Free Access Isaca COBIT-2019 New Release

The board is responsible for the oversight of structures and mechanisms that drive enterprise governance of information and technology (EGIT). According to the ISACA Journal article, “the board is ultimately accountable for EGIT and should oversee its establishment and monitor its effectiveness” . The board should also ensure that EGIT aligns with the enterprise governance framework and supports the achievement of enterprise objectives. 

 COBIT addresses governance issues by grouping relevant governance components into objectives that can be managed to a required capability level. This is based on the principle of performance, which states that “governance of enterprise I&T should ensure that I&T performance is measured using relevant metrics; transparently communicated to stakeholders; evaluated against targets; and leads to appropriate management actions” . COBIT does not provide a full description of the entire IT environment or define specific governance strategies and processes, but rather provides a generic and flexible framework that can be adapted to different contexts and situations. 

 The management objective “managed strategy” belongs to the governance domain “align, plan and organize (APO)”, which covers the use of information and technology in achieving enterprise objectives. A primary benefit associated with this management objective is that desired value is delivered through a roadmap of incremental changes, which ensures that IT initiatives are aligned with enterprise strategy, prioritized based on value creation, and monitored for performance2, p. 25. References: 2: COBIT 2019 Framework: Governance and Management Objectives

The IT governance implementation approach that should be utilized in order to achieve maximum enterprise benefits is treating implementation as a program. A program is a coordinated set of projects and activities that are designed to achieve a specific set of objectives within a defined scope, time frame, and budget. Treating implementation as a program helps to ensure that IT governance is planned, executed, monitored, controlled, and evaluated in a systematic and consistent manner, following best practices and standards. The approach is based on the COBIT 2019 Implementation Guide5, page 29. References: 5: COBIT 2019 Implementation Guide | Digital | English