Term Paper on "Define What a Systems Analyst"

Term Paper 8 pages (2585 words) Sources: 4 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

systems analyst is unique in that its role is a hybrid one.

Admittedly system analysts are highly skilled in IT technologies and their applications to core business problems, yet they are also excellent analysts of business issues and how they can be resolved using IT-based technologies. At the center of the systems' analysts role is the ability to resolve business-related problems and accomplish line-of-business objectives using information technologies to redefine business processes so they are more efficient and more aligned to a company's strategic objectives. As a result of this core orientation of systems analysts, the use of the Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and Business Process Management (BPM) are critical concepts that systems analysts must master in addition to the core IT concepts of how systems integrate with one another, how they are programmed, and the future interfacing and programming standard necessary to support the accomplishment of line-of-business objectives.

In many companies the role of the systems analyst is a highly political role in any company as well, having to span the core technologies of a company and its many internally focused IT agendas, tasks and roadmaps, where fulfillment is measured and defined in its own language and acronyms. Juxtapose this with the need for the systems analyst to see others in the company requiring their expertise as customers, and the essence of the conflicting roles becomes very clear. A systems analyst has to champion the needs of line-of-business users to be successful, yet has to maintain loyalties and a reasonable level of status quo in their organizations. IT staffs like predictable routines and for the most part see line-of-business needs as an interruption to the grander plan of building out their next generation architectures, consolidating ERP, MRP or CRM systems, or building out the next generation of Internet applications for the entire company.

Line-of-Business Objectives Now Drive Systems Analysis

The center of control over IT in many organizations globally has shifted from the CIO to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) in some cases, and most definitely to the line-of-business managers. This fundamental shift is critical for the future of the role of systems analysis and design today and in the future. Further, the lessons learned from articles by (Keller, 1999), (Mann, 2002) and (Worthington, 2001) highlight the fact that systems analysts are becoming more focused on being business analysts first, and systems or computer analysts second. This is also supported by the fact that many CIOs now report to the CFO of their companies' shows that line-of-business needs dominate IT budgets and direction more than ever before, signaling CIOs must be business strategists first and technologists second. It is also common for example to find CIOs reporting to the CMO in marketing and distribution-intensive businesses, as the use of technologies is critical for planning for, sensing, and responding to market demands. According (AMR Research, 2006) the ability of IT's systems analysts to align more closely with the business objectives has the potential to drive up successful project completions to 85% over 30% when business goals are not internalized and understood. Systems analysts are required to fulfill the much broader commitment so many CIOs are making today of turning IT into a responsive, customer-centered resource for other departments in the organization, with further impact on all customer-facing strategies including attracting, selling, and servicing clients, according to (AMR Research, 2006).

Paradoxically this intersection of the CIO's role and that of system analysts is what is driving the next generation of IT architectures, featuring a more service-oriented and modular architecture that can more easily align with the business strategies or organizations, with early adopters using the modular or meta-systems as defined by (Keller, 1999). Much has been written specifically on the topic of service-oriented architectures (SOA) and their ability to quickly respond to market conditions for businesses (Keller, 1999), (Mann, 2002), (Worthington, 2001) and many others including (AMR Research et.al.) and (Gartner Group et.al.). At the heart of so many of these discussions is the building blocks of Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA for short) and their development of composite architectures complete with meta-systems that have the potential to map to business needs, according to (AMR Research, 2005). This is a very strategic view of what is becoming a very complex subject, and the core of the discussion is today on Web Services, SOAP, and the era of the composite application structure (Gartner, 2004). Collectively these technologies are used by systems analysts in the context of development methodologies including the SDLC, which is described later in this paper, to complete new development and maintenance problems.

Another aspect of the role of the business analyst which will gain significant importance in the coming five years is that of being a business process management (BPM) analyst and strategies. BPM is the redefining of core business processes to make them more efficient and economical while aligning them more closely with core business goals and objectives.

As (Keller 1999) points out, the use of rules-based systems are being used as the foundation of business process management applications and tools used by business analysts to translate business requirements into IT components. (Keller 1999) further makes the point of how rule-based systems can become constrictive over time, where the realities of lines of business gets modeled to the nth degree, and in the end, little change is actually delivered. The fact that rules-based systems are increasingly being used for interpolating, analyzing, and ultimately translating business processes into applications is giving business analysts a critical tool to do their jobs as their role changes. Simply put, systems analysts are not so much project managers, but interpreters of business requirements and their translation into business process improvements (Gartner 2004).

How Systems Analysts Are Driving a Business Process Management Revolution

At the core of the revolution happening in systems analysis is the need for these professionals to own the processes they are re-defining in conjunction with their line-of-business internal customers. Becoming expert at business processes first, and co-owning their re-definition to the requirements of line-of-business internal customers, is critical for the success of anyone taking the route of being a systems analyst. This is quite a different perspective on the role of the systems analyst from previous generations, where the concentration on technology first, systems tools second and process re-definition a distant third if it was covered at all. This new process-centric definition of the role of the systems analyst is gradually changing the entire definition of IT, because systems analysts in effect are the customer-facing parts of any IT department (AMR Research 2006). The internal "customers" of IT are re-defining the agenda of information systems globally (Gartner 2004). The bottom line of this process-centric revolution is that systems analysts are going to be more called upon than ever to know the business issues more than technologies. (Keller 1999), (Mann 2002), and (Worthington 2001) have delivered impressive volumes of research on meta-systems and the role of both rules-based and constraint engines as they relate to Web Services and the ability to quickly redefine business processes. The role of Web Services is a must-know component to any system analysts' set of analytical tools and concepts, as is the ability to design, lead the development of, and potentially program composite applications that also are specifically built to align with a company's line of business goals and objectives (IBM Systems Journal 2001).

Systems Analysts and the Systems Development Lifecycle

The Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC) has become a central component to rapid application development (RAD) strategies in enterprise software and one of the most critical tools that systems analysts need to use regularly in the definition of how IT projects will be developed to support line-of-business objectives (AMR Research 2004). This expertise in SDLC is critical as many IT projects either minimally achieve their objectives or fall far short of accomplishing their intended results. It's common knowledge in the development of complex software applications 70% or more large-scale projects fail according to industry consultancies including (Gartner 2004). The consultancy has defined that the majority of projects fail due to lack of accumulated knowledge applied to the development process in the first place. The need for better knowledge management is critical, and while not discussed in the context of an SDLC strategy typically, the ability of an organization to "learn" from itself is essential if it is going to succeed in systems analysis and further, BPM-based strategies (AMR Research 2005).

A secondary series of benefits of systems analysts becoming expert in the SDLC methodology is the ability to get early identification of technical and management issues, full disclosure of all life cycle costs to guide business decisions, and the fostering of realistic expectations of what systems will and will not provide.

There is also the ability through the use of the model to define the relative level of progress of initial software development, and the ensuing quality levels of performance. Creating internal measures and progress of performance relative to project plans is… READ MORE

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