IT Governance

Definition of IT Governance

What is IT Governance?

A framework which provides a structure for organizations to ensure their IT investments support business objectives. Essentially this framework provides a structure for aligning IT strategy with business strategy. IT Governance ensures compliance with the regulatory requirements and focuses on establishing formal practices to ensure IT initiatives align with business goals.

Guidelines

The IT Governance guidelines include: [6]

· Implement Roadmap – a roadmap consisting of activities to get started and followed by implementing tasks, suggested roles, and responsibilities. The roadmap is the initial state of what needs to become an interactive continuous approach.

· Risk Management – locating and addressing existing risks will ensure business objectives are not at risk by IT failures.

· Auditing – performing occasional audits to ensure expectations and business objectives are met.

· Manage Resources – one way to manage resources more effectively is to coordinate staff more effectively, allowing businesses to deploy their staff to various lines of business on demand.

· Business integration with IT – utilizing business processes during IT governance practices and provide clear communication with other business areas for more effective business integration.

· Select Framework – a framework should be selected based on individual business needs. A framework that works for one organization may not work for another and the best way to find a suitable framework is through research – COBIT, ITIL, COSO, etc.

· Supplier Governance – effective governance of IT supplies is a key component of IT Governance ensuring the risks are managed properly and business value is delivered from investment in supplier products and services.

· Managing Investments – managing both actual and return on investment costs to ensure value is delivered and benefits are comprehended.

Tools & Best Practices

IT Governance tools, techniques, and best practices include:

· COBIT - a framework which can equip organizations with a process model to deliver value, practice better risk management associated with IT and guarantee the integrity of information systems. The main focus of COBIT framework is to provide organizations with process based model related to planning, delivering, acquisition and monitoring associated business responsibilities of IT processes.

COBIT aids enterprises of all sizes in:

- Maintain high quality information supporting business decisions

- Maintain IT related risks

- Optimize cost of IT services and technology

- Support compliance with laws, regulations, and policies

- Achieve strategic goals through effective and innovative use of IT

· ITIL – a framework defined as service strategy phase which deals with deals with anticipating current and future business needs and holds major processes such as service portfolio management, financial management, demand management, and strategy management for IT services. The value of service is optimized for relationship between client and organization.

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