What are the roles of a systems analyst?

Systems analysis is applied information technology. It tries to decompose a system into various components, studies the various components to identify the system’s objective, and ensures that every component is developed to accomplish the objectives of the system.

The primary purpose of systems analysis is to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and functionality of a system. It helps organizations optimize their processes, make informed decisions, and achieve their goals.

A systems analyst is an individual who engages systems analysis and design techniques in solving a business problem. Systems analysts keep up to date with the latest technology to improve productivity at all times for an organization.

Roles of a systems analyst

1. Defining user requirements

A systems analyst has the responsibility of observing users and their requirements from a system. This can be done through conversational interviews with the users and anticipating the new needs of users from already existing systems. This helps in identifying the requirements from new systems via examination of current systems and updating configurations for new systems.

2. Prioritizing requirements

Systems analysts use social and analytical skills in prioritizing system specifications. Most enterprise systems have a lot of requirements but these are frequently constrained due to a lack of resources.

Different users in an organization have different needs from a system, but a systems analyst helps to prioritize the user’s needs in accordance with the available resources. This helps to ensure that maximum productivity is obtained from a working system.

3. Problem analysis

Systems analysts tend to observe data and facts about an operating business. They use technological techniques in identifying problems and removing unnecessary details so as to enable the fulfillment of real needs from a system.

4. Drawing specifications

Systems analysts also assign the relevant responsibilities of managing system requirements to the right individuals and team members. They specify programming tasks to programmers and managerial tasks to managers. They also document these system tasks in detail, using specification documents, and review the output to ensure that it matches the required specification.

5. System design and evaluation

Systems analysts guide the development of every system in an organization, from the specification of requirements to the designing of the system itself. They ensure that the built systems correspond to the system specifications by carrying out system evaluation. They also test the performance of the built system to ensure that it meets the required performance as specified.

6. Keeping up to date with technological advancements

Systems analysts are real agents of change in the use of technology in an organization. They tend to observe the overall use of technology in an organization and work to keep up with evolving technological demands by replacing outdated technologies with the latest ones.

They frequently encounter the challenge of having the users accept the changes and, therefore, involve the users in the development process. They do this by conducting interviews with the systems’ users and identifying possible user needs and requirements in order to integrate the latest technology for users. From time to time, systems analysts check to make sure that an organization is working with the latest technological systems, thus giving rise to high productivity and output.

Skills of a systems analyst

Communication

A systems analyst works with a lot of people in varying departments in an organization. They need good communication skills to delegate roles and communicate problems that they identify.

Critical thinking

Systems analysts go through a lot of analytical tasks. They need good critical thinking abilities in order to help them in problem analyses, system development, and implementation.

Business analytics

A systems analyst mostly uses information technology knowledge in solving business problems. The knowledge of business analysis is of huge importance to a systems analyst as it helps one attain competence in problem handling.

Technical analysis

A systems analyst ought to be good in the knowledge of certain technical areas like programming languages, information technology infrastructure, and database administration.

Management

A systems analyst works with several individuals of different departments in an organization. They need good managerial skills for effective resource, including human resource, management.