CGEIT Questions Bank

To obtain a holistic view of IT performance and identify potential gaps in service delivery, a CIO should review Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). KPIs are quantifiable measures that reflect the critical success factors of an organization and provide a comprehensive overview of performance across various aspects of IT service delivery, including efficiency, effectiveness, quality, and compliance with agreed service levels. While ROI analysis, SLA reporting, and staff performance evaluations offer valuable insights into specific areas, KPIs provide a broader perspective that encompasses various dimensions of IT performance, making them essential for a comprehensive assessment.

A due diligence process is the best way to enable a clear understanding of the vendor’s capabilities that will be critical to the enterprise’s strategy. A due diligence process is a systematic and comprehensive investigation and evaluation of the vendor’s background, reputation, performance, quality, reliability, security, compliance, and suitability for the enterprise’s needs and expectations. A due diligence process can help the enterprise:

• Verify the vendor’s claims and credentials, and validate the vendor’s references and testimonials
• Assess the vendor’s financial stability, legal status, and ethical standards
• Identify the vendor’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
• Compare the vendor’s offerings, capabilities, and prices with other vendors and market benchmarks
• Determine the risks and benefits of engaging with the vendor, and the mitigation and contingency plans
• Negotiate the terms and conditions of the contract, service level agreement (SLA), and key performance indicators (KPIs)

References:

• According to the CGEIT Review Manual 2022, "Due diligence is a comprehensive appraisal of a business undertaken by a prospective buyer or partner to establish its assets and liabilities and evaluate its commercial potential."1
• According to the ISACA article on Third-Party Vendor Selection: If Done Right, It’s a Win-Win2, “Once you have identified which processes can be outsourced as well as their inherent risks, you can begin performing due diligence on potential vendors. The level of due diligence should be tailored to the significance of the relationship as well as the potential risks it poses.”
• According to the Gartner article on How to Evaluate Technology Vendors in 4 Rigorous Steps1, “Evaluating vendors requires detailed objectives, criteria, prioritization and monitoring. Here’s help. When it comes to choosing a vendor, enterprise tech buyer teams can easily become bogged down in the details and documentation provided by sales teams.”

Performing a business impact analysis (BIA) is the first course of action when a shortfall of IT resources is identified because it helps to assess the potential impact of the resource gap on the business processes, objectives, and goals. A BIA can also help to prioritize the criticality of the IT resources, identify the minimum acceptable levels of service, and determine the recovery strategies and resource requirements. A BIA can provide a basis for making informed decisions on how to allocate the available IT resources or acquire additional resources to close the gap.

References:

• According to ISACA’s CGEIT Review Manual 2021, one of the key activities for ensuring effective IT resource management is to "perform a business impact analysis (BIA) to identify and prioritize critical IT resources."1
• According to ISACA’s COBIT 2019 Framework, one of the governance objectives for managing IT resources is to "ensure that a BIA is performed to determine the required level of availability, continuity and security of IT services and data."2
• According to ISACA’s Business Continuity Management guide, one of the steps for developing a business continuity plan is to "conduct a BIA to identify the critical business processes and IT resources that support them."3

The most efficient way for an IT transformation project manager to communicate the project progress with stakeholders is to include key performance indicators (KPIs) in a monthly newsletter. This is because KPIs are measurable values that indicate how well the project is achieving its objectives and delivering value to the business1. By including KPIs in a monthly newsletter, the project manager can:

• Provide a concise, clear, and consistent overview of the project status and results to the stakeholders2
• Highlight the project achievements, challenges, and opportunities2
• Demonstrate the alignment of the project with the business strategy, goals, and priorities2
• Solicit feedback and suggestions from the stakeholders2
• Foster a sense of engagement and collaboration among the stakeholders2

A monthly newsletter is an efficient communication channel, as it can reach a large and diverse audience of stakeholders, such as senior executives, business managers, IT staff, customers, and partners. It can also be easily distributed and accessed through email or intranet. A monthly frequency is appropriate for communicating the project progress, as it can provide timely and relevant information without overwhelming or distracting the stakeholders.

The other options, establishing governance forums within project management, sharing the business case with stakeholders, and posting the project management report to the enterprise intranet site are not as efficient as including KPIs in a monthly newsletter for communicating the project progress with stakeholders. They are more related to the planning and execution of the project, rather than its communication. They may also be too formal, detailed, or infrequent for some stakeholders who may prefer a more informal, concise, or frequent view of the project progress.