Whether an organisation views IT as a strategic capability involving significant investment, or purely as a support service to be delivered at minimal cost, the reality is that all are dependent on information systems as an integral part of many business processes.Effective IT Governance is therefore essential to ensure that the delivery of IT services meets the requirements of the business, and policies and procedures must be in place to guide investment decisions, provide visibility into project progress, assess and mitigate risk, and measure the return against strategic objectives.
Key findings:
• IT Governance represents the policies and procedures by which the organisation manages its use of IT and maximises its value.
• The purpose of an IT Governance framework is to guide investment decisions, provide project visibility, assess and mitigate risk, and measure the return against strategic objectives.
• Without effective governance, the business value of IT is substantially impaired.
• IT Governance cannot take place in a vacuum and requires executive leadership.
• Successful IT Governance defines a joint business and IT framework and accountability, for all IT related decisions.
• Project Portfolio Management (PPM) solutions can provide powerful support for an IT Governance initiative.
• Styles of IT Governance must be tailored to meet the requirements of different IT roles.
• A Project Management Office (PMO) acts as a key interface between business demand and IT supply.
• IT investment must be measured, not only at the inception of initiatives, but also throughout the system lifetime.
• IT organisations can benefit from using Process Management capabilities to model the IT environment.
• Creating a catalogue of IT services provides improved visibility into true IT costs.
• Enterprise Architecture offers a robust framework within which organisations can address their governance requirements.
• The use of IT Governance frameworks such as COBIT can be used to speed up deployment.