What is the difference between an application analyst and a system analyst?

Alastair Majury
4 min readFeb 4, 2021

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See Systems analyst job profile | Prospects.ac.uk for more detail but some excerpts below:

As a systems analyst, you’ll use computers and related systems to design new IT solutions, modify, enhance or adapt existing systems and integrate new features or improvements, all with the aim of improving business efficiency and productivity.

You must have a high level of technical expertise and clear insights into current business practices. Depending on the employer, clients may be internal, e.g. departments within the same organisation, or external.

Your role is to liaise between and report to internal and external clients and stakeholders, including colleagues and developers, throughout the development process.

You will conduct a cost analysis and agree the timeframe to implement the proposed solution. You specify and shape the system requirements and operations, the user interface and output and present the proposal to the client. You will work closely with the client team, including commercial managers and software developers, during both the report and implementation phase.

Job titles in the IT sector are fluid so look closely at job descriptions rather than job titles.

Fourth generation languages (4GL) and object-orientated programming simplify technological language, so traditional boundaries between systems or business analysis and programming have eroded. Overlap with project management is also common.

Responsibilities

As a systems analyst, you’ll work on an organisation’s particular IT system but also with a client’s legacy environment so you need to be able to adapt to different programming languages.

Work activities also depend on the size and nature of the employing organisation and the focus of clients’ business demands, but typically involve — See the link.

And again see Application analyst for more detail but some excerpts below:

Application analysts are responsible for the administration, monitoring and maintenance of software infrastructures and applications.

As an application analyst, you’ll oversee practices and processes to ensure integrity, safety and availability of all data and applications as part of an organisation’s information systems. You’ll make sure that the processes needed for a business to function and succeed are running smoothly, acting as a technical point of contact to fix application and systems issues — usually on an immediate basis.

Application analysts work within IT departments alongside application developers and software engineers. You could also be involved in:

Job titles vary. You may find titles such as problem analyst, technical adviser and system analyst, however your core activities are likely to be similar.

Application analysts can specialise in operating systems

Alastair Majury resides locally in the historic Scottish city of Dunblane, and is a Principal Consultant and a Senior Regulatory Business Analyst working across the country. Alastair Majury also serves on the local council (Stirling Council) as Councillor Alastair Majury where he represents the ward of Dunblane and Bridge of Allan, topping the poll.

Alastair Majury, is also a director of Majury Change Management Ltd is a highly experienced Senior Business Analyst / Data Scientist with a proven track record of success planning, developing, implementing and delivering migrations, organisational change, regulatory, legislative, and process improvements for global financial organisations, covering Retail Banking, Investment Banking, Wealth Management, and Life & Pensions.

For several years now, Alastair has worked extensively with a variety of financial institutions in order to offer the utmost comprehensive services. As a data scientist/business analyst, Alastair Majury is expected to find intuitive and sensible solutions to complex problems.

As a data scientist/business analyst, Alastair Majury has worked closely with several high-profile businesses, such as BNP Paribas, National Australia Bank, Standard Life and the Royal Bank of Scotland Group.​A graduate of University of Glasgow, Alastair Majury earned his M.A. in Economics with Business Economics. Since then, Alastair has undergone several training sessions and earned multiple certifications for a variety of skills. More specifically, he has earned certifications in IAQ, risk management, resource management, and a bevy of other areas. ​Alastair Majury thoroughly enjoys his work.

What excites him most about being a data scientist/business analyst is that every problem has a variety of solutions. This allows for a great deal of creativity on his part. Providing ingenious solutions to his customers’ problems provides a great deal of satisfaction to Alastair Majury. Every single day can be a new and challenging problem.​

Although he is a fierce and determined worker, Alastair also manages to find free time to embrace his hobbies and interests. Alastair is a major proponent of philanthropy and charitable endeavors. He constantly finds new and exciting ways to promote charities and philanthropic organizations in his community. He also tries to donate time and funds to said organizations whenever he can. Alastair Majury firmly believes that if we all work together towards a common goal, we can find peace.

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Alastair Majury

I am a Chartered Member of CISI, which is the UK’s leading securities and investment professional body. Alastair Majury resides locally in Dunblane.