Project Manager and System Analyst - Essay Example

Introduction System analyst is a business professional who uses analysis and design techniques to solve business problems by using information technology. A systems analyst combines knowledge of information systems and business to develop computer systems that will meet business needs. System analyst is among one of the most advanced careers in computers. Individuals in this profession may come from a technical or business background. Often they are specialist from different business areas such as financial, accounting, scientific or engineering systems for which they have expertise. Master's in business administration is also required. However, some individuals are hired with a bachelor's degree in a technical field, as well as considerable on-the-job business training. This job requires one to possess strategic skills (technical and business) as well as ability to interact with professionals with variety of skills (Shelly, 12). A Systems Analyst must have good analytical skills, (to be able to analyze for the report) good communication skills, and experience in programming is a help also. Basic skills such as grammar, spelling, data entry and Microsoft office (Microsoft words, excel, PowerPoint and Microsoft outlook) skills are also required. Other skills needed are verbal communications and reading of comprehension. It is important for system analyst to be able to understand complex business process. System analyst need to understand business organizations and how they operate. It is important to understand how organizations are structured and managed (Shelly, 34). In addition to understanding the business, analyst must understand business functions such as accounting, human resource, finance and customer care. One should know the organization they are working in, their traditions and values, what it does, what makes it successful and most definitely their strategic plan. A system solution is tailored for specific needs of specific organization. They should also possess people skills and knowledge. This is because system analysts normally work on development teams with other employees (Niznik, 8). They need to understand a lot of people and possess many interpersonal skills. Analysts need to understand how people think, learn, react to change, communicate and work (Shelly, 17). System analyst mostly works in office or laboratory. Their work is more involving therefore most of the times they do overtime. This happens especially when designing a new system or one is being installed. One might be able to telecommunicate but most of their duties are performed by themselves. System analyst can advance to a senior position such as senior or lead analyst or chief information officer. Most of system analyst after gaining experience, they choose to become independent consultants. Role and Responsibilities One role of systems analysts is to enable systems with different setups to communicate with each other on both hardware and software level (Mannetti, 9). Systems are more varied and advanced as tools such as wireless Smartphone and internet-based applications continue to replace the functions of a regular PC computer. As a result, individuals in these kinds of computer careers should stay abreast of the latest technologies. They are also more in demand to provide systems security as more and more confidential data is stored electronically on a network. Analysts are trusted with private information such as salary, health and job performance information. They should come up with a system that will protect the information from being hacked, leaking or tempered with (Mannetti, 4). They might also work with confidential corporate information about products, strategic plans, business tactics and security systems and process. If these kinds of information leak then the organization is doomed. System analysts play a major role especially in governments and security agents. System analyst designs complex systems that will accomplish goals of the business or organization. Design specifications help the systems analyst logically work through the various requirements and develop programming specifications for the computer programmer. Design specifications include text documents and flow charts for visual understanding. System analyst may use an existing retail system modify a retail system, or build the system from the ground up. This decision is made depending on the funding and resources available. Other computer professionals such as computer programmers are required to build the system (Niznik, 7). After building the system, it has to be configured, tested and make sure it works properly. Computer programmers also help system analysts to debug or remove errors in the system. System analyst plays a role in problem solving. System analyst uses computers to solve problems that mostly arise due to introduction of new information system. These problems may include: problems limiting employee flexibility in benefit planning, limiting complete information about the organization’s financial position, tracking buyers’ trend and problem getting orders from customers within the required time. When solving these problems analyst uses a series of systematic steps. First they research and understand the problem. This is to enable them to gather as much information as possible. Secondly, they verify if the benefit of solving the problem outweighs the costs. If the benefits are more than the cost then they proceed to define the requirement for solving the problem. They can come up with possible solutions of solving the problem and decide on the best alternative. They also give recommendation and details of the solution. Implementation of the chosen solution then takes place (Niznik, 22). Lastly, system analyst monitors it to make sure the desired results are achieved. Systems analysts should have an advanced understanding of the role computers play in business functions in order to help your company maintain its competitive edge. Technology changes with time. It also advances with faster rate. System analyst should be up to date with information technology so that to keep the organization at advantage. They