Datasheet

c01_1 07/08/2008 12
and execution of IT for a given organization. IT governance became impor-
tant when IT spending ballooned out of control in the late 1990s with the
combined hype of Year 2000 and the rise of the Internet.
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As IT spending
got more and more out of control with little return on the investment, busi-
ness leaders realized little to no impact on their business operations. In fact,
in many cases, business leaders did not have much say on how IT spending
was managed or how IT dollars were allocated to various initiatives. This
lack of input and transparency led to an IT backlash, where many CIOs
were reined in, fired, or placed under the oversight of the finance functions.
The major change resulting from all of this was the establishment of an IT
governance process, where the roles, responsibilities, and decision-making
processes of IT planning, funding, and execution were managed by joint
business and IT leaders, many times with business leaders having much
more influence over IT decisions. Much like the rise of corporate gover-
nance, IT governance helped make IT spending and decision-making proc-
esses more aligned with the business and corporate stakeholders of the
organization.
IT PROCESS FRAMEWORKS: ITIL, COBIT,
CMMI, AND OTHERS
Several IT governance frameworks and models have blossomed over the
years, particularly to facilitate better governance, process definition, and
controls for IT. Major IT governance, process, and architecture frameworks
are available for implementation, such as Control Objectives for Informa-
tion and related Technology (COBIT), Information Technology Infrastruc-
ture Library (ITIL), Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), and
The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF). These are all major
process definition and standardization efforts for IT best practices, gover-
nance and audit/financial controls. These frameworks all substantially over-
lap, are inconsistent, approach IT from differing perspectives, and require
‘‘substantial interpretation before implementation.’’
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Furthermore, the
United States lags in adoption of these frameworks, which is a paradox
because the Unites States leads in technology innovation, and especially in
the context of SOA and its related technologies and disciplines.
The adoption of ITIL best practices, CMMI certification, and other
processes seem to be sub-optimized, lacking overarching governance models
to manage these processes. In fact, our experience is that IT governance
competencies are wide and varied, with no single organization representing
enterprise-wide IT governance for all the necessary decisions required. Most
often, high-performing governance models at least demonstrate control
12 THE SOA GOVERNANCE IMPERATIVE