Required Skills of a Systems Analyst

by Thomas Carter                                                                                       November 8, 2018

 

Abstract

     A systems analyst’s role is a critical part of the software lifecycle and software strategies. We will look into some of the required skills of an analyst and important effects that this expertise plays within the software development lifecycle. We will conclude by ranking these, in terms of importance to the analyst and the business.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• The Analyst as a Problem Solver
• The Analyst as a Planner
• The Analyst as an Implementer
• Conclusion

Introduction

    In the various stages or phases of the software lifecycle, a systems analyst plays various roles and functions in order to achieve an end goal. In some scenarios, the end goal might be a successful system implementation, and others weighing and determining the potential outcomes of no system changes. In either case, certain skills and expertise is required to gather data, analyze the situation, and make informed decisions for the optimum possible outcome. 

The Analyst as a Problem Solver

    During the course of any business, needs arise for software creation and modification. The primary function of an analyst, in my opinion, is to gather related and pertinent data about the business need and then translate that need into a functional document for the purposes of communication and verification. In the role of a problem solver, the analyst must be able to determine what is actually needed, by translating an end-user or management conversation into a scoped project outline. This outline would serve as a projected and realistic timeline to completion, being directly related to, and in sync with available or obtainable technology. In doing so, many of the wants vs. needs must be weighed and a cost-to-benefit factor relationship must then be evaluated. [1] 

The Analyst as a Planner

Having touched on planning here in the first section, I will elaborate on this key point more, and present why this is a fundamental key to success for an analyst and “the business" in general. The reason this role is so critical for an analyst, is because planning is the root of success or failure in any business. Granted… planning also involves many more individuals than just analysts. The planning phase builds upon step 1, problem solving, and then accurately gauging how many other projects exist within the same time frame, while giving attention to the direction and bearing of the company. [2] 

    For example, if a company owns an existing “windows application”, but all the new sales features need to be presented and correlated to on-line sales; it hardly makes good business sense to add new hefty features into a potentially outdated windows application, when a web application interface will require the same amount of time to develop and can be integrated into the new sales components. In this case, if an analyst makes an incorrect decision, the company will bear the burden of increased manual tasks and labor costs. [3]

The Analyst as an Implementer

As a continuation of planning, an analyst must prepare timelines for project release into a production environment, testing timelines, user preparation and training, and support of the new implementation. This analyst role as an implementer is important, and mission critical, because a failure to implement correctly equates to missed timeline schedules and any associated costs. The analyst should have an appropriate amount of time allotted into the scheduled plans for user issues, potential quality assurance issues, and any other unknown issues that arise from an implementation. Of all other skills represented here, this one seems to be the maker of breaker of a good analyst, because there are almost certain to be events/issues that cannot be foreseen or prevented. 

Conclusion

In this document, we have covered the several key roles of a systems analyst briefly. There are other roles that analyst plays, as well as full sets of documentation which comprise a complete project. To rank these described roles in terms of importance and success to the analyst, I would have to say “problem solving” is the most essentially needed. Without an accurate problem solving ability, the other roles become irrelevant. The planning role ranks second, because without proper planning multiple projects may fail, accurately solved, or not. This leaves implementing as the third essential skill, because all the correctly solved problems and all perfect timelines are negated if the implementation fails.

References

[1] John Satzinger, Robert Jackson, Stephen Burd, “Systems analysis and design in a changing world 5th edition”, 2010

[2] Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Computer Systems Analysts Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11

[3] Paul, Debra; Donald Yeates, Keith Hindle, “Business analysis”, April 2006