Systems analyst

Hence, as this early Arvey & Hoyle study shows, the job specific areas of knowledge for systems analysts can be seen as a movement on a spectrum away from, programming

skills towards an analytical understanding of organisational systems. This shift of emphasis brings the analyst into more contact with many parts of the organisational at various levels in those phases of the SDLC that precede maintenance and operations (Robinson, 1968:228). More so than the programmer, the systems analyst must anticipate human reactions in different situations, must listen, understand the feelings of others and possess good interpersonal skills (Stymest, 1966:6; Blank & Barratt, 1988). But there must also be a bias for action in the role as change agent (Fougere, 1991 ). The training of systems analyst ought to include training in commerce (Data Processing in NZ, 1969) or business (Blake & Price, 1969:487).

In Data Processing in NZ (1969) was published the sub-committee of the New Zealand Computer Society's recommended course content for university education . It includes the following statement, suggesting that systems analysts may not require any knowledge of programming:

Many people consider that systems analysts should have some familiarity with programming languages, and suitable short courses could be given by the Polytechnics, or by the universities. (p 23)

This was quite a popular notion at the time. During the early 1970s the State Services Commission employed personnel with the job title of Systems Planners, who possessed no specific computing knowledge, to undertake feasibility studies and initial user requirements. Their specifications were then passed onto teams of systems analysts and programmers in the Computer Services Division to translate into workable systems. The academic concept of education in analysis skills without technical knowledge did not gain favour with employers in the workplace (Boswell and Melhuish, 1978,a:39).

The same three surveys (Whittet, Boswell & Melhuish, and Cheney & Lyons) conducted in 1976-78 reinforce the need for systems analysts to possess a significant understanding of technology issues. Human communication skills for systems analyst was perceived as being of greater importance than for programmers. In the latter two surveys they are ranked immediately after systems analysis techniques. In the New Zealand survey [in descending order of importance] the core set of 36 skill items is

highlight business skills; and a '/' to indicate a substantial break in the ranked mean scores assigned):

systems analysis, design and implementation, file design, batch processing techniques, human communication, application software, data preparation techniques, business systems, database techniques, computers and peripherals,

management infonnation systems, telecommunications, data preparation equipment and techniques, projects, COBOL, I

financial accounting, program structure and design, I minicomputers, statistics, operating systems, I

business psychology, social implications of computing, job control languages, information systems theory, economics, mathematics, programming languages, I microprocessors, systems programming, algebra, Basic, assembler programming, calculus, FORTRAN, compiler construction, artificial intelligence, Algol.

(Boswell & Melhuish, 1 978b:65) And the United States set of 26 items are ranked as follows for systems analysts:

introductory computer and information concepts, system design topics, information gathering techniques, file design, human relations in systems development,

applications programming languages, database management systems, Human Factors in equipment design and work layout, telecommunications, planning and control of systems projects, hardware characteristics, operating system characteristics, job control languages, computer security controls and auditing, minicomputer characteristics and uses, software package analysis, computer scheduling, computer simulation, improving computer centre productivity, legal aspects of computing, introductory statistics, list processing, sorting, statistical decision theory, regression analysis, sampling theory. (Cheney & Lyons, 1 980:42)

The requirement for knowledge of business or commerce appears as 'business systems' and 'management information systems' in the former (as bolded). Because Cheney and Lyons do not include specific skill items for this category their survey fails to detect the phenomenon. They do, however, categorise a group of skill items they call 'information systems management' as highlighted in bold above.

A piece of contemporaneous research that does clearly categorise people, organisational and societal skills, for both systems analysts and IS managers, is based on questionnaires

consisting of 97 skill items (Benbasat, Dexter & Mantha, 1980). The authors, however, do not name the items which they acknowledge are sourced from a 1973 University of Minnesota study to empirically test the first ACM curriculum recommendations for DP courses. A total sample of 105 questionnaires from 35 companies are processed, representing one IS manager/executive and two analysts from each company. Respondents perceive, via 5-point Likert scales, the skill categories of People, Organizations and Society to be ranked significantly (p < .05) more useful to managers

than the more technical categories of Systems, Computers and Models. Their perceived rankings for systems analysts differ from managers only in that Systems and Society are interchanged in the rankings.

The most comprehensive study of specific skills for systems analysts is that of Vitalari ( 1985). His exploratory research involves asking 18 analysts to describe aloud how they would solve an experimental task in the requirements determination phase of systems development. The verbal transcripts are then codified according to 252 knowledge skill categories and 52 case specific categories. Vitalari identifies the following top 20 skills as being core knowledge for systems analysts:

functional requirements, procedures, types of reports, requirements for information, requirements for systems function, process of analysis, development issues, data element definitions, design of system, organizational responsibility, database issues, description of organizational activities, purpose of system, information teChnology issues, organizational structure issues, error control within system, requirements for report formats, documentation issues, source data, user involvement. (p. 23 1 )

On closer inspection most of these skills are central t o the activity of systems analysts interacting with users. The findings tend to confirm that IS personnel perceive an epistemology for systems analysis that includes more behavioural than purely technical skills. This is supported by Green ( 1989) who adds the observation that, on the contrary, users' perceptions are that systems analysts exhibit important programming skills. His research instrument contains 20 job roles, 10 non-salary incentives and 2 1 skills (diplomacy; assertiveness; speaking, sales; politics; non-verbal communication; interviewing; directing; patience; leadership; programming; writing, listening; empathy; management; training; cooperation; functional application knowledge; organizational communication; analysis and design; and sensitivity). Approximately 400 �sers and 470

systems analysts responded to the questionnaire. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOV A) reveals significant differences in the perceptions of the two groups in regard to the importance of the skills for analysts. While systems analysts perceive the first 6 of these skills as more important than do users, users regard the analysis skills of directing and programming as more important (p. 124).