|
IT
Governance is a comprehensive management system to ensure that an
organization’s investment and use of its Information Technologies
are aligned with and in support of the organization’s corporate
strategic goals and meets the board’s fiduciary responsibilities.
Key elements of an IT Governance
system must include:
-
corporate level direction of
information technology’s purpose and outputs and assignment of
the authority necessary to achieve the outputs;
-
a methodology to measure
value and manage risks associated with IT systems and projects;
-
guidance regarding the
architecture and infrastructure for all IT systems and
-
controls to ensure the sound
management of system costs.
Key IT Governance Issues
IT Principles: A set of
corporate principles that speak to how IT is used in the
organization. They create
the foundation from which all policies,
standards and guidelines will be developed. They have the affect of
empowering the business to achieve the goals of the enterprise;
ensuring information integrity; standardizing
and integrating IT
systems, generating IT as an investment to be managed and creating a
shared vision of the
customer.
IT Architecture: A set of
policies that establish the relationships and technical
specifications that will result in
organizational integration and
standardization. The focus of IT architecture is process
integration and data
standardization.
IT Infrastructure: A
strategy that minimizes the need to make significant investments in
infrastructure without
limiting the growth of the IT systems. It
results in decisions about the infrastructure that best supports the
rapid
implementation of new systems and generate cost reduction to
support current systems.
Business Application Needs: A
framework within which the organization can identify and fulfill
specific
business level needs that
will add value to both customer and
business. The decision making framework will also
balance the need
with expected value and the architectural restrictions created by
the demand.
IT Investment and Prioritization:
A system to manage all IT investment
decisions. The purpose is to resolve
the questions of; “how much to invest”; “what to spend it
on” and “how to reconcile the disparate demands”. A
product of this
area will be a consistent methodology to assess and monitor the value
of each investment.
|
