In this article I will tell about the conversation between two persons, John Juan the systems professional and Peter Pedro the manager of the department targeted for a new information system which John Juan will be working with. In this article I will try to analyze which of them should I sympathize most and I will try to to find a solution or method in their problem.
As I’ve understand in their conversation, John Juan is insisting that they should first analyze or examine the existing system the company has, then they will review the document and also observe all the employees on how they perform their task and then John Juan will determine all the possible aspects that is still OK and gather all the important data that can be preserved, but Peter Pedro is worried because they’ve been to this kind of projects before but they still got failed because as John Juan was insisting, Peter Pedro said that this kind of technique will just put them to failure because as Peter Pedro experienced before, they didn’t get a new system as promised but instead they get a modified version of the old system. John Juan promised to Peter Pedro that this will not happen, they just want to have a thorough understating to the existing system, they like to know what is working well and what is isn’t but Peter Pedro said that he is much comfortable if John Juan will analyze what really is the problem of their company, then John Juan will list it and it will serve as the requirements of the system and also Peter Pedro said that John Juan should determine what will be the purpose of the program to their department, then after doing this, John Juan and his team as Peter Pedro said will salvage or save the possible portion of the system that can still be save, because Peter Pedro doesn’t want that they will be force to use the old system of their department. Obviously these two professionals have different views on how the analysis phase should be conducted, for me their views have two sides, the negative and positive sides. Let’s talk first about the positive side of John Juan’s views, for me examining first the old system is the best way to gather some important information regarding to the capabilities of the system, being a systems analyst is that you should analyze first the existing system before creating a new one, and also the positive side of the views of John Juan is that it is right to review all the important documents and then observe the employees on how they do the task, being a systems analyst John Juan is doing his task well but for there is a negative side of John Juan's views, being a systems analyst is that you should understand well the needs of the client. In case of John Juan, he is insisting that they should preserved the old system and instead of making a new system they should modify it. And to the views of Peter Pedro I can say that it has a negative and a positive side also. For me Peter Pedro's views is correct also because he is the client and he is the one that has many experience regarding the works of the system and he is the one also who knows how their employees used the system and I understand the point of Peter Pedro on making a new system instead of a modified older version of the system, but on the negative side Peter Pedro doesn't understand well the views of John Juan, although Peter Pedro is the client and has many experience on their company, but we cannot deny the fact that John Juan is a systems analyst and he knows so much about this kind of job. And also being a systems analyst I agree with John Juan that they should preserved what can be preserved. But I agree also with Peter Pedro because by preserving some of the data from the older version, they can still have a modified version of the old system but not a new one. So to begin with the first question regarding whom do I sympathize most, I must explain first what is a systems analyst and what are the roles or skills of the systems analyst.
What is a Systems Analyst?
We all know that System Analyst is the one that investigates and analyze the existing system or the possible system an organization could have. System Analyst is the one responsible in making the plan strategy more capable of making the project being effective and efficient. As we know the major role of a System Analyst in a project team is System Analyst works primarily for an information system. System Analyst should interact with other people because it is the only way that they would know the capability of their employees. We all know that a System Analyst is expert in computer and System Analyst is very professional in investigating different kinds of situation.
Skills on being A System Analyst
As our lesson goes further, I learn that being a System Analyst is not an easy job. Being a system analyst, you should learn how to talk to the people and know what are their needs and concerns. Being a System Analyst is that we all should research, plan, coordinate and recommend other software’s that will help or meet the organizations requirements. System Analyst has so many things to do, some of them are writing technical or methodological requirements from a critical phase, and also after that, System Analyst should cooperate with the designers or developers in order to fix and avoid system bugs. System Analyst is the one capable of testing the system, and it is also the one that deploys the system and determines the flow of the system.
As our lesson goes further, I learn that being a System Analyst is not an easy job. Being a system analyst, you should learn how to talk to the people and know what are their needs and concerns. Being a System Analyst is that we all should research, plan, coordinate and recommend other software’s that will help or meet the organizations requirements. System Analyst has so many things to do, some of them are writing technical or methodological requirements from a critical phase, and also after that, System Analyst should cooperate with the designers or developers in order to fix and avoid system bugs. System Analyst is the one capable of testing the system, and it is also the one that deploys the system and determines the flow of the system.
