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Overview
CobiT® (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies) provides good practices for the management of IT processes in a manageable and logical structure, meeting the multiple needs of enterprise management by bridging the gaps between business risks, technical issues, control needs and performance measurement requirements.
CobiT’s guidance enables an enterprise to implement effective governance over the IT that is pervasive and intrinsic throughout the enterprise. In particular, the CobiT® Management Guidelines component contains a framework responding to management's need for control and measurability of IT by providing tools to assess and measure the enterprise’s IT capability for the 34 CobiT® IT processes.
Business orientation is the main theme of CobiT® and it is designed to be employed not only by users and auditors, but also, and more importantly, as comprehensive guidance for management and business process owners. Increasingly, business practice involves the full empowerment of business process owners so they have total responsibility for all aspects of the business process. In particular, this includes providing adequate controls.
IT governance provides the structure that links IT processes IT resources and information to enterprise strategies and objectives. IT governance integrates optimal ways of planning and organising, acquiring and implementing, delivering and supporting, and monitoring IT performance. IT governance enables the enterprise to take full advantage of its information, thereby maximising benefits, capitalising on opportunities and gaining competitive advantage.
The Management Guidelines of CobiT® further enhances and enables enterprise management to deal more effectively with the needs and requirements of IT governance. The guidelines are action oriented and generic and provide management direction for getting the enterprise’s information and related processes under control, for monitoring achievement of organisational goals, for monitoring performance within each IT process and for benchmarking organisational achievement.
The Approach
The CobiT® Framework starts from a simple and pragmatic premise:
· In order to provide the information that the organization needs to achieve its objectives, IT resources need to be managed
by a set of naturally grouped processes.
· The CobiT® Framework continues with a set of 34 high-level Control Objectives, one for each of the IT processes, grouped
into four domains: planning and organisation, acquisition and implementation, delivery and support, and monitoring. This
structure covers all aspects of information and the technology that supports it. By addressing these 34 high-level control
objectives, the business process owner can ensure that an adequate control system is provided for the IT environment.
In addition, corresponding to each of the 34 high-level control objectives is an Audit Guideline to enable the review of IT processes against CobiT’s 318 recommended detailed control objectives to provide management assurance and/or advice for improvement. (Ideal to use during detailed Gap Analysis)
A vital element of any CobiT implementation programme is the communication strategy that accompanies the actual change of embedded process and the subsequent understanding by all participants of the goals and objectives to be achieved. This is not only applicable to the practitioners of the processes, but also across business units, to create a corporate awareness of the IT departments’ contribution to the value chain through efficient best practice.
Key Benefits
· Provide Governance.
· Improve bottom-line results.
· Provide documented roles and responsibilities.
· Provide integrated, centralized processes.
· Align IT processes to Corporate Governance requirements.
· Better alignment based upon a business focus.
· An understandable view of IT for management.
· Clear ownership and responsibilities.
· General acceptability with third parties and regulators.
· Shared understanding among all stakeholders based on a common language.
· Improve the quality of IT Services.
· Fulfilment of the regulatory requirements for the IT Control Environment.
The following are some of the generic benefits that will be realised by implementing COBIT® within an organisation.
The importance and level of the benefits will vary between organisations.
Business benefits
· Overall improved quality of business operations by ensuring that IT processes underpin the business processes.
· More reliable business support provided by processes.
· Compliance to Governance objectives.
· Increased productivity of business and Customer staff because of more reliable, more available, IT Services
IT Service Continuity procedures are more focused on the business needs and there will be more confidence in the ability to
follow them when required.
· Better working relationships between the Customers and the IT service provider.
· Reduce shareholders stake.
Financial benefits
· Cost-justified IT infrastructure and IT services.
· The cost of implementing Change will be reduced and the impact on the business will be minimised.
Employee benefits
· Increased productivity of staff
· More motivated staff; improved job satisfaction through better understanding of capability and better management of
expectations.
· Improved visibility and reputation of the IT department again leading to more motivated staff.
Innovation benefits
· Clearer understanding of the requirements of the IT service provision will ensure that IT services are delivered that underpin
business processes.
· Increased flexibility and adaptability is likely to exist within the services.
· Improved ability to recognise changing trends and to adapt quickly to new requirements and market developments
('competitive edge').
Internal benefits
· Improved metrics and management reporting.
· Better information on current services available.
· Improved communications and inter-team working (both IT and Customer).
· Clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
· Clearer view of current IT capability.
· Process maturity benefits that are repeatable, consistent and self-improving.
Services
Firefly offers a full range of CobiT® services from assessing your organisation to continuous improvement which includes education.
Assessments
The COBIT® Assessments is used to gather information relating to the IT process maturity. A thorough COBIT® Assessment yields a firm foundation for all COBIT® frameworks and assists with the GAP analysis report that will identify what level of implementation is needed. The COBIT® Assessment also ensures continuous delivery of a professional and high standard of services to all clients.
Consulting
Using the COBIT® best-practices approach to IT Service Management as a springboard, Business Consulting provide end-to-end solutions, from assessments to strategic planning to implementation, continuous improvement and beyond. Our experienced consultants work hand-in-hand with our Clients every step of the way.
Education
CobiT Foundation Training
References
Please contact us for references.
