2011 marks a very special year for CobiT: the 15th anniversary of the publication of its first edition, and the release in June of the public exposure draft of its fifth edition.The purpose of the Control Objectives for Information and related Technology framework also known as CobiT is to provide with an information technology (IT) governance model that helps delivering value from IT and managing the risks associated to IT.

See and attend on September 29th: http://www.itnation.lu/events/event/luxembourg-cobit-forum-conference-on-cobit-5/

A business-driven framework for IT Governance

Over the years, CobiT evolved to become an international unifying framework that serves as a bridge between the main IT standards, including ITIL, CMMI and ISO/IEC 27002.

Originally developed for IT auditors, CobiT is now used globally by those who have the primary responsibilities for business processes and technology, those who depend on technology and those responsible for availability, reliability and control of IT. CobiT is indeed designed to help ensuring the integrity of information and IT systems while properly addressing business requirements, control needs and technical issues.

The framework comprises generic business goals which are connected to IT goals which themselves are linked to IT processes. This structure facilitates the relevant utilization of the CobiT components that include, among others, responsibility and accountability charts, control objectives and practices, assurance steps, maturity models, key performance indicators, metrics and benchmark.

An active community of users in Luxembourg

Since its creation in November 2007, the ISACA Luxembourg Chapter conducted several initiatives to promote the IT Governance framework in Luxembourg and to enable CobiT users to share their experience. Amongst them, presentations (e.g. COBIT user guide for Service Managers) and workshops were notably held.

As the announcement of a new release of CobiT was received with enthusiasm and curiosity, we decided to take this opportunity to create in Luxembourg a forum dedicated to CobiT. The objectives are to strengthen the understanding of the framework by local chapter members, to give insights about the practical use of the framework, and to facilitate the exchanges of the tips and tricks related to its utilization.

The sessions have a pre-determined topic and are organized around a presentation by a key speaker. A roundtable follows the presentation and the participants have the possibility to discuss and debate. IT risk management and IT audit were the first treated subjects.

During the first sessions, remarks were raised by some participants about the difficulty to get into the framework for non-practitioners due to CobiT’s apparent complexity and depth. The CobiT users also expressed interest for the links between CobiT and the various other IT frameworks.

CobiT 5, an answer to CobiT users’ concerns

The development of CobiT 5 is a major and strategic initiative for ISACA, and as such, improvements are numerous. ISACA has particularly paid attention to the feedbacks received from its local chapters and members.

One major goal of this new version is to facilitate its utilization. For that purpose, all major frameworks developed by ISACA (e.g. Risk IT, Val IT, BMIS) have been reinforced, linked together and integrated into CobiT 5, to form a consistent and comprehensive end-to-end framework. As a consequence it is no more necessary to switch between these frameworks. In addition, several guidance documents will be released by ISACA on specific aspects (e.g., processes, information) and for specific IT professional audiences (e.g. assurance, information security, risk), throughout the publication of the framework.

CobiT 5 leans on two recent standards: ISO/IEC 15504 for maturity model, and ISO/IEC 38500 to support the effective governance of IT.

Materials are being developed to ensure a smooth transition for current ISACA frameworks users.

Preparing the Luxembourg community for CobiT 5

After 15 years of development, CobiT has reached a high level of maturity and achieved a worldwide recognition, through continuous improvement of its components, coverage of up-to-date IT concerns, dedicated publications for the various stakeholders, and reinforcement of the bridges with recognized IT frameworks.

In order to prepare for CobiT 5, scheduled for the first quarter of 2012, ISACA Luxembourg Chapter is delighted to host a presentation of CobiT 5 on 29 September 2011, by Mr Patrick Stachtchenko who is chairman of the ISACA’s Framework Committee.

 

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

 

By Olivier LEONARD and Mathieu RINCK and ISACA Luxembourg Chapter