1.2.2 Role of System Analyst

The system analyst is the person (or persons) who guides through the development of an

information system . In performing these tasks the analyst must always match the

information system objectives with the goals of the organization.

Role of System Analyst differs from organization to organization. Most common

responsibilities of System Analyst are following

1) System analysis:

It includes system's study in order to get facts about business activity. It is about getting

information and determining requirements. Here the responsibility includes only

requirement determination, not the design of the system.

2) System analysis and design

Here apart from the analysis work, Analyst is also responsible for the designing of the

new system/application.

3) Systems analysis, design, and programming

Here Analyst is also required to perform as a programmer, where he actually writes the

code to implement the design of the proposed application.

Due to the various responsibilities that a system analyst requires to handle, he has to be

multifaceted person with varied skills required at various stages of the life cycle. In

addition to the technical know-how of the information system development a system

analyst should also have the following knowledge.

- Business knowledge: As the analyst might have to develop any kind of a business

system, he should be familiar with the general functioning of all kind of businesses.

- Interpersonal skills: Such skills are required at various stages of development process

for interacting with the users and extracting the requirements out of them

- Problem solving skills: A system analyst should have enough problem solving skills

for defining the alternate solutions to the system and also for the problems occurring

at the various stages of the development process.