Assignment 2

Skills and Characteristics a Systems Analyst Should Develop

            We conduct an interview with one of the systems analyst in DMMA named Mr. Cornelio Dagot, the only systems analyst in the school; we ask so many questions regarding the skill and characteristics must a systems analyst should develop in order to be very effective in modeling process. Our first question is what are the skills and characteristics that we need to develop in order to be a good systems analyst? First he tackled about what is the meaning of systems analyst; first of all you need to have a little knowledge about programming, even though systems analyst is not assigned in developing the system you still need a little knowledge in programming because in programming you can learn flowcharting and the flowchart is very useful in making a system because it is a guideline. This is effective especially in dealing with a project from a client or customer. As a system analyst, you will get the specifications of the system you are going to work with, or are already working with. Analyzing the problem involves assuming the possibilities if a certain solution will address the problem. Of course, when you work in analyzing the project, you would think like “is this even possible?” knowing the capabilities of your team programmers in the team who will develop the program. Another skill that the interviewee gave is that a systems analyst should be good in conducting a research; we all know that an analyst should be good at researching because analyst needs to research the problems of the department so he/she must be good at researching. Our interviewee said also that being a systems analyst you need to be good at determining the problem, because you cannot find a good answer if you don’t know what is the problem, for my part determining the problem well is one of the skill you want to develop the most, because you cannot proceed with all the other process without the problem and the determining the problem well will help you create a good solution for the problem, according to Mr. Dagot some of the problem of a department is they need to make their work easier so they a want a system that is computerized. And also in line with our first question he told us being a systems analyst, you need to be good at analyzing because it is the main role of a systems analyst, analyzing the main problem of department, he told us when he analyze the systems needed in their school, first you need to check all the departments, day by day, you observe their daily routine and he said also that analyzing the problem well will provide you a good idea in making a good system, he says also that you need to know what the employees want. Another we question we have asked is that “Based on your experience what is the function of a System Analyst? Is it more on research?” He says it depends on the company, in his case in DMMA, as a systems analyst he do all the stuff, he analyze the system, investigate on different things, define the problem, design the interface, develop the system and he is also responsible in the maintenance but if we talk about a big company, he says the only role of a systems analyst is that a systems analyst should the research, investigate, analyze only and also he gives some idea to create a solution to the problem, the other stuff are for different sectors of the team. We ask question about in there school what are the current systems he handled recently, even though this question is out of the topic but it will help us understand the essence of being a systems analyst, he answered that not all the systems they used are information systems, they also used customized systems such as Microsoft Office and etc. The systems the he once handled are enrollment system, student account system, faculty loading systems and text connect systems for globe but text connect systems doesn’t exist now in their school because some of their student are smart users but he is creating now a text connect system for smart, this system allows you to know your grades by the use of cellphone. We question again “what should be the characteristics of a systems analyst you need to develop?”, he said a simple answer, you need to be good at analyzing and design, you need to analyze the needs of the system and design a flowchart that will lead to the proper solution, he said that there is a subject in there school when he is studying and it help him to become a good systems analyst. We had a question again that is not related to the topic but it is related in terms of understanding the work of the system analyst, our question is “for what part of being a systems analyst is difficult?” he says the major problem of a systems analyst is the people using the system because some of the employees in there are not susceptible to change, it means that they cannot accept the sudden change in the process of the system for example Mr. Dagot make a queuing system in the cashier department but it has negative feedbacks because of the students that goes back so the queue will be destroyed and it causes the students to quarrel but this system is adapted in the registrar office, that’s why he said that it depends on the people using it another problem is when you make a system of a certain department some employee will not be in used anymore because the system will provide the work for them, so those employees that is not useful anymore will be force to quit their job, it tells that the reason why the other employees is kick out of job is because of the system, but for the side of the client it is helpful because they can save a money and time. We ask question also if he has an experience in working with a group, he doesn’t because he is working by himself, and another question that we ask is “how long is the duration when you analyze the problem?” he said that it depends on the system you working on  for example the enrollment, It takes him 1 month to analyze the system, because you need to analyze the first step of enrollment to the last, it takes him 6 months to create the system but it is not complete because as he said as the time goes there will more changes, changes in the employees, students, grades, subjects. Last question we ask “did you follow the SLDC method?” The data gathering, planning, designing, developing, implementing and monitoring, he followed because a systems analyst should follow the step by step procedure in order for him to move properly to the next step, even flowcharting he still do it.

Skills and Characteristics of A Systems Analyst

To become a successful systems analyst you need to develop so many skills and characteristics in order to become more efficient in any design modeling process. You need extraordinary skills and characteristics in order to become a good systems analyst. In my previous post about the characteristics I possess as a good systems analyst, I discussed there about the characteristics of a systems analyst I said that  a good systems analyst requires so many characteristics. An analyst must be good at planning in order to plan the system well, good at investigating or analyzing in order to arrange the system and to create a good one, must be good in communicating to other, must willing to take risk, must be a good leader and a team mate, a systems analyst must be patient and understandable, hardworking, good at observing, responsible in his/her work and also to top of it all must be good at business because a work of a systems analyst is to create a new system that could help the company and to lessen their work. And also good systems must easily get along to the people and must be a good listener and be able to react to what people say. And also analyst must be good at technologies. I tackled also the skill of a systems analyst, in technical issues 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. When we say peripheral devices, we should have the knowledge of computers especially in hardware’s, it is one of the basic requirements of a system analyst, When we say peripheral devices, we should have the knowledge of computers especially in hardware’s, it is one of the basic requirements of a system analyst, because system analyst not only deals with software but also it deals with hardware, when we talk about communication networks and connectivity, system analyst must think that an organization is compose of different or lots of department and branches and a system analyst must ensure that this organization will be connected to each other. Becoming a system analyst always deals with data and processes it to make it as an info, and with this data it can formulate an idea that will help, in order to create an efficient system and also we all know that being a system analyst does not require to be a computer programmer however a system analyst must have a little knowledge of computer programming, because it enables the system analyst to decide whether this programming language is capable of making this system, and also some of the companies now have only one system analysis that can develop a system, even if programming language is not necessary but still having a basic knowledge in programming is still an advantage in the world of IT technology. And also in creating a system we should always consider our operating systems and utilities, it is important to know our computer in order to install the proper operating systems that could run our system. And also being a system analyst we should know the software we are using in making the system for us to know the capacity of our system, it will enable us to set some limitations and scope in the system we are making. It is very important as a systems analyst to plan first and a systems analyst should how to plan well in able to have a good start and also a systems analyst should know how to make database designs because database designs will determine the capacity of work to be done and also a knowledge of network design to avoid traffics and delays and also the most important thing is that a system analyst should know how to implement or construct and has the time to support the system. In terms of business knowledge and skills, a 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, Strategies, plans, traditions, and values of the organization, Organizational Structure, Organizational management techniques, Functional work processes and in terms of people knowledge and skills a systems analyst need to understand important things regarding the people some of these are thinking, learn, react to change, communicate and work and also another skill that a systems analyst should have, these are hard and soft skills. Hard skills are the skills in technical areas such as database design, programming, and telecommunication. Soft skills are the skills in nontechnical areas such as interviewing, team management, and leadership.

Conclusion

            Interviewing a real systems analyst is fun and also it is interesting because we can learn more things and we can have an idea on what to do in the future.