System Analyst

Who is a systems analyst and how is he different from a business analyst? A person responsible for the different activities such as supporting the systems or applications, providing technical guidance to the business analysts, providing technical know-how for the new systems which are to be put in place and keeping the organizational strategic and business objectives in mind while doing the said activities.  As per doing all these activities, the system analyst is a vital part of the software project life cycle. The main attributes which can be associated with a business analyst are strong technical skills, project management skills and analytical skills. Strong project management skills are required; because in essence, systems analysts actually lead some parts of the technical team as far as the technical know how goes and should have the flair to do this.  Due to the strong technical skills, the system analyst can identify the issues with the current systems if any, provide guidance to the technical team during development or thrashing out of the systems design and architecture. The system analyst should be familiar with the various programming languages, different software such as ERP systems, Reporting as well as Data bases. System analysts are also expected to be involved in the system, load and stress testing levels. They can also be responsible for documentations such as the technical specifications (while the functional specifications are done by the business analyst), technical manuals, instructions manual for the technical team which might include the batch jobs run, handling and backup of databases etc. 

But also important are the soft skills like communication, taking the initiatives, leading the development team if required towards the right direction.  The system analyst actually interacts with users at all levels starting from the end users and the stakeholders to the technical team and the functional analysts. System analysts play a vital role in interacting with the third party vendors or organizations and ensuring that they are on the same lines about the project. The costing analysis of each project is also the responsibility of the system analyst. They can also be looking into the technical feasibility study of a system while the business analyst does the functional analysis. So, actually the system and business analyst would be working on the same system but will be analyzing and evaluating it from different perspectives – the systems analysts evaluates whether its technically feasible to go forward with the project, system or enhancement while the business analyst evaluates whether the project will be in line with the business objectives and improve the business processes.  So, the business and system analyst should always work hand in hand and have great communication skills between themselves. In some organizations, the role has even been merges so as to have a “business systems analyst” who performs the activities from both the system and business analyst perspectives. It’s finally the prerogative of the organization in which way the job profile of the system role will be defined, but we have given here an overview of his general activities!