IT Toolkit

Definition:

IT governance (ITG) ensures the effective and efficient use of IT in enabling an organization to achieve its goals (Gartner.com). According to CobiT (2nd Edition), IT governance aims to ensure that expectations for IT are met, IT risks are mitigated, opportunities are exploited, and benefits are maximized.

Role of IT Governance:

According to CobiT (2nd Edition), the role of IT governance is to direct IT endeavors, to ensure that IT’s performance meets the following objectives: 

• Alignment of IT with the enterprise and realisation of the promised benefits

• Use of IT to enable the enterprise by exploiting opportunities and maximising benefits

• Responsible use of IT resources

• Appropriate management of IT-related risks

Guidelines:

Governance guidelines listed below will help IT leaders have a responsibility to support the goals and mission of their organization:

1. Establish a Framework- It management framework will offer solutions and tools that can help with IT governance into makes decisions, evaluates risks, and measures performance (Alan Calder). There are some standard framework that we can rely on or use as references to create our own: COBIT, ISO, or ITIL.

2. Strategic Alignnment - According to CobiT (2nd Edition), "To be aligned, an enterprise’s investment in IT must be in harmony with its strategic objectives to build the capabilities necessary to deliver business value. This state of harmony is referred to as ‘alignment’. It is complex, multifaceted and never completely achieved. It is about continuing to move in the right direction and being better aligned than competitors."

3. Measure Performance and Value Delivery- When making someone accountable for their actions it is important to keep track of performance and value delivered by employee in order to offer praise and encouragement.  Measuring performance outcomes quantitatively also creates visibility with how an area is performing and what can be done to optimize that area (Varner, Luke). 

4. Risk Management - The risk is evident in the organization and can never be removed. It is important to manage the risk to keep away problem and to ensure that assets are not wasted. Risk assessment means determining the probability of a loss occurring in a particular area and determining whether it is financially beneficial to reduce or eliminate the risk (Varner, Luke).   

5. Managing IT Resource - IT resources, such as people, applications, technology, facilities, data, should be managed effectively in order to maximize the enterprise operation's efficiency. Examples IBM, which reportedly was able to save more than US $12 billion over two years by linking disparate pieces of its supply chain, thereby reducing inventory levels (CobiT, 2nd Edition).

Tools and Best Practices:

Tools:

• CobiT: is a governance framework that is comprehensive guidance for management and business process owners.

• ITIL:  provides a comprehensive, consistent volume of best practices drawn from the collective experience of thousands of IT practitioners around the world. ITIL focuses on critical business processes and disciplines needed for delivering high-quality services (iceg.net).

• ASL: Application Services Library (ASL) is a collection of best practice guidance for managing application development and maintenance (iceg.net)

I found a list of best practices for IT governance written by Alice Dragoon (2003).  Dragoon, a a reporter from CIO.com, discusses 4 best practices for IT governance in the following understandable terms: 

• Identify relative strategic value (even if you’re comparing apples to oranges): When faced with a stack of potential projects, it’s important to find a way to see beyond their differences and compare them, accounting for their business value as well as cost and risk.

• Top business execs should set IT priorities: When it comes to the final decision about how to spend the IT budget, most companies rely on a committee of business and IT leaders.

• Communicate priorities and progress clearly: Once IT and business unit leaders have established priorities, they must communicate them clearly to the rank and file.

• Monitor projects regularly: Once IT projects are chosen, funded and launched, CIOs need a way to stay on top of their progress to protect the value of these investments.