CobiT® (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies) provides good practices for the management of IT processes in a manageable and logical structure, meeting the multiple needs of enterprise management by bridging the gaps between business risks, technical issues, control needs and performance measurement requirements.
CobiT’s guidance enables an enterprise to implement effective governance over the IT that is pervasive and intrinsic throughout the enterprise. In particular, the CobiT® Management Guidelines component contains a framework responding to management's need for control and measurability of IT by providing tools to assess and measure the enterprise’s IT capability for the 34 CobiT® IT processes.
Business orientation is the main theme of CobiT® and it is designed to be employed not only by users and auditors, but also, and more importantly, as comprehensive guidance for management and business process owners. Increasingly, business practice involves the full empowerment of business process owners so they have total responsibility for all aspects of the business process. In particular, this includes providing adequate controls.
IT governance provides the structure that links IT processes IT resources and information to enterprise strategies and objectives. IT governance integrates optimal ways of planning and organising, acquiring and implementing, delivering and supporting, and monitoring IT performance. IT governance enables the enterprise to take full advantage of its information, thereby maximising benefits, capitalising on opportunities and gaining competitive advantage.
The Management Guidelines of CobiT® further enhances and enables enterprise management to deal more effectively with the needs and requirements of IT governance. The guidelines are action oriented and generic and provide management direction for getting the enterprise’s information and related processes under control, for monitoring achievement of organisational goals, for monitoring performance within each IT process and for benchmarking organisational achievement.
The Approach
The CobiT® Framework starts from a simple and pragmatic premise:
· In order to provide the information that the organization needs to achieve its objectives, IT resources need to be managed
by a set of naturally grouped processes.
· The CobiT® Framework continues with a set of 34 high-level Control Objectives, one for each of the IT processes, grouped
into four domains: planning and organisation, acquisition and implementation, delivery and support, and monitoring. This
structure covers all aspects of information and the technology that supports it. By addressing these 34 high-level control
objectives, the business process owner can ensure that an adequate control system is provided for the IT environment.
In addition, corresponding to each of the 34 high-level control objectives is an Audit Guideline to enable the review of IT processes against CobiT’s 318 recommended detailed control objectives to provide management assurance and/or advice for improvement. (Ideal to use during detailed Gap Analysis)
A vital element of any CobiT implementation programme is the communication strategy that accompanies the actual change of embedded process and the subsequent understanding by all participants of the goals and objectives to be achieved. This is not only applicable to the practitioners of the processes, but also across business units, to create a corporate awareness of the IT departments’ contribution to the value chain through efficient best practice.
Key Benefits
· Provide Governance.
· Improve bottom-line results.
· Provide documented roles and responsibilities.
· Provide integrated, centralized processes.
· Align IT processes to Corporate Governance requirements.
· Better alignment based upon a business focus.
· An understandable view of IT for management.
· Clear ownership and responsibilities.
· General acceptability with third parties and regulators.
· Shared understanding among all stakeholders based on a common language.
· Improve the quality of IT Services.
· Fulfilment of the regulatory requirements for the IT Control Environment.
The following are some of the generic benefits that will be realised by implementing COBIT® within an organisation.
The importance and level of the benefits will vary between organisations.
Business benefits
· Overall improved quality of business operations by ensuring that IT processes underpin the business processes.
· More reliable business support provided by processes.
· Compliance to Governance objectives.
· Increased productivity of business and Customer staff because of more reliable, more available, IT Services
IT Service Continuity procedures are more focused on the business needs and there will be more confidence in the ability to
follow them when required.
· Better working relationships between the Customers and the IT service provider.
· Reduce shareholders stake.
Financial benefits
· Cost-justified IT infrastructure and IT services.
· The cost of implementing Change will be reduced and the impact on the business will be minimised.
Employee benefits
· Increased productivity of staff
· More motivated staff; improved job satisfaction through better understanding of capability and better management of
expectations.
· Improved visibility and reputation of the IT department again leading to more motivated staff.
Innovation benefits
· Clearer understanding of the requirements of the IT service provision will ensure that IT services are delivered that underpin
business processes.
· Increased flexibility and adaptability is likely to exist within the services.
· Improved ability to recognise changing trends and to adapt quickly to new requirements and market developments
('competitive edge').
Internal benefits
· Improved metrics and management reporting.
· Better information on current services available.
· Improved communications and inter-team working (both IT and Customer).
· Clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
· Clearer view of current IT capability.
· Process maturity benefits that are repeatable, consistent and self-improving.
Services
Firefly offers a full range of CobiT® services from assessing your organisation to continuous improvement which includes education.
Assessments
The COBIT® Assessments is used to gather information relating to the IT process maturity. A thorough COBIT® Assessment yields a firm foundation for all COBIT® frameworks and assists with the GAP analysis report that will identify what level of implementation is needed. The COBIT® Assessment also ensures continuous delivery of a professional and high standard of services to all clients.
Consulting
Using the COBIT® best-practices approach to IT Service Management as a springboard, Business Consulting provide end-to-end solutions, from assessments to strategic planning to implementation, continuous improvement and beyond. Our experienced consultants work hand-in-hand with our Clients every step of the way.
Education
CobiT Foundation Training
References
Please contact us for references.
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