The Three Major Skill of A System Analyst
- Technical SkillsWhen you are a system analyst you should be able to become a technical type of person, it simply means that you should know about computers, you should also know the easiest part of the computer that is very useful of becoming a system analyst and also the knowledge of computer in terms of peripheral devices(hardware), communication networks and connectivity, database and database management systems (DBMS), programming languages ( for example, VB.NET or Java), operating systems and utilities, software productivity packages, integrated development environment (IDEs) for programming languages, and CASE tools, testing documentation support, reverse engineering, configuration management, project planning, system analysis, systems design, database design, network design, construction, implementation, systems support.
- Business knowledge and skillA Systems Analyst’ most important task is to solve business problems, thus he/she should know the business functions performed by the organization. Some of these are:
•Business functions performed by organization
- It is one of the important task of a system analyst is to know the business functions performed by the organization, for example it is important to know what kinds of business functions an employee is doing, because it enables the systems analyst to analyze well what is the function the system lacks.
• Strategies, plans, traditions, and values of the organization
- Being a systems analyst is all about investigating the current system of some organization in order to improve it for the greater good of the company. A systems analyst, should know all the plans or goals of the organization because it is the most important job of a systems analyst to know what he/she is working on and also by knowing the strategies and the traditions of the organization will help him or her to find the best way in improving the system used by the organization.
• Organizational Structure
- In starting an investigation, a systems analyst should know the organizational structure because it enables the analyst to be more precise and accurate of what he/she is doing. Organizational structure serves as the flow chart of an organization.
• Organizational management techniques
- Organizational management is the lifeblood of any company or group. Being a systems analyst, it is important to know the lifeblood of the company in order to understand well what the needs of the company are. OMT is the methods used to manage the company's daily activities, motivate employees to produce at a high level and guide the company's future path, by knowing all these a systems analyst can simply determine what is the thing that the people in the organization wants. Understanding successful organizational techniques are important to effective management. The first thing to keep in mind is that it helps to understand multiple methods to the several techniques so the approach can be adapted for any given situation.
• Functional work processes
- It is important for a system analyst to know the whole process done by organization or the business flow and the different functions happening because as I’ve mentioned earlier it enables the systems analyst to analyze well what the system really lacks. - People Knowledge and Skills
A systems analyst need to understand important things regarding the people. Some of these are:
• Think
- It is very important that a systems analyst should know what do people are thinking because it will help or it is a guide to know what does the people really wants and a systems analyst must understand what their needs are.
• Learn
- It is important that a systems analyst should learn from the people around because learning in line with teaching the people to will create a good bond to the system and the people using it.
• React to Change
- It is important that a systems analyst would realize that the people will surely react to the change, and a systems analyst must analyze well the system and make sure that the system can be easily adopt, it is the role of a systems analyst to realize that.
• Think
- It is very important that a systems analyst should know what do people are thinking because it will help or it is a guide to know what does the people really wants and a systems analyst must understand what their needs are.
• Learn
- It is important that a systems analyst should learn from the people around because learning in line with teaching the people to will create a good bond to the system and the people using it.
• React to Change
- It is important that a systems analyst would realize that the people will surely react to the change, and a systems analyst must analyze well the system and make sure that the system can be easily adopt, it is the role of a systems analyst to realize that.
• Communicate
- A systems analyst must communicate well to the people because it will help an analyst to gather more information and the people will have a trust to tell all the data he/she needs from them, and also by communicating well, an analyst can understand the complexity of the employees doing. It is important to make sure that an analyst must be good in communicating in order to motivate people and also provide necessary support
• Work
- An analyst should know what kind of work the people are doing in order so that they can easily adapt to the changes.
After discussing about what is a systems analyst and what are the skill and roles of a systems analyst, I came with a decision on whom I sympathize the most. In my opinion I sympathize the both of them but I sympathize the most is John Juan, because John Juan is just doing his job, even though Peter Pedro has more experience about their system but as I reviewed about what is the systems analyst, John Juan is just doing what a systems analyst should be doing. In John Juan's point what he wanted to do is to examine first the old system and try to recover the important features of the system that can be preserved and can be useful to create a new system. What John Juan was pointing is that he just wanted to get the information from the old system so that he can analyze well the needs of the employees, He is just trying to explain that in the old system maybe they can find something useful in their study and so they can insert it to the new system they will create, but Peter Pedro does not understand John Juan's point, although I understand Peter Pedro, because he is just afraid of the plan of John Juan, because he experienced it before, instead of making a new system, they got a modified version of the old system, but as I've understand that John Juan will make a new system, he is just gathering some important details and he is observing the works of the employees and how do they use the system. I sympathize also with the point of Peter Pedro, because he wants to make a new study of what are the needs of the system and it will serve as their requirements to create the new system but I think John Juan has a better idea because I think John Juan is just using the most used method of being a systems analyst which is the waterfall method. Let me discuss what is the waterfall method.
