The evolution of computing education spans a spectrum from "computer science" ("CS") grounded in the theory of computing, to "information systems" ("IS"), grounded in the organizational application of data processing. This paper reports on a project focusing on a particular slice of that spectrum commonly labeled as "computer information systems" ("CIS") and reflected in undergraduate academic programs designed to prepare graduates for professions as software developers building systems in government, commercial and not-for-profit enterprises. These programs with varying titles number in the hundreds. This project is an effort to determine if a common knowledge footprint characterizes CIS. If so, an eventual goal would be to describe the proportions of those essential knowledge components and propose guidelines specifically for effective undergraduate CIS curricula. Professional computing societies (ACM, IEEE, AITP (formerly DPMA), etc.) over the past fifty years have sponsored curriculum guidelines for various slices of education that in aggregate offer a compendium of knowledge areas in computing. This paper describes a project to determine the subset of that compendium pertinent to CIS. The project began by surveying experienced academic curriculum designers self-identified with the CIS perspective. The pilot survey results reported herein indicate that many essential knowledge areas of CIS are shared with published IS curricular guidelines but, design and implementation of database systems, software development and project management are distinctive in CIS. The next project phase launches a revised survey suitable for a general audience of computing academics. The intention is to triangulate the perspectives of a widely varied population of computing academics to further crystalize the distinctiveness of CIS as a well-formed closely related discipline of IS with a core of necessary knowledge and skills--then to develop curricular guidelines for undergraduate CIS education.