IS '97 Appendix 5

A specific discipline may be defined by its associated body of knowledge. The information systems body of knowledge consists of three major subject areas:

Each subject area contains major topics and each major topic contains subtopics which are the lowest level curriculum elements of the body of knowledge. A fourth level with more detail for third level elements is useful in describing curriculum content.

Each of these subject areas represents specific domains of knowledge. The entire body of knowledge consists of 506 elements in a four level hierarchy (Nunamaker, Couger and Davis 1982; DPMA 1981,1986; Longenecker and Feinstein 1991c; Longenecker, Feinstein et al. 1994). The fourth level makes it possible to include the 106 element CS knowledge body of Turner and Tucker (1991) and the 120 elements from the software engineering body of knowledge. Elements of the software engineering body of knowledge were explicitly derived from analysis of curriculum content contained in reports on software engineering education developed by the Software Engineering Institute (Ford 1990, 1991), and were based on the observations of Glass (1992), other reports from the SEI (Berry 1992; Ford, Gibbs, and Tomayko 1987; Ford and Ardis 1989; Ford 1994; Gibbs and Ford 1986; Shaw 1986, 1990; SEI 1991; Tomayko and Shaw 1991), and other efforts (BCS 1989; Ford and Gibbs 1989; Freeman 1987; Gibbs 1989; Leventhal and Mynatt 1987; NSF 1993; Parnas 1990; Wasserman 1976).

Table A5.1 shows a two level hierarchy of the body of knowledge. The three major subject areas are broken into subareas. While Table A5.1 shows only two levels, the complete body of knowledge (see Appendix 7) contains the expansion to four levels.

Table A5.2 shows a two level description of each of the subject areas of the body of knowledge in column 1. Columns 2 through 4 show data derived by surveying academicians on the importance of the various items to different categories of students (IS majors, IS minors and end users). Column 5 represents data derived from a survey of industry expectations for new hires (Mawhinney, Morrell and Morris 1994). By inspection of columns 4 and 5, it is evident that there is substantial agreement between industry expectations and the depth standard set by IS academics.

Table A5.2 shows that graduates of an IS program require comprehensive usage level of information technology. Graduates should be able to accept direction and complete tasks assigned (Denning 1992) and also be able to apply their knowledge without direction. This information has been used for setting depth expectations within IS'97.

Body of Information Systems Knowledge

1.0 Information Technology

1.1 Computer Architectures
1.2 Algorithms and Data Structures
1.3 Programming Languages
1.4 Operating Systems
1.5 Telecommunications
1.6 Database
1.7 Artificial Intelligence

2.0 Organizational and Management Concepts

2.1 General Organization Theory
2.2 Information Systems Managemen
2.3 Decision Theory
2.4 Organizational Behavior
2.7 Managing the Process of Change
2.8 Legal and Ethical Aspects of IS
2.9 Professionalism
2.10 Interpersonal Skills

3.0 Theory and Development of Systems

3.1 Systems and Information Concepts
3.2 Approaches to Systems Development
3.3 Systems Development Concepts and Methodologies
3.4 Systems Development Tools and Techniques
3.5 Application Planning
3.6 Risk Management
3.7 Project Management
3.8 Information and Business Analysis
3.9 Information Systems Design
3.10 Systems Implementation and Testing Strategies
3.11 Systems Operation and Maintenance
3.12 Systems Development for Specific Types of Information Systems

Table A5.1 -- IS'97 Body of Knowledge Presented as a Two Level Hierarchy. ( See Appendix 7 for the complete structure.)

Body of Information Systems Knowledge Elements	Expected Knowledge Levels of Information Systems Professionals
	Survey of IS Academics				IS Industry 1994
	DPMA 12/93 Survey			IS'97 8/95 Review	IS Industry 1994
	End User	IS Minor	IS Major	IS Major	Entry Level
1.1 Computer Architectures	1.4	2.2	3.1	2.9	3.4
1.2 Algorithms and Data Structures	1.3	2.3	3.4	3.2	3.2
1.3 Programming Languages	1.5	2.6	3.7	3.5	3.2
1.4 Operating Systems	1.4	2.4	3.2	2.7	3.1
1.5 Telecommunications	1.5	2.5	3.2	3.0	3.0
1.6 Database	1.8	2.8	3.7	3.5	3.5
1.7 Artificial Intelligence	1.4	2.0	2.6	2.2	1.9
2.1 General Organizational Theory	1.8	2.3	2.8	3.2	2.6
2.2 Information Systems Management	1.6	2.6	3.2	2.9	2.5
2.3 Decision Theory	1.7	2.2	2.7	2.9	2.4
2.4 Organizational Behavior	2.7	2.7	2.8	3.0	2.4
2.7 Managing the Process of Change	1.9	2.3	2.8	2.9	2.8
2.8 Legal and Ethical Aspects of IS	1.5	2.6	3.0	2.8	3.5
2.9 Professionalism	1.9	2.6	3.0	3.1	3.5
2.10 Interpersonal Skills/Communications	2.5	2.8	3.9	3.6	4.0*
3.1 Systems and Information Concepts	2.5	2.8	3.1	3.2	3.3
3.2 Approaches to Systems Development	1.5	2.3	3.2	3.3	3.4
3.3 Systems Development Concepts and Methodologies	1.5	2.3	3.2	3.4	3.3
3.4 Systems Development Tools and Techniques	1.4	2.6	3.5	2.9	2.5
3.5 Applications Planning	1.7	2.8	3.6	3.2	3.0
3.7 Project Management	1.6	2.6	3.3	2.9	3.0
3.8 Information and Business Analysis	1.7	2.7	3.4	3.4	3.4
3.9 Information System Design	1.6	2.7	3.6	3.2	3.1
3.10 Systems Implementation and Testing Strategies	1.5	2.7	3.5	3.0	3.6
3.11 Systems Operation and Maintenance	1.5	2.7	3.5	2.7	--
3.12 Systems Development for Specific Types of Information Systems	1.7	2.7	3.2	3.1	--
The data from IS academics was obtained in a DPMA sponsored national survey of IS program heads conducted by the IS'97 Curriculum Task Force in December 1993, and from a survey of 161 department heads and IS faculty conducted during the review of IS'97. The industry survey information was taken from Table 1, with 2.10 estimated from Figure 3, of Mawhinney, Morrell and Morris (1994). The knowledge levels are means of survey responses and represent the average depth of learning expected by the sample group where each respondent selected an integer knowledge level (where 1=Awareness, 2=Literacy, 3=Ability to Use and 4=Ability to Apply the indicated knowledge).