IT Governance Defined

IT Governance is "a framework for the leadership, organizational structures and business processes, standards and compliance to these standards, which ensure that the organization's IT supports and enables the achievement of its strategies and objectives." (IT Governance: a Pocket Guide.

Order your copy of ISO/IEC 38500 - the Official International IT Governance Standard

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Other Important IT Governance Frameworks & Disciplines include:

• ITIL & IT Service Management
• Enterprise and Security Architectures
• Knowledge Management, including Intellectual Capital
• Project governance
• Metrics and quality management

Calder-Moir IT Governance Framework

IT governance is a critical component of corporate governance; the Calder-Moir IT Governance Framework is aligned with ISO/IEC 38500 and provides structured guidance on how to approach this complex subject. The framework also provides a useful tool for benchmarking the balance and effectiveness of IT governance practices within an organization, as well as practical assistance and guidance for practitioners and board members who are tackling the subject.

IT Governance for Executives

IT Governance is a key subject for company directors and executives. The leading books on the subject are:

1. IT Governance: Guidelines for Directors
2. IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT for Superior Results
3. Governance of the Extended Enterprise: Bridging Business and IT Strategies

Other Resources

• BOARD BRIEFING ON IT GOVERNANCE - if you would like a free copy of the most recent version of our (mercifully short) Board Briefing on IT Governance, please provide your email address and we will email the download link to you.

ISO/IEC 38500

The world's formal international IT Governance Standard, IS/IEC 38500, was published in June 2008. ISO/IEC 38500 sets out a very straightforward framework for the board's governance of Information and Communications Technology. Irrespective of its geographic origin, the standard is a key resource for IT governance professionals everywhere in the world.

ITIL®, CobiT® and ISO17799

There are three widely-recognised, vendor-neutral, third party frameworks that are often described as 'IT governance frameworks'. While, on their own, they are not completely adequate to that task, each has significant IT governance strengths.

• ITIL^®, or IT Infrastructure Library^®, was developed by the UK's Office of Government Commerce as a library of best practice processes for IT service management. Widely adopted around the world, ITIL is supported by ISO/IEC 20000:2005, against which independent certification can be achieved. On our ITIL page, you can access a free briefing paper on ITIL, IT Service Management and ISO20000.
• CobiT^®, or Control Objectives for Information and related Technology, now in CobiT version 4.1, was developed by the independent IT Governance Institute. CobiT is increasingly accepted as good practice for control over information, IT and related risks. Its guidance helps organizations implement effective governance over enterprise-wide IT. In particular, CobiT's Management Guidelines component contains a framework for the control and measurability of IT by providing tools to assess and measure the enterprise's IT capability for the 34 identified CobiT processes. Governance of the Extended Enterprise, published by the IT Governance Institute, explores how some of the world's most successful enterprises have integrated information technology with business strategies, culture, and ethics to optimize information value, attain business objectives, and capitalize on technologies in highly competitive environments.
• ISO17799, now renumbered as ISO27002 and supported by ISO 27001, (both issued by the International Standards Organization in Geneva), is the global best practice standard for information security management in organizations.

The Impact of Green IT

Find a selection of cutting edge texts, support manuals, and standards on Green IT and the Environmental Management Standard ISO 14000.