Last December 11, 2009 we had our interview with the head system analyst working in the Davao Light and Power Company Bajada branch. When we got there we were welcomed warm fully. They accommodated us and gave very comfortable seats. Our interviewee was very kind enough to answer all of our questions because we did not ask him only for a certain topics but various topics according to the other assignments in this subject. We gave him a questionnaire to serve as a basis for the question. Well actually my group mates made the questionnaire and we were assigned to take notes. However, just recently my cell phone got lost and sad to say that all of my jotted down notes were stored or saved in my cell phone. Now the last option for me is to base my answers on my memory and on the notes of my group mates who also took notes from the interview. As what I have remembered our head system analyst interviewee said that a system analyst, based on his experience, must have good communication skills, must have good technical skills, must know how to model process and must know the process within the company or the organization. He/she must also know the business flows and every operation of the company or the organization. Their team is actually composed of system analyst, not to mention that one of his subordinate or assistant analyst is a student from the University of Southeastern Philippines and their counterpart or should I say their partner is the development team or the team that are composed of the programmers that develop a certain system for the organization.
As what is defined in the previous assignment in System Analysis and Design 1 a definition from Wikipedia states that a systems analyst is responsible for researching, planning, coordinating and recommending software and system choices to meet an organization's business requirements. The systems analyst plays a vital role in the systems development process. A successful systems analyst must acquire four skills: analytical, technical, managerial, and interpersonal. Skills enable systems analysts to understand the organization and its functions, which helps him/her to identify opportunities and to analyze and solve problems. Technical skills help systems analysts understand the potential and the limitations of information technology. The systems analyst must be able to work with various programming languages, operating systems, and computer hardware platforms. Management skills help systems analysts manage projects, resources, risk, and change. Interpersonal skills help systems analysts work with end users as well as with analysts, programmers, and other systems professionals. Because they must write user requests into technical specifications, the systems analysts are the liaisons between vendors and the IT professionals of the organization they represent. They may be responsible for developing cost analysis, design considerations, and implementation time-lines. They may also be responsible for feasibility studies of a system before making recommendations to senior management. A system analyst interacts with the customers to their requirements, interact with designers to convey the possible interface of the software, interact or guide the coders or developers to keep track of the system development, perform system testing with sample/live data with the help of testers, implement the new system and prepare high quality documentation. However, the skill and characteristics I will be stating are those characteristics and skills that our interviewee answered us.
Good communication skills. Why does a system analyst need this? A system analyst must know how to deal with people, his co-workers, and people with high positions in the organization, the clients, and the user. It is important for a system analyst to have good communication skill to better deal with the people around him to because he acts as a bridge between the coders or the developers and the clients. Good communication skills make it better for the both sides to understand each other thus providing a harmonious environment between the two sides. By saying that a system analyst acts as a bridge between the coders and the clients it means that the system analyst servers as a liaison or much better identified as an interpreter between the coder side and the client side. Why is this so? Because the system analyst is responsible for gathering the necessary data that the client needs or want in the system and then he/she relays it to the coders but this time he relays it on the technical side. Understandably, the clients are not aware or do not have any knowledge about the technical side so it is the system analyst’s job or responsibility to make the technical side understandable by the clients. Knowing the requirements and the needs of the clients makes the planning and the modeling of the system better and more effective. Thus, it eliminates the possibility of doing the planning and modeling all over again if they encounter mismatching or laps in the requirements. It also eliminates the possibility of over pricing or exceeding the allotted amount of budget for the development.
Good technical skills. Technical skills are knowledge and proficiencies required in the accomplishment of engineering, scientific, or any specific task. A system analyst must know all about the system of the company. It includes system application, administrative work, business functions, and lastly technical functions. Most importantly a system analyst must know everything about the company or the organization. Its operations and business flows. As what our interviewee said, their department acts as a support group of the company. By saying this, it means that they do everything to make the processes of the company or organization even better and easier for the user to use. In the modeling process it is highly important, as I might say that a system analyst is knowledgeable or has good technical skills. I may not have experienced modeling, well I mean real modeling, but I know that it sure takes a lot of knowledge on the technical side to come up with an effective system model. Our interviewee also happens to say that it is not necessary that the system analyst is really good at programming or coding. What is important is that he/she knows how to model or come up with an effective model for the system. System analysts, back in the day, were not graduates of any computer related courses. Most of them are from business related courses, some were accountancy students. It means that a system analyst must really know how to model. Knowledge on programming is just an edge that you can have against other system analyst. Why is this? Because there is already a programming department or development team thus a system analyst can leave the coding or programming job to the developers.
