role of system analyst as project manager

Discuss the role of a systems analyst as a project manager. (at least one thousand words) .... you need to interview an analyst/project manager ..


Discuss the role of system analyst as project manager.

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.

I have here added information about software project manager and I think it can be relate to this topic.

Software Project Manager
A Software Project Manager has many of the same skills as their counterparts in other industries. Beyond the skills normally associated with traditional project management in industries such as construction and manufacturing, a software project manager will typically have an extensive background in software development. Many software project managers hold a degree in Computer Science, Information Technology or another related field and will typically have worked in the industry as a software engineer.
In traditional project management a heavyweight, predictive methodology such as the waterfall model is often employed, but software project managers must also be skilled in more lightweight, adaptive methodologies such as DSDM, SCRUM and XP. These project management methodologies are based on the uncertainty of developing a new software system and advocate smaller, incremental development cycles. These incremental or iterative cycles are time boxed (constrained to a known period of time, typically from one to four weeks) and produce a working subset of the entire system deliverable at the end of each iteration. The increasing adoption of lightweight approaches is due largely to the fact that software requirements are very susceptible to change, and it is extremely difficult to illuminate all the potential requirements in a single project phase before the software development commences.
The software project manager is also expected to be familiar with the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). This may require in depth knowledge of requirements solicitation, application development, logical and physical database design and networking. This knowledge is typically the result of the aforementioned education and experience. There is not a widely accepted certification for software project managers, but many will hold the PMP designation offered by the Project Management Institute or an advanced degree in project management, such as a MSPM or other graduate degree in technology management.


What does the project manager do?

A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers can have the responsibility of the planning, execution, and closing of any project, typically relating to construction industry, architecture, computer networking, telecommunications or software development.

A project manager is the person accountable for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Key project management responsibilities include creating clear and attainable project objectives, building the project requirements, and managing the triple constraint for projects, which are; cost, time, and quality (also known as scope).

A project manager is often a client representative and has to determine and implement the exact needs of the client, based on knowledge of the firm they are representing. The ability to adapt to the various internal procedures of the contracting party, and to form close links with the nominated representatives, is essential in ensuring that the key issues of cost, time, quality and above all, client satisfaction, can be realized.

Below are the common responsibilities of a project manager:
• Developing the project plan
• Managing the project stakeholders
• Managing the project team
• Managing the project risk
• Managing the project schedule
• Managing the project budget
• Managing the project conflicts

Characteristics of a Project Manager

First and foremost they like managing projects. Managing projects is not something people are neutral about. They either like it or they don't. Why would anyone want to do a job in which you can all too obviously fail spectacularly and if you succeed people will shrug their shoulders and say you just did your job? Others relish the challenge and like the feeling of accomplishment, of getting something done that may not have happened without them.

Good project managers:

• manage rather than co-ordinate, preside or spectate
• are natural planners
• don't like surprises, so they plan thoroughly to try to prevent them
• are effective fire-fighters - when the inevitable surprises do occur they sort them out quickly and decisively
• reward and punish - not dealing with someone who isn't pulling their weight can destroy team morale
• are good motivators, good team builders
• address conflict rather than leaving things to fester
• do not hide in an office, they walk around and ideally sit physically in the middle of the team so they are approachable
• get consensus whenever possible but dictate when necessary


Most of all, good project managers MANAGE. They do not just get swept along by the current. They grab the project by the scruff of the neck and manage it.
However, it is sometimes the case that project managers do not feel sufficiently empowered to manage and control the things/people they need to manage and control in order to be successful. This problem has a solution.

--interview—
For this topic I still adopt our last interview with the two of system analyst of EMCOR Bajada. In which, they were able to discuss about their role in the company. They were able to share to us some of their responsibilities. And it really not easy to an analyst in whom sometimes they do multitasking, one person does all duties. According to the them, the project manager has to be careful in every decision he does. Every project that he manages must be supervised. He needs to have constant communication with the team involves of the project. Leadership skill is important to a project manager that should possess, because working with a project especially in huge project is created by a team who has its own task.



references:
http://www.statefarm.com/about/careers/it/it_careers/proj_manager.htm
http://misallabouts.blogspot.com/2009/12/systems-analyst-as-project-manager.html
http://www.processimpact.com/articles/be_analyst.pdf