What does a system Analyst do?
Plan
Develop
Maintain
IT PROJECTS CONSTRAINTS:
1. TIME
2. SCOPE
3. BUDGET
Questions to ask oneself:
Is the system cost-effective?
six factors must be met for a project to be successful:
1. It’s delivered on time.
2. Its cost doesn’t exceed its budget.
3. It works as designed.
4. People use it.
5. The people who funded the project are happy with it.
6. It meets the goals that drove the project.
Common Mistakes to be avoided:
1. Inaccurate requirements
We must avoid that by communicating with all the sides (IT
representatives, business partners, end-users) during the
requirements phase of the project.
2. Un-involvement of sponsors
We avoid that by keeping the communication with the project
sponsors, because when project sponsors leave the project in
vacuum with the teams to deliver the finished projects, the teams
have no one to go back to and ask, so they start guessing thing,
and this leads to dissatisfied clients.
3. Inaccurate estimates
To deal with this, do to things:
1. Provide ranged estimates (.25x – 4x)
2. Re-plan and re-estimate more frequently
4. Dependency Delays
Have your team work on functionality that isn’t dependent on
another team’s changes, or if that’s impossible, plan to wait
until the other team finishes before beginning your work on the
project.
5. Not enough Resources
To fix this, one of the three constraints (time, budget, scope) must
be flexible.
System Development Tools:
1. Modeling
a. Business Model: describes the most important parts of
business based on value created AND acts as a basis for
defining, analyzing, improving, and innovating.
b. Requirements Model
c. Data Model
d. Object Model
e.
f.
g. Network Model
h. Process Model
2. Prototyping ( storyboarding, workflow, graphical representation
of the system )
3. Computer-Aided Systems Engineering (CASE)
a. Provide a prototype for systems development and support
design methodologies such as :
i. Object-oriented analysis
ii. Structured analysis
System Development Methods:
1. Structured Analysis:
a. Very high-level diagrams and charts representing the
projects main keys
b. Uses phases called : The systems development life cycle
(SDLC)
c. Uses process models to describe system graphically.
2. Object Oriented Analysis
3. Agile/Adaptive Methods
4. Systems Planning
The systems development life cycle (SDLC)
SDLC is composed of four fundamental phases:
1. Planning
a. Answers the question of why the project is being built.
b. Determines how the project team will go about building the
information system
2. Analysis
a. Answers the questions of WHO will use the system, WHAT the
system will do, and WHERE and WHEN it will be used.
3. Design
4. Implementation
REQUIREMENTS:
Functional Requirements:
The functions that the system depends on in order
to work.
Non-Functional Requirements:
The functions that the system does not depend on
but that are important for the over-all system.
FEASABILITY ANALYSIS:
1. Technical Feasibility
2. Economic Feasibility
3. Organizational Feasibility
Costs and Benefits:
1. Developmental costs
2. Operational costs
3. Tangible benefits
4. Intangibles
Telling the client they are wrong
If you’re trying to explain to a client that a rotating banner (or any other
feature) may not be the most effective use of their budget, rather than say
something like, “I just don’t think it will work,” or “I’m not sure you have
the budget,” ask instead how they think implementing it will benefit their
business, generate more quality leads or increase conversions.
Building a website or web application should be treated in the
same way as growing a business:
1. Know what
you want to achieve.
2. Define
some measurable KPIs or goals.
3. Develop a
plan.
4. Begin
executing the plan.
5. Evaluate
every decision along the way to make sure it supports a KPI, thus taking
repeated steps towards achieving the project’s goals.
BE PROFESSIONAL
Before they’re convinced that you’re a digital professional and that they
should trust your recommendations, you must first demonstrate your
professionalism by doing the basics well:
Be punctual at meetings and teleconferences.
Always speak in a professional manner.
Deliver pre-sales paperwork on time.
Present all documents and images on professionally branded
templates.
Use correct grammar and punctuation in emails.