II.

The World of the Modern System Analyst INSY 55: System Analysis and Design

1.
Overview
This module describes the roles of the systems analyst in terms of business problem
solving, strategic planning, and system development. It includes the systems analyst’s nature of
work, the necessary knowledge and skills, and the types of systems and special projects an
analyst works on.

No matter what occupation or position you will have in any business in the future, you will
likely participate in systems analysis and design. Some will become systems analysts, the key
players in systems analysis and design; while the rest may work with systems analysts as projects
come and go in different organizations. It emphasizes systems analysts, the people who usually
facilitate systems development through the methods that will be described.

Objectives
At the end of this chapter, students should be able to:

1. explain the key role of a systems analyst in business;

2. describe the various types of systems an analyst might work on;
3. explain the importance of technical, people, and business skills for an analyst;
4. explain why ethical behavior is crucial for systems analyst’s career;
5. describe the types of technology an analyst needs to understand;
6. describe various job titles and places of employment where analysis and design work are
done;
7. discuss the analyst’s role in strategic planning for an organization; and
8. describe the analyst’s role in a system development.

Vocabulary

✓ Data – consists of basic facts that are the system’s raw materials.
✓ Database – a centrally managed collection of data
✓ Information – is the data that has been transformed into output that is valuable/useful
to users.
✓ Information System (IS) – the arrangement of technology, people and data to provide
support for business functions such as order processing, inventory control, human
resources, accounting, and others.
✓ Information Technology (IT) – the combination of hardware, software, and services
that people use to manage, communicate, and share information.
✓ Subsystem – a system that is part of a larger system.
✓ System – a set of related components that produces specific results.
 ✓ System analysis – the process of understanding and specifying in detail what the
information system should accomplish.
✓ Systems analyst – a business professional who uses analysis and design techniques
to solve business problems by using information technology.
✓ System design – the process of specifying in detail how the many components of the
information system should be physically implemented.

1.1 The Systems Analyst as a Business Problem Solver

1.1.1 The system analyst bridges the communications gap between those who need
the computer and those who understand the technology.
A systems analyst, in its formal definition, facilitates the study of the problems and needs of
a business to determine how the business system and information technology can best solve the
problem and accomplish improvements for the business. The product of this activity may be
improved business processes, improved information systems, or new or improved computer
applications frequently all three.
When information technology is used, the systems analyst is responsible for:
o the efficient capture of data from its business source
o the flow of that data to the computer
o the processing and storage of that data by the computer
o the flow of useful and timely information back to the business and its people

1.1.2 A systems analyst is a business problem solver.

A systems analyst helps the business by solving its problems using system concepts and
information technology.
The role of systems analyst is changing into two distinct positions or roles, business analyst
and application analyst.
o A business analyst is a systems analyst that specializes in business problem
analysis and technology-independent requirements analysis.
o An application analyst is a systems analyst that specializes in application design
and technology-dependent aspects of development. A synonym is system or
application architect.

1.1.3 A system analyst is a system-oriented problem solver.

System problem solving is the act of studying a problem environment in order to implement
corrective solutions that take the form of new or improved systems.

1.1.4 A systems analyst needs to know about computers and programming, but also
should know and have a desire to use computers to solve problems.
The solution to the “problem” is generally a new information system. Systems analysts
solve problems for business organizations, such as these:
o Problems getting orders from customers
o Problems planning production amounts
o Problems causing inventory holding costs
o Problems anticipating customer needs
o Problems limiting complete information about financial position
 o Problems limiting employee flexibility in benefits plans

1.1.5 System analysts are responsible for other aspects of a system including:
o PEOPLE, including managers, users, and other developers – and including the
organizational behaviors and politics that occur when people interact with one
another.
o DATA, including capture, validation, organization, storage, and usage.
o PROCESSES, both automated and manual, that combine to process data and
produce information.
o INTERFACES, both to other systems and applications, as well to the actual users
(e.g., reports and display screens).
o NETWORKS, which effectively distribute data, processes, and information to the
people.

1.1.6 A systems analyst uses a generic problem-solving approach.

The analyst uses a series of steps to systematically understand and solve the problem.
Figure 1 shows the general approach used by a systems analyst in problem-solving.

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Figure 1. General approach to problem-solving

1.2 Systems that Solve Business Problems

Various types of information systems are found in business organizations. These systems
are often integrated through the use of shared data. Some information systems handle routine day-
to-day tasks, while others can help managers make better decisions, spot marketplace trends, and
reveal patterns that might be hidden in stored data.

