Prototype Topics for BSAD 145 Issue Papers

Important Note:

• These are prototype topics or examples, not a list from which you should select your topic. It is intended to give you an idea of the sort of issue that may have been used in the past.
• Note that most of these topics are obsolete.
• I urge you to come up with a topic that interests you, and/or is relevant to your prospective career...

Should:

1. IT projects be evaluated just like any other capital investment?
    
2. corporate IT use "thin" or "fat" clients for their client systems?
    
3. consulting companies make/sell the hardware and software to the same companies that they provide advice to?
    
4. IT shops that currently use Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 migrate and support Windows 98 or should they go to Windows NT?
    
5. legacy systems be made Y2K compliant or should a totally new (Y2K compliant) system be installed.
    
6. companies monitor employee email, internet use, game playing, etc.?
    
7. the business school offer courses and degrees using distance education techniques?
    
8. the school of business have its own decentralized information center or should it rely another unit within campus to provide the center infrastructure and services?
    
9. should a company have a data warehouse?
    
10. companies of the 21st century have to have a CIO?
     
11. companies of the 21st century have all information center functions outsourced?
     
12. consulting companies hire undergraduates with no formal training in CS or MIS?
     
13. companies provide all their own education for employees or should it be outsourced?
     
14. companies develop electronic commerce sites immediately or wait until the market has developed and the tools and techniques more mature?
     
15. the CIO be someone who has come up through the ranks within the company or should it be someone new to the company?
     
16. companies evolve away from the "corporate headquarters" idea and consider moving into a more remote/electronic way of doing business?
     
17. Should companies undertake an e-commerce project given the failure many companies have faced over the past year in similiar projects?

Several additional examples that don't use the "should"

1. Is client-server the best future type of distributed system for companies in the 21st century?
    
2. Are group support systems the future of software?
    
3. Can systems benefits (not just costs) be measured?
    
4. Is the consolidation occurring in the software, hardware, system management, and services industries good for IS managers?
    
5. Given that the total cost of ownership has been estimated at between $8,000- $15,000 per client per year, which is best? "Thick" or "Thin" clients?

And finally, an example (for those with an interest in the more technical side) of an issue statement that recognizes that issues can be more that two sided?

1. Should the network infrastructure be based on ATM, Frame Relay, Gigabit, or some other standard?
2. Are 4GLs a better way to develop applications than traditional procedural languages?
3. Is object oriented programming really a better way to develop applications?
4. Should every company have a network firewall? If so, what protection should it provide?