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February 21, 2007
Q5 of 25 Questions about a Career in IS:
What does a systems analyst do?
Systems analysts are cultural brokers. They have one foot in the business world and one foot in the world of information technology. They translate the needs of business users into specifications and designs for information systems. Systems analysts need to be both people oriented and technology oriented.
One of the most important jobs for systems analysts is to to interview users and determine needs for information systems. Systems analysts document those needs using text descriptions, use cases, process diagrams, data models, and other formats. Systems developers use that documentation to design and build the information system. Systems analysts sometimes also test the information system to ensure that it conforms with the specifications.
The U.S. Government's Bureau of Labor Statistics defines the job of a systems analyst as follows:
"Computer systems analysts solve computer problems and apply computer technology to meet the individual needs of an organization. They help an organization to realize the maximum benefit from its investment in equipment, personnel, and business processes. Systems analysts may plan and develop new computer systems or devise ways to apply existing systems’ resources to additional operations. They may design new systems, including both hardware and software, or add a new software application to harness more of the computer’s power. Most systems analysts work with specific types of systems—for example, business, accounting, or financial systems, or scientific and engineering systems—that vary with the kind of organization.
"One obstacle associated with expanding computer use is the need for different computer systems to communicate with each other. Because of the importance of maintaining up-to-date information—accounting records, sales figures, or budget projections, for example—systems analysts work on making the computer systems within an organization, or among organizations, compatible so that information can be shared among them." source: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos287.htm#nature
Posted by DavidK at February 21, 2007 09:18 AM | Permalink