Changing industry structures and altering rules of competition is why most companies today face a new challenge in creating a competitive advantage. The meaning of Information Technology (IT) has changed from just being available to accelerating and facilitating processes to an integral part of the company’s mission and strategy. IT governance is what defines the holistic perspective of how to deal with and use IT, especially in large companies. The objective is to create advantages by aligning IT and corporate strategy in order to create value while minimizing risk and monitoring the performance of IT.
Many different frameworks and standards have emerged over the last years, providing processes and control objectives for keeping the company’s IT in a value-adding track. However, an important issue seems to be the huge availability of various frameworks. This mostly results in problems concerning the right decision on frameworks to be selected. Implementing efficient IT governance requires using only those processes that cover the individual IT-related issues and problems of a company best, while ignoring unnecessary ones. The use of frameworks is associated with costs and may quickly result in an inefficient use of IT governance. The present thesis addresses this challenge and shall help IT decision makers to decide on an efficient framework or set of frameworks. In order to do so, a model analyzes the fit between discovered IT-related problems and various existing publicly available frameworks. Different surveys and market analyses will be used for identifying possible IT-related problems. The creation of problem-clusters will help to determine the most efficient framework by measuring the coverage of processes by different frameworks. As a result, this thesis will provide an approach to avoid processes that may not be necessary while covering important ones for an efficient use of IT governance frameworks.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- IT Governance Fundamentals
- Embedding IT Governance into Corporate Governance
- Objectives
- Strategic Alignment
- Value Creation
- Risk Management
- Performance Measurement
- Effectiveness and Efficiency
- Analysis of IT Problems
- Problem Identification
- Clustering of Problems
- Stage One
- Stage Two
- Stage Three
- The Holistic Perspective
- IT Governance Standards and Frameworks
- The Argument
- Selection
- COBIT 4.1
- Purpose
- Structure
- Classification
- ITIL V3
- Purpose
- Structure
- Classification
- ISO/IEC 27002: 2005
- Purpose
- Structure
- Classification
- Val IT
- Purpose
- Structure
- Classification
- IT BSC
- Purpose
- Structure
- Classification
- COBIT 4.1
- Practical Part
- Defining an efficient IT Governance
- Building a Framework for an efficient IT Governance
- Approach
- Matching Frameworks and Problem Clusters
- Findings
- Interpretation
- Limitations of the Model
- Selecting a Proper Framework
- Mapping Frameworks
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
The thesis aims to provide a structured approach for selecting an efficient IT governance framework by analyzing the fit between discovered IT-related problems and existing publicly available frameworks. It addresses the challenge of selecting appropriate frameworks from a multitude of available options, recognizing the associated costs and potential inefficiencies.
- Embedding IT governance within corporate governance
- Alignment of IT and business strategies
- Analysis of IT problems in a structured and systematic manner
- Evaluation of various IT governance frameworks
- Developing a model for matching frameworks with specific IT problems
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The introductory chapter establishes the significance of IT governance in today's business environment, highlighting the need for aligning IT with corporate strategy to achieve competitive advantage. It also outlines the key objectives of IT governance, including strategic alignment, value creation, risk management, and performance measurement.
Chapter 2 delves into the fundamentals of IT governance, exploring its integration into corporate governance and defining core objectives like strategic alignment, value creation, risk management, and performance measurement. The chapter also discusses the interconnectedness of effectiveness and efficiency in IT governance.
Chapter 3 focuses on identifying and analyzing IT-related problems within organizations. The chapter outlines a structured approach for identifying problems, clustering them into meaningful categories, and ultimately achieving a holistic perspective on the IT challenges faced by a company.
Chapter 4 presents an overview of various IT governance standards and frameworks, including COBIT 4.1, ITIL V3, ISO/IEC 27002: 2005, Val IT, and IT Balanced Scorecard (BSC). Each framework is analyzed in terms of its purpose, structure, and classification of processes.
Chapter 5 focuses on the practical implementation of the model developed in the thesis. It outlines the approach for building an efficient IT governance framework by matching specific IT problems with suitable frameworks. The chapter presents findings and interpretations of the model, including limitations and considerations for framework selection.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The thesis focuses on IT governance, specifically on developing a model for selecting efficient frameworks based on an analysis of IT-related problems. Key terms include IT governance, corporate governance, strategic alignment, value creation, risk management, performance measurement, COBIT, ITIL, ISO/IEC 27002, Val IT, and IT Balanced Scorecard (BSC).
- Quote paper
- Christian Häfner (Author), 2008, Building a Framework for an efficient IT Governance, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/150166