1.2.1 Transaction Processing System (TPS)

TPS is an IS application that captures and records information about the transactions that
affect the organization.
It can respond to business transactions such as orders, time cards, or payments; or initiate
transactions such as invoice, paychecks or receipts.
It can also respond to both external events such as processing orders from customers and
internal events such as generating production orders for the shop floor.
 The design tends to focus on factors such as response time, throughput (volume of
transactions), accuracy, consistency and service.
Examples: airline reservations, bank deposits and withdrawals, course registration, hotel
check-in/check-out, order processing and payroll and inventory procurement.

1.2.2 Management Information System (MIS)

MIS is an IS application that takes information captured by transaction processing systems
and produces reports that management needs for planning and control.
It provides for management-oriented reporting. These reports are usually generated on a
predetermined schedule and appear in a prearranged format. It is normally produced from a
shared database that stores data from many sources, including TPS.
It can present detailed information, summary information and exception information.
o Detailed Information – is used for operations management as well as regulatory
requirements (as imposed by the government).
o Summary Information – consolidates raw data to quickly indicate trends and
possible problems.
o Exception Information – filters data to report exceptions to some rule or criteria
(such as reporting only those products that are low in inventory)
Examples: budget forecasting and analysis, financial reporting, inventory reporting, production
scheduling, schedule of classes and sales reporting.

1.2.3 Decision Support System (DSS)

DSS is an IS application that supports systems that allow a user to explore the impact of
available options or decisions.
It provides its users with decision-oriented information whenever a decision-making
situation arises. When applied to executive managers, these systems are sometimes called
executive information systems (EIS).
A DSS does not typically make decisions or solve problems – people do. It is concerned
with providing useful information to support the decision process. In particular, decision support
systems are usually designed to support unstructured decisions, that is, those decision-making
situations that cannot be predicted.
It provides the decision makers with tools to access the data and analyze it to make a
decision.
In general, a DSS provides one or more of the following types of support to the decision
maker:
o Identification of problems or decision-making opportunities (similar to exception
reporting).
o Identification of possible solutions or decisions.
o Access to information needed to solve a problem or make a decision.
o Analysis of possible decisions or of variables that will affect a decision. Sometimes
this is called “what if” analysis.
o Simulation of possible solutions and their likely results.
DSS tools include spreadsheets (MS Excel), PC-database management systems (MS Access),
custom reporting tools (Seagate Software’s Crystal Reports and Bio Technology’s Brio Query), and
statistical analysis programs.

1.2.4 Expert Systems (ES)

ES is an extension of DSS. It is a programmed decision-making information system that
captures and reproduces the knowledge and expertise of an expert problem solver or decision
maker and then simulates the “thinking” or “actions” of that expert.
 It provides information for executives to use in strategic planning.
Expert systems address the critical need to duplicate the expertise of experienced problem
solvers, managers, professionals and technicians. These experts often possess knowledge and
expertise that cannot easily be duplicated or replaced in all organizations.
It imitates the logic and reasoning of the experts within their respective fields. It is
implemented with artificial intelligence (AI) technology that captures, stores, and provides access
to the reasoning of the experts.
Examples:
o A food manufacturer uses an expert system to preserve the production expertise of
engineers who are nearing retirement.
o A major credit card broker uses an expert system to accelerate credit screening that
requires data from multiple sites and databases.
o A plastics manufacturer uses an expert system to determine the cause of quality
control problems associated with shop floor machines.

1.2.5 Office Automation (OA) System

OAS is an IS application that supports systems that help employees create and share
documents, including reports, proposals, and memos.
OAS is more than word processing and spreadsheet applications. It supports the wide
range of business office activities that provide for improved work flow and communications
between workers, regardless of whether or not those workers are located in the same office. It is
concerned with getting all relevant information to those who need it.
Office automation functions include word processing, electronic messages (or electronic
mail), work group computing, work group scheduling, facsimile (fax) processing, imaging and
electronic documents and work flow management.
It can be designed to support both individuals and work groups.
o Personal Information Systems – are those designed to meet the needs of a single
user. They are designed to boost an individual’s productivity.
o Work Group Information Systems – are those designed to meet the needs of a work
group. They are designed to boost the group’s productivity.

1.2.6 Communication Support System (CSS)

CSS is an IS application that supports systems that allow employees to communicate with
each other and with customers and suppliers.

1.3 Required Skills of the Systems Analyst

Because of the complexity of business problems and the information systems that solve
them, a systems analyst needs a great deal of knowledge and many special skills, including
technical, business, and “people” knowledge and skills.