Knowing the company and its processes. Our interviewee said that it is most important that a system analyst is aware of all the processes, flows and operations of the company. Thus, this is where a system analyst’s analytical skills come into play. If he/she knows every process and operation of the company then he/she can identify its strengths and weaknesses thus he/she can devise a way of improving its strengths and reinforce their weaknesses by putting up means of helping their processes, a software for example. If he/she knows every flow then he/she can immediately identify problems within the company or the organization and if he/she can identify problems fast then he/she can devise a solution for that problem also as fast. (This post will be updated)
As what is defined in the previous assignment in System Analysis and Design 1 a definition from Wikipedia states that a systems analyst is responsible for researching, planning, coordinating and recommending software and system choices to meet an organization's business requirements. The systems analyst plays a vital role in the systems development process. A successful systems analyst must acquire four skills: analytical, technical, managerial, and interpersonal. Skills enable systems analysts to understand the organization and its functions, which helps him/her to identify opportunities and to analyze and solve problems. Technical skills help systems analysts understand the potential and the limitations of information technology. The systems analyst must be able to work with various programming languages, operating systems, and computer hardware platforms. Management skills help systems analysts manage projects, resources, risk, and change. Interpersonal skills help systems analysts work with end users as well as with analysts, programmers, and other systems professionals. Because they must write user requests into technical specifications, the systems analysts are the liaisons between vendors and the IT professionals of the organization they represent. They may be responsible for developing cost analysis, design considerations, and implementation time-lines. They may also be responsible for feasibility studies of a system before making recommendations to senior management. A system analyst interacts with the customers to their requirements, interact with designers to convey the possible interface of the software, interact or guide the coders or developers to keep track of the system development, perform system testing with sample/live data with the help of testers, implement the new system and prepare high quality documentation. However, the skill and characteristics I will be stating are those characteristics and skills that our interviewee answered us.
Good communication skills. Why does a system analyst need this? A system analyst must know how to deal with people, his co-workers, and people with high positions in the organization, the clients, and the user. It is important for a system analyst to have good communication skill to better deal with the people around him to because he acts as a bridge between the coders or the developers and the clients. Good communication skills make it better for the both sides to understand each other thus providing a harmonious environment between the two sides. By saying that a system analyst acts as a bridge between the coders and the clients it means that the system analyst servers as a liaison or much better identified as an interpreter between the coder side and the client side. Why is this so? Because the system analyst is responsible for gathering the necessary data that the client needs or want in the system and then he/she relays it to the coders but this time he relays it on the technical side. Understandably, the clients are not aware or do not have any knowledge about the technical side so it is the system analyst’s job or responsibility to make the technical side understandable by the clients. Knowing the requirements and the needs of the clients makes the planning and the modeling of the system better and more effective. Thus, it eliminates the possibility of doing the planning and modeling all over again if they encounter mismatching or laps in the requirements. It also eliminates the possibility of over pricing or exceeding the allotted amount of budget for the development.
Good technical skills. Technical skills are knowledge and proficiencies required in the accomplishment of engineering, scientific, or any specific task. A system analyst must know all about the system of the company. It includes system application, administrative work, business functions, and lastly technical functions. Most importantly a system analyst must know everything about the company or the organization. Its operations and business flows. As what our interviewee said, their department acts as a support group of the company. By saying this, it means that they do everything to make the processes of the company or organization even better and easier for the user to use. In the modeling process it is highly important, as I might say that a system analyst is knowledgeable or has good technical skills. I may not have experienced modeling, well I mean real modeling, but I know that it sure takes a lot of knowledge on the technical side to come up with an effective system model. Our interviewee also happens to say that it is not necessary that the system analyst is really good at programming or coding. What is important is that he/she knows how to model or come up with an effective model for the system. System analysts, back in the day, were not graduates of any computer related courses. Most of them are from business related courses, some were accountancy students. It means that a system analyst must really know how to model. Knowledge on programming is just an edge that you can have against other system analyst. Why is this? Because there is already a programming department or development team thus a system analyst can leave the coding or programming job to the developers.
Knowing the company and its processes. Our interviewee said that it is most important that a system analyst is aware of all the processes, flows and operations of the company. Thus, this is where a system analyst’s analytical skills come into play. If he/she knows every process and operation of the company then he/she can identify its strengths and weaknesses thus he/she can devise a way of improving its strengths and reinforce their weaknesses by putting up means of helping their processes, a software for example. If he/she knows every flow then he/she can immediately identify problems within the company or the organization and if he/she can identify problems fast then he/she can devise a solution for that problem also as fast. (This post will be updated)
