The Role of the Systems Analyst

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer discusses that by progressing from the role of pure technologist to that of strategist and business process re-engineering expert through the use of programming, service-oriented architectures (SOA), and composite application development tools, the systems analyst is revolutionizing how companies are using IT to support and enable their accomplishment of business objectives. The writer notes that the traditional role of IT as a cost center is being transformed as a result in many organizations with the chief information officer becoming one of the lead strategists of an organization, responsible for the accomplishment of line-of-business objectives. The writer concludes that the evolution from purely being a cost center to profit center is in direct proportion of the system analyst to be the change agent that assists in the accomplishment of business objectives first, using technology as the competitive advantage and differentiator.

Outline:
Introduction
Line-of-Business Objectives Now Drive Systems Analysis
How Systems Analysts Are Driving a Business Process Management Revolution
Systems Analysts and the Systems Development Life Cycle
Systems' Analysts Most Critical Task: Finding the Voice of the Customer
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Another aspect of the role of the business analyst which will gain significant importance in the coming five years is that of being a business process management (BPM) analyst and strategies. BPM is the redefining of core business processes to make them more efficient and economical while aligning them more closely with core business goals and objectives. As Keller points out, the use of rules-based systems are being used as the foundation of business process management applications and tools used by business analysts to translate business requirements into IT components. (Keller 1999) further makes the point of how rule-based systems can become constrictive over time, where the realities of lines of business gets modeled to the nth degree, and in the end, little change is actually delivered. The fact that rules-based systems are increasingly being used for interpolating, analyzing, and ultimately translating business processes into applications is giving business analysts a critical tool to do their jobs as their role changes. Simply put, systems analysts are not so much project managers, but interpreters of business requirements and their translation into business process improvements."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Alstyne, Marshall van, Erik Brynjolfsson, and Stuart Madnick (1997). "The Matrix of Change: A Tool for Business Process Reengineering". MIT Sloan School Working Papers available on the Internet, accessed on December 17, 2006: http://ccs.mit.edu/papers/CCSWP189/ccswp189.html
• Alstyne, Marshall van, Erik Brynjolfsson, and Stuart Madnick (1995). "Why Not One Big Database? Principles for Data Ownership." Decision Support Systems 15.4 (1995): 267-284.
• AMR Research (2005) - Dateline 2010: SOA from a User's Perspective. October 2005
• AMR Research (2006) - Vendors: Answer So What and Who Cares Before Embarking on New Technology. January, 2006.
• Columbus (2005) - Best Practices in Voice of the Customer Programs. Louis Columbus. CRMBuyer.com. Accessed from the Internet on December 17, 2006 from location: http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/45901.html

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