1. Who is system
analyst? Explain the major roles of system analyst.
A system analyst
is a chief person in the system development team who analyses and designs the
new information system. A computerized information system enables the
organization to provide accurate information and responds faster to the
queries, events etc. Information technology offers the opportunity to collect
and store enormous volume of data, process business transactions with great
speed and accuracy and provide timely and relevant information for taking
correct decision by management. This potential of the computerized information
system, system analyst because the business users may not fully understand the
capabilities and limitation of modern information technology and computer
programmers do not fully understand the business application which they are
trying to computerize. So system analyst bridges the gap between business user
and the programmer.
Roles of system analyst
The success of
an information system development is based on the role of system analyst. Among
several roles, some important roles are described below.
a) Change
Agent: The SA may be viewed as an agent of change. A system is designed to
introduce changes and the way how the user and organization handles information
or makes decision. So the system analyst may use different approaches to
introduce changes.
b) Investigator
and Monitor: A system analyst should investigate the existing system to
find the reasons for its failure. The role of an investigator is to extract the
problems from existing systems. The role of monitor is to undertake and
successfully complete a project. In this role, the analysts must monitor
programs in relation to time, cost and quality.
c) Architect:
The analyst's role as an architect is an interface between the user's
logical design requirements and the detailed physical system design. As
architect, the analyst also creates a detailed physical design of system. A
system analyst makes the design of the information system architecture on the
basis of the end user requirement. This design becomes the blue print for the
programmers.
d) Psychologist:
The SA plays the role of psychologist when he reaches the people, interpret
their thoughts and draw conclusion from these interactions. Psychologist plays
a major role during the phase of fact finding.
e) Motivator:
The SA plays the role of motivator in order to make the users accept the new
system. The analyst's role as a motivator becomes very obvious and essential
during the first few weeks after the implementation of new system to make it
familiar with them.
f) Intermediary and diplomat: The system analyst plays as a link
between the new system and people. He should deal people with diplomacy to
improve acceptance of the system. The goal of the analyst is to have the
support of all users. SO the SA should concentrate on objective and best
method. They should be cool and diligent. They should focus on method and plan,
point out details and are good at model building and seek stability and order.
2. What is feasibility
study? Explain the different levels of feasibility study.
Feasibility
study is one of the most important stages of SDLC. After the system development
team proposes the new system will be feasible or not on the basis of time,
cost, technical, operational and other factors.
a)
Time
feasibility: It is concerned with the time required for the development of
new system is feasible for the organization or not. It the organization needs
the new system within 6 months and the time required for developing a new
system is more than 2 years, then the new system will not be feasible due to
time factor.
b)
Cost and
economic feasibility: It concerns with the total cost for the development
of new system and the returns from the investment in a project. It determines
whether the organization can afford the total cost or not. Then it also
determines whether it is worthwhile to invest the money for new system or not.
Cost-benefit analysis is carried out and if benefit outweighs the cost, then
the new system is considered economically feasible.
c)
Technical
feasibility: It is concerned with specifying different devices and software
for the new system. It determines what the devices necessary for the new system
are and all the devices are available or not . So if all the technical
requirements for the new system can be fulfilled, then the development of new
system will be feasible.
d)
Operational
feasibility: It is mainly related with human skill and political aspects.
The current staffs can work in the new system after training or not. If the
whole staffs need very long time and more cost to be trained in the new system,
then the new system will not be feasible. But generally the project will not be
rejected simply because of operational feasibility.
e)
Legal
feasibility: The legal feasibility is concerned with the legal factors of
the new information system such as copy right, unregistered trade mark,
registered mark etc. If the new
information system is legal from these factors, then it is considered legally
feasible.
