County of Alameda

DESCRIPTION

Under general direction, to supervise and coordinate the work of a unit of programmer staff and Systems Analysts responsible for the information systems development and support for a department or group of departments; to train, instruct, assign, direct and evaluate the work of Programmers and Systems Analysts; to supervise others in the development and maintenance of systems and computer programs; to analyze problems outlined by Systems Analysts in terms of detailed equipment and program requirements and capabilities;, to develop the project plans and schedules; manage projects; and to perform all phases of programming and systems analysis up to and including systems implementation; to coordinate work with other departmental units, managers, and users; to support database design; and to perform related duties as required.

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES

Senior Systems Analyst is the highest ilevel analyst in the systems and programming series with responsibility for unit and project management. Incumbents design new systems including developing and implementing the database to support a new system while providing unit and project management, including resource planning and allocation. They are responsible for the supervision and direction of a unit of programmers and Systems Analysts that provide services to a department or group of departments to maintain existing systems, the development and implementation of new systems and major enhancements to existing systems. Supervision is received from an Information Technology Manager who is available for consultation. Positions in the class of Senior Systems Analyst differ from those in the next lower class of Systems Analyst by having responsibility for the supervision and direction of a unit of programming and Systems Analyst staff, or for the design staff of a medium-sized development or major enhancement project. Senior Systems Analyst is further distinguished from the next higher class of Information Technology Manager by the latter having full supervisory, budgetary, and personnel management responsibilities for units and/or projects supervised by Senior Systems Analysts.

EXAMPLES OF DUTIES

NOTE: The following are the duties performed by employees in this classification. However, employees may perform other related duties at an equivalent level. Each individual in the classification does not necessarily perform all duties listed.

1. Directs, schedules, coordinates, and supervises Systems Analyst and programming staff in designing, developing, analyzing and programming automated systems; trains and supervises Systems Analysts and programmer staff; evaluates the performance of staff.

2. Plans, creates, documents and tests changes and improvements on the most difficult programs; supervises staff in the development and maintenance of procedures and documentation for new and enhanced systems.

3. Develops and analyzes new information technology systems and programs for departments; researches and plans complex, interrelated computer programs; serves as technical expert for the unit and provides training for departments using information systems.

4. Evaluates new hardware and software for the Information Technology Department; develops conversion plans for new equipment and programming techniques and methods, evaluates new manuals and procedures; evaluates new automation tools for project scheduling, management and/or design.

5. Coordinates the unit’s work with internal and external users; confers with others regarding scheduling, requirements, program formats, systems conversion and other matters as required.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Either I

The equivalent of one year of full time experience in the class of Systems Analyst in Alameda County classified service. (Non-classified includes District Attorney’s Office, Hospital Authority, and the Consolidated Courts.).

Or II

The equivalent of five years of full-time increasingly responsible experience in systems analysis and programming, including the equivalent of one year of the direct supervision and work management of other systems analysts and programmers. This experience must include the equivalent of three years in systems analysis and design and the equivalent of two years of programming in languages and tools used by Alameda County ITD.

NOTE: The Civil Service Commission may modify the above Minimum Qualifications in the announcement of an examination.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

NOTE: The level and scope of the following knowledge and abilities are related to duties listed under the “Examples of Duties” section of this specification.

Knowledge of:

• Programming languages and tools used by Alameda County ITD.
• Principles and methods of systems analysis.
• Systems and program design principles.
• Estimating methods for equipment costs, production costs, programming costs, and systems benefits.
• Principles of supervision and personnel management.
• Project management techniques.
• Network and PC/LAN environment.
• Database concepts and design.

Ability to:

• Analyze complex business systems and environments.
• Develop automated systems, and evaluate and modify existing systems.
• Develop proposals, business and functional requirements documents, design and programming specifications.
• Develop project plans, with cost and time estimates.
• Direct, assign, coordinate, and evaluate the work of programming and systems analysis staff.
• Communicate technical concepts and solutions to user department representatives in an effective manner.
• Understand and consider the impact of organizational, management, administrative and personnel aspects of information systems design.
• Resolve related problems and make appropriate recommendations.
• Gather and analyze data, draw sound conclusions and prepare clear, concise reports.
• Work effectively with subordinate staff, other managers and representatives of user departments to provide information technology support.
• Prepare operator procedures, and user procedures and training materials.
• Utilize Microsoft Office productivity tools: Excel, Word, Project, Visio, PowerPoint, Outlook, Sharepoint
• Manage development projects.
• Manage application production environment, i.e. application systems maintenance.

CLASS SPEC HISTORY

Old doc: BA:ijm / Retitled/Revised 1/30/79
WW:lfm Revised 9/16/81
New doc: 1826.doc
ys/4/01
CSC Date: 10/13/81
KU:pf Rev. 12/3/02
CSC Date: 2/26/03
SG:cs Revised 4/29/11
CSC Date: 7/27/11