1.3.1 Technical Knowledge and Skills

These are the most obvious areas of expertise: computers, peripheral devices,
communications networks, databases, programming languages, and operating systems. Analysts
also use tools and techniques to build systems:
o Tools: Software products used to help develop analysis and design specifications and
completed system components.
Examples include development packages like Microsoft Access or Visual Age, and
PowerBuilder, integrated development environments (IDEs), computer-aided system
engineering (CASE) tools, program code generators, documentation generating tools,
testing tools, project management tools, etc.
 o Techniques: Strategies for completing specific system development activities.
Examples include project planning techniques, systems analysis techniques, systems
design techniques, system construction and implementation techniques, and system
support techniques.
Some techniques cover completing smaller parts of systems analysis or systems design,
such as data modeling techniques, process modeling techniques, interviewing techniques,
feasibility studies, interface design techniques, database design techniques, etc.

1.3.2 Business Knowledge and Skills

Systems analysts need to understand business organizations and how they operate, since
they are solving problems for them. This is why the MIS or CIS majors are typically majors in a
business degree.
It is important to understand the business functions performed and how organizations are
structured and managed, including finance, accounting, manufacturing, marketing, and other
business functions.
It is also important to understand the specific organization involved. What does it do?
What makes it successful? What are its strategies and plans? What are its traditions and values?
A system solution is tailored specifically for the needs of a specific organization.

1.3.3 People Knowledge and Skills

Analysts work with others to develop systems, including employees from various areas of
the company and with other system developers. Therefore, people knowledge and skills are
crucial. Analysts need to understand how people think, learn, react to change, communicate, and
work.

1.3.4 Preparing for a Career as Systems Analyst

The principal role in systems project is played by the systems analyst. What does it take to
become a successful systems analyst?

1.3.4.1 Working Knowledge of Information Technology

o The systems analyst is an agent of change.
o The systems analyst is responsible for showing end-users and management how
new technologies can benefit their business and its operations.
o The systems analyst must be aware of both existing and emerging information
technologies and techniques.

1.3.4.2 Computer Programming Experience and Expertise

o A systems analyst must know how to program because they are the principle link
between business users and computer programmers.
o It is wrong to assume that a good programmer will become a good analyst or that a bad
programmer could not become a good analyst.
o Most systems analysts need to be proficient in one or more high-level programming
languages.
Historically, the language of choice has been COBOL for business applications, but many
organizations are shifting to visual programming languages or to object-oriented programming
languages. The reasons for the shift are as follows:
o The transition to graphical user interfaces.
o The desire to downsize applications from the mainframe to networks of PCs.
 o The pressures to improve productivity in applications development through rapid,
iterative prototyping and the reuse of programming modules called objects and
components.
o Visual and object-oriented programming requires a completely different style of
program design, construction, and testing.

1.3.4.3 General Business Knowledge

o The systems analysts are expected to immerse themselves in the business and be
able to specify and defend technical solutions that address the bottom-line value
returned to the business.
o Systems analysts should be able to communicate with business experts to gain
knowledge of problems and needs.
o It is not uncommon for systems analysts to develop so much expertise over time
they move out of information systems and into the user community.

1.3.4.4 Problem-Solving Skills

o The systems analyst must have the ability to take a large business problem, break
that problem down into its component parts, analyze the various aspects of the
problem, and then assemble an improved system to solve the problem.
o The systems analyst must learn to analyze problems in terms of causes and effects
rather than in terms of simple remedies.
o The systems analyst must be well organized.
o System analysts must be able to creatively define alternative solutions to problems
and needs.

1.3.4.5 Interpersonal Communication Skills

o The systems analyst must be able to communicate effectively, both orally and in
writing.
o The systems analyst should have a good command of the English language.
o Almost without exception, communications skills, not technical skills, prove to be the
single biggest factor in career success or failure.

1.3.4.6 Interpersonal Relations Skills

Systems analysts work in teams composed of IS professionals, end-users, and
management.
o Being able to cooperate, to comprise, and to function as part of a team, is critical for
success in most projects.
o Because development teams include people with dramatically different levels of
education and experience, group dynamics is an important skill to develop.
Systems analysts are the facilitators of information systems development. The analyst may
be the only individual who sees the system as a whole, the “big picture.”
Another aspect of interpersonal relations is the analyst’s role as an agent of change. An
analyst should study the theory and techniques of effecting change. Persuasion is an art that can
be learned. Begin by studying sales techniques – after all, systems analysts sell change.
Finally, systems analysts work in teams composed of its professionals, end-users, and
management. Being able to cooperate, to compromise, and to function as part of a team is critical
for success in most projects. Because development team include people with dramatically different
levels of education and experience, group dynamics is an important skill to develop.
1.3.4.7 Flexibility and Adaptability
o No two systems development projects encountered by a systems analyst are identical.
o There is no single, magical approach or solution applicable to systems development.
o Successful systems analysts learn to be flexible and adapt to special challenges or
situations presented by specific systems development projects.
o The systems analyst must be able to recognize when variations upon (or single-
instance exceptions to) development standards are necessary and beneficial to a
particular project.
o The systems analyst must be aware of the implications of not following the standards.

