Whenever a development process is conducted, the system analyst is responsible for designing components and providing that information to the developer.