should be able to identify the new technology in the market but also analyze them to ascertain if it’s more profitable to adopt the new system or not. This requires them to research and read a lot. System analysts have a responsibility of gathering the requirements of the users. Most of the times, the users of the system have basic knowledge about computers and less of technical. The first thing a systems analyst does is to interview the user (company) to which kind of report they want. The analyst must also know the format they want. Then establish whether the report is feasible or not. To establish this analyst must do an analysis of the project. Therefore analysts have to interview the user to gather their requirements for the new software. When interviewing the users the analyst must be careful. Most of the times users leave out requirement thinking that computer cannot possibly do that. Analyst then organizes and documents the findings into design specification for the new computer system. Systems analyst produces system documentation. System analyst prepares overall documentation such as process descriptions and all report layouts. System documentation is done during the designing and analysis phase. Analyst always verifies the program documentation is complete, accurate and up to date. They use defect tracking software (bug tracking software) to track and document program defects, code changes and replace the codes. Example is Bugzilla. . Documentation which is very important since it helps in creating systematic information to articulate the intervention strategies and develop the flow chart of the system. System documentation is very essential since it facilitates effective communication regarding the system between the technical and non-technical users. It is also important in exercising better control over the internal and external workings of the firm. Documentation helps users learn to use the new application. It is also useful for training sessions because it gives guideline on how to use the program. System documentation also helps programmers to troubleshoot when the application does not behave as expected. It’s also useful on evaluation of the system. System provided the company with end user training. This depends mostly on the analyst communication and interpersonal skills. Analysts are supposed to be more persuasive. They should be able to explain to the users why the system is more effective and appropriate in their work. Users often resist change, opting for the old system rather than adapting to the newer, perhaps more challenging software. Good systems analysts are able to present the new system in a positive light and make difficult processes look easy. If the new system seems more difficult than the old system then the users are more likely to reject or resist the change (Niznik, 7). During the training system analyst has to provide the manual which will correspond with the training. Analyst should prepare a consultation with the users and implementer for acception plan for the new system. They should also assist the users in preparing for the installation and start-up of any new system being implemented. Analyst also assists and guides prospective users of a proposed new or changed system. The systems analyst’s understanding of information technology helps her determine the best system that can be used. The system analyst will help the users quantifying the benefits of having the system or even the penalties or the disadvantage of not having the system. They analyze the impact of the system on their organization and operation of the business. They are able to do the cost-benefit analysis and advice the accordingly. If the cost of new system exceeds benefit then it’s better for the organization to maintain the old system. If it benefits of new system exceed the cost then it is advised to adopt it. Analyst helps to investigate system problems and opportunities to determine the feasibility of a system. System analyst obtains rough estimates of the cost of operating and maintaining a proposed new or changed system. They analyze the benefits of using the new system assuming use of appropriate technology, tools, and methods (Niznik, 9). Assist the sponsoring users in analyzing the costs, benefits, risks, and return-on-investment of the proposed new system. They will be able to tell if the system is profitable and easy to learn. If the system is appropriate in running their business operations. System analyst helps sponsoring users to understand the exact nature of the system. They will provide them with detailed information about the working, uses, advantages and disadvantages of using the system. The analyst will study the nature and operations of the business and advice the user if the system is appropriate for implementation. The analyst helps them decide whether to proceed with the implementation. After the development is finished and a prototype of the report is finished, the systems analyst helps the programmers in testing the program for bugs. This is similar to quality control. The systems analyst helps to makes sure the work is done until the final report is achieved. The analyst makes sure everything is in place and accurate. He or she makes sure the system is exactly the way the user wanted it yields the desired outcome. Once the final report is finished and free of bugs, it is sent to the user. The system analyst will be on board with the system changes before these are due to be done. It is their responsibility to ensure that the system will not cause and problems and also look into the solutions of any problems that they foresee happening when the system is implemented. These could be problems with the different kinds of data that is input and the compatibility of different programs or any usability issues that may occur once the system is in place. The system analyst will also make sure that the system is ready to go live and perform any testing to the system in a development area before the system is ready to use. A system analyst is required to make sure that any system changeover is completed as smoothly as possible. Project Manager and System Analyst System analysts assist the project managers