MCS 014 System Analysis And Design Important Questions and Notes
With Solved Question/Answers
MCS-014 Notes
Unit 2 - SYSTEMS ANALYST – A PROFESSION
➢ Role of a System Analyst
1.Change Agent - An agent of change can be defined as a person who serves as a trigger for change, develops a plan for change, and works with others in facilitating that change.
2.Investigator and Monitor - A systems analyst may investigate the existing system to find the reasons for its failure. The role of an investigator is to extract the problems from existing systems and create information structures to solve issues.
3.Architect - The role of an architect is to design an information system architecture according to the user’s requirements which acts as a blueprint for the programmers.
4.Psychologist - The analyst plays the role of psychologist in the way she/he reaches people, interprets their thoughts, assesses their behaviour and draws conclusions from these interactions. Psychologist plays a major role during the phase of fact finding.
5.Motivator – A system must be professionally design and acceptable to the user. System acceptance is achieved through user participation in its development, effective user training and proper motivation to use the system. The analyst’s role as a motivator becomes obvious when new people being trained to work with the candidate system.
➢ Duties or Responsibilities of System Analyst
1.Defining Requirements - The basic and most important step for system analysts is to understand user’s requirements clearly. Several fact-finding techniques are used like interview, questionnaire, and observation, etc
2.Prioritising Requirements - There is a need to set priority among the requirements of various users. This can be achieved by having a common meeting with all the users. System analysts must prioritize users’ requirements using their social and analytical skills.
3.Analysing the Problem - System analysts analyse various problems, their causes, and effects on business operations. They remove unnecessary data, focus on the important ones, and change or modify the working system accordingly to make it more user-friendly.
4.Solving Problems - Systems analyst is basically a problem solver. Problem solving includes following general steps: • Identify the problem • Analyse and understand the problem • Identify alternative solutions and select the best solution.
5.Designing and Evaluating Systems - when the analysts are done with the preparation of the system's specifications, they design and implement the system along with the development team. After the system is developed, they evaluate the performance and recommend necessary modifications.
➢ QUALIFICATIONS OF A SYSTEMS ANALYST
A systems analyst must fulfil the following requirements:
• Working knowledge of information technology
• Computer programming experience and expertise • General business knowledge • Problem solving skills
• Communication skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Flexibility and adaptability
• Thorough knowledge of analysis and design methodologies.
The skills that are required may be classified into the following:
• Analytical skills
• Technical skills
• Management skills
• Interpersonal skills
1.Analytical Skills - As the designation of person is Systems Analyst, possession of analytical skills is important. Analytical skills can be classified into the following sets:
• System study – The first important skill of systems analyst is to know about system. It is useful for thinking about computer–based information systems because information systems be subsystems in larger organizational systems, taking input from, and returning output to, their organizational environments.
• Organizational knowledge – System analyst must understand how organization works. Areas of organizational knowledge for a systems analyst are: - how work officially gets done in a particular organization, - understanding of organization rules and regulations, internal policies, - understanding of org. competitive and regulatory environments, - understanding of org. strategies and tactics,
• Problem identification - System analyst must be able to compare the current situation in an organization to the desired situation: advantages and disadvantages of both, perspectives, etc.
• Problem analysis and problem solving - Problem solving is the process of finding one or more ways to create the desired situation and select one approach for implementation.
2.Technical Skills - In order to develop computerbased information systems, systems analyst must understand information technologies. Systems Analyst should be as familiar as possible with such families of technologies such as:
• Microcomputers, workstations, minicomputers, and mainframe computers,
• Programming languages,
• Operating systems, both for PC’s and networks,
• Database and File management systems,
• Decision support systems and data analysis tools.
3.Management Skills - Systems analyst needs to know the process of managing his/her own work and how to use organizational resources in the most productive ways possible. There are four categories of management skills:
• Resource management - A systems analyst must know how to get the most out of a wide range of resources i.e. system documentation, information technology and money.
• Project management - The project manager needs to decompose a project into several independent tasks. The next step is to determine how the tasks are related to each other and who will be responsible for each task.
• Risk management - It is necessary for an analyst to anticipate and identify different risks, a project is susceptible to, so that contingency plans can be prepared in advance to control the effects of each risk
• Change management - Change management is an important skill for systems analyst. The systems analyst must know how to get people to make a smooth transition from one information system to another.
4.Interpersonal Skills - Systems analyst works extensively with staff in key positions in an organization. These skills can be classified as:
• Communication skills - A Systems analyst should be able to communicate clearly and effectively with others. The analyst must be able to master as many forms of communication as possible.
• Working alone as well as in a team - A Systems analyst must be able to organize and manage his/her own schedule, commitments and deadlines because many people in the organization will depend on his/her individual performance, but systems analyst must work with the team towards achieving project goals
• Facilitating groups - This skill is required when systems analyst works in Joint application development approach. In this approach systems analyst works with group during system development.
• Managing expectations - Managing expectations begins with the development of the business case for the system and extends all the way through training people to use the finished system.
❖ Questions Related to Unit 2
1.Explain the responsibilities of a system analyst. Give any two essential qualifications of a system analyst.***
2.What is the role of a Systems Analyst? Explain any two skills that are required to be a Systems Analyst. **
3.What is the role of a system analyst in system development? Explain any six attributes(qualifictions) of a good system analyst.
4.How does a system analyst contribute to the success of a system?
A systems analyst may:
• 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 required documents.
• Write technical requirements from a critical phase.
• Interact with software architect to understand software limitations.
5.Explain why a system analyst should be familiar with technical skills. Also list any five technical skills which may be used by a system analyst.
* = Important question