1.3.4.8 Character and Ethics

o The nature of the systems analyst's job requires a strong character and sense of
ethics. Ethics is a personal character trait in which an individual(s) understands the
difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and acts accordingly.
o Systems analysts must be very careful not to share their organization’s sensitive and
secret information with others, either within or outside the organization.
o Systems analysts must be very careful not to tell sensitive and private data and
information about customers, suppliers, employees with the wrong people.
o Systems analysts must not take (or sell) designs and programs they developed to
another company.
o Systems analysts have a moral obligation to set a good example for end-users and
management, especially in the area of software copyrights.

1.3.4.9 System Analysis and Design Skills

o All systems analysts need thorough and ongoing training in systems analysis and
design.
o Systems analysis and design skills can be conveniently factored into three subsets:
• Technical knowledge and skills. These are the most obvious areas of
expertise: computers, peripheral devices, communication networks, connectivity,
databases, programming languages, and operating systems.
• Tools. These are software products that are used to develop analysis and
design specification and completed system components.
• Techniques. These are strategies for completing specific system development
activities.

1.4 The Environment Surrounding the Analyst

Systems analysts work with a variety of technical environments, have many different job
titles, and work in different employment arrangements.

1.4.1 Types of Technology Encountered

Sometimes students get the idea that all systems are small desktop systems because
those are the projects they do in classes. Large systems are very complex and involve thousands
of users at hundreds of locations using databases with hundreds of tables with millions of rows of
data.
Different configurations of information systems technology an analyst might encounter
include:
o Desktop systems
o Networked desktop systems that share data
o Client-server systems
o Large scale centralized mainframe systems
o Systems using Internet, intranet, and extranet technology
1.4.2 Typical Job Employment and Places of Employment
Rapid changes in technology, business practices, and the structure of the global economy
have changed related jobs. Typical information system graduates of the late 20th century were
employed as programmer analysts. Job tasks consisted primarily of programming with some
analysis and design.
The employment picture is much more complex in the 21st century. The number and nature
of the jobs, their titles, and the organizations that fill those positions are much more complex than
in the past.
Changes in software development, technology, and business practices have created many
new career opportunities for analysts, including:
o Sales and support of ERP software
o Business analysts for user organizations
o Auditing, compliance, and security
o Web development
People doing systems analysis and design work have many different job titles. Sometimes
analysis and design work is only a part of their job responsibilities. Sometimes systems analysts
also manage the project and are referred to as project leaders or project managers. Other job titles
include:
o Programmer analyst
o Business systems analyst
o System liaison
o End-user analyst
o Business consultant
o Systems consultant
o Systems support analyst
o Systems designer
o Software engineer
o System architect
o Webmaster
o Web developer

1.5 The Analyst’s Role in Strategic Planning

Systems analysts can become involved in strategic issues relatively early in their careers.

1.5.1.1 Special projects

An analyst might work closely with executives to develop an executive information system
(EIS). An analyst might also work on projects of interest to executives using business process
reengineering, a technique that seeks to alter the nature of the work done in a business function
with the objective of radically improving performance.

1.5.1.2 Strategic planning processes

All businesses complete strategic planning, a process in which executives try to answer
questions about the company, such as where they are now, where they want to be, and what they
have to do to get there. Analysts are often involved with issues related to the role of information
systems.

1.5.1.3 Information systems strategic planning

Developing the information systems strategic plan, the plan defining the technology and
applications the information systems function needs to provide to support the organization’s
strategic plan, also might involve analysts. It includes the applications architecture plan, a
description of the integrated information systems needed by the organization to carry out its
business functions, and the technology architecture plan, a description of the hardware,
software, and communications networks required to implement planned information systems.

1.5.1.4 Enterprise resource planning (ERP)

Organizations are increasingly adopting enterprise resource planning (ERP), a process in
which an organization commits to using an integrated set of software packages for key information
systems. Working on an ERP project requires the analyst to understand the overall organization,
and the decision to adopt an ERP solution is a strategic one.

1.6 The Systems Analyst as a System Developer

This is the heart of system analysis and design.
The systems analyst as a system developer:
o Helps programmers during system development, e.g. provide use cases,
flowcharts, and diagrams.
o Documents requirements or contributes to user manuals.
o Whenever a development process is conducted, the system analyst is responsible
for designing components and providing information to the developer.