in identifying the skills and resources needed to implement a new system or to modify an existing system. They prepare rough estimates of the cost of developing or changing the system and the duration the project will take. To analyze the project, they must find out where are they going to get the information, how, when is the project going to be done, etc. they gather enough information to know what will be needed to run the project smoothly. They then design the system, which is to make a 'skeleton' of the project. They write specifications, of what is to be in the final report. They do flow charting, specifications for the programmers of the report, and development control. This will help the project manager to know exactly what is needed and also be able to predict the outcome. This will help in cutting of the costs and also avoid surprises during the project. Development control is where the systems analyst works with the programmers along a critical path. This is to make sure the project sticks to its time limit. A critical path is like a due date, if the report is to be done in thirty days, the Systems Analyst makes sure the report is done in thirty days (Cooper, 5). The Systems Analyst also follows the first analysis of when the project will be finished. The critical path also calculates how many man hours it will take to finish, etc. A critical path flowchart also helps the programmers along. This helps a manager to plan accurately on the number of people he or she requires to finish the project or how long the project will take. System analysts will also advice the project manager on the appropriate system to use. Analyst will advise on the system that will be more profit. They will do a cost benefit analysis to make sure that the system they are using is in line with the budget (Cooper, 8). They will also give detailed information about the disadvantages and advantages of using the system. They will also help them in deciding the appropriate system for the project to come up with the desired results. Analysts also help the project managers on training their staff on the new system. The make sure they provide them with appropriate manuals that will enable them operate the system hence smooth running of the project. They also help in installing appropriate software that they will need for running the project. System analysts have helped the project managers to be able to access their project. They provide them with the right system that is able to access the running of the project (Cooper, 8). It also enables the project managers to access if the project is in the right truck. This is because they are able to tell the possible outcome of the project. If it goes wrong, then they will be able to correct the mistake fast than at the end which might be very costly. In conclusion Systems analyst has a big job to do; he or she is responsible for the design, the development, and implementation of the report, which is what purpose it will serve. The Systems analyst creates and helps finish the final product, making all the specifications and charts for what is to be done. Basically a systems analyst is responsible for systems projects, from beginning to the end of a project, and they must implement the system to good use. Systems analyst then must follow up to make sure the program is running smoothly. The function of a system analyst varies from industry to industry but the concept of the role does not change. A system analyst analyses systems both before and after any changes may occur with them. A system analyst is used by a company for many different reasons. Some of these will be on a regular basis to check that the systems that are running are at the scale and speed that they should be and other uses of a system analyst will be when there is a system change over or a new system is implemented. System analysts are important part of the organization. They make sure the organization is always on course without missing the target. They contribute greatly on the day to day running of the organization. They make sure that everything runs according to the way it supposed to this ensures smooth running of the operation of the office. They make sure the systems are up to date and accurate. Appropriate systems which are cost effective are recommended by them and hence contribute to the profit making of the company. System analyst ensures the company is protected from unhealthy competition by protecting the valuable information that guards running of the business or organization. Systems analysts play an important role in merging business skills and computer know-how. Few have these skill sets, so those that do are in high demand. You may come from either a technical or a business background, but you must have expertise in the business area in which you specialize. You also need to have good communication skills and the ability to explain technical subjects to non-technical individuals in a team environment. Computer careers such as this help the business world integrate new technologies that emerge into regular business tasks and utilize adequate security measures to protect confidential data stored on a network. References Cooper, A. (n.d.). Building Your Project Team. Retrieved March 20, 2012, from www.projectsmart.co.uk: http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/building-your-project- team.html Mannetti V. System analysis and design http://computer-careers-review.toptenreviews.com/systems-analyst-review.html Niznik, J. S. (n.d.). Computer Systems Analyst Jobs. Retrieved December 9, 2013 from about.com: http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/computerjob13/a/systems_analyst.htm http://employment.blurtit.com/1773548/what-is-the-functions-of-a-system-analyst http://www.idinews.com/roles/analyst.pdf http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1121.00?redir=15-1051.00 http://www.slideshare.net/infinityrulz/roles-responsibilities-of-system-analyst-3043450 http://www.woman.thenest.com/roles-responsibilities-systems-analyst-10166.html Shelly, Gary B., Cashman, Thomas J., & Vermaat, Misty E. Discovering Computers Complete. Boston: Thomson Course Technology. 2008 ISBN 10: 1 -4239-1205-5 Read More