What is the Waterfall Method
The waterfall model is the earliest method of structured system development, nowadays this model is still widely used even though in the recent years It has come under attack for being too severe and impractical when it comes to meeting customer’s needs. It is most closely resembles a “generic” model for software development. According to some study waterfall model is a sequential design process, often used in used in software development process, it is called a waterfall model because as it seen that its progress if flowing steadily downwards life a waterfall. In 1970 up to now it has become the fundamental model for software development in many software companies. This model was introduced by Winston W. Royce. As I’ve understand waterfall model has its personal feature that sets it apart from other software development models, this feature is, waterfall model does not allow a simultaneous execution between phases, it simply means that a second phase cannot be executed when the first phase in not finish, this kind of approach is easy to implement and there is transparency in every stage. Systematic documentation is done at every phase of waterfall model. To verify whether the development process is on track and meets customer’s requirements, review meetings are conducted at the end of every stage. The waterfall model consists of the following steps; these are problem definition, feasibility study, requirement analysis, system design, coding and testing, implementation, and system maintenance. In Problem Definition Phase ,this is where we define the problem, it is not an easy job because defining the problem is more likely solving the problem, because when you find what really is the problem we can find the right solution for the problem, this phase requires a critical thinker that has the ability to think what really is the problem, identifies what is the characteristics of the problem. In Feasibility Study Phase, it aims to accurately and logically uncover the strengths and weaknesses of the existing business or proposed venture, opportunities and threats as presented by the environment, the resources required to carry through, and ultimately the prospects for success. In its simplest term, the two criteria to judge feasibility are cost required and value to be attained. In Requirement Analysis Phase, this is the phase of the waterfall model which includes a meeting with a customer to understand his/her requirements, in this phase an analyst must perform a full and complete analysis to the current situation of the customer. This phase also refers to the gathering of system requirements; an analyst should gather all the important requirements with the goal on determining how these requirements will be accommodated in the system. In System Design Phase, this is the phase where the designing of the system takes place. This explains why the waterfall model has a unique feature because you cannot proceed with the designing if you are not finished with analyzing. Once the requirements have been collected and analyze, it Is necessary to identify in detail what should be the design of the system or how the system should be constructed in order to perform necessary tasks, the main objective of the system design phase is to focus on the data requirements for example “what information will be processed in the system?” it is focus also in the software construction for example “how will the application be constructed?” and also it is focus in the interface construction for example “what will the system look like? What standards to be followed?” In Coding and Testing Phase,this is the phase where the analyst is not capable of doing. This is the time when you gather all the needed information from the start up to this, this time the programmer takes place. In coding the programmer is the one capable of doing, after understanding all the gathered information the programmer converts this information into a machine readable computer code. In the Implementation Phase, this phase is the realization of the application; it is the time when the developer executes the plan, and ideas. According to some study it is a realization of a technical specification or the realization of a technical description or algorithm as a program, software component, or other computer system through programming and deployment. In the Maintenance Phase, this is the final phase of the waterfall model the maintenance phase, in this phase the developer checks the processes made by the system from time to time. He/she will update the system if it has some errors or bugs.
Proceeding with the next question about what is the method would I propose that they should take. In my opinion they could use the usual method, all they need is understanding. For me they should plan first what should really be the problem of the system, they should understand and know all the possible problems that they could encounter and next is that they should analyze the problem well if they can analyze the problem well they can get a better solution to it, and also John Juan should understand well Peter Pedro, he should explain well what he was doing. I think the best solution to their problem is that they should combine their ideas for example John Juan will examine the old system but he should still find a new way or new requirements in making a new system, then after that they should ask the employees what are things that is lacking in the system and what should be out in the system after doing this they design a new system that fits their needs.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, for me their conversation is not about quarreling, it is just about a two experts, expressing their ideas to make an efficient and effective system, the two of them has a point on their views, Peter Pedro wants a new system and also John Juan but John Juan wants that they should examine first the old system and if they find something useful they can insert it to the new system. As I've observed good communication is the most important way to have a good relationship between the client and the analyst. An analyst should develop good communication skills in order to communicate well with the client.
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