COBIT

COBIT is a framework created by ISACA for information technology (IT) management and IT Governance. It is a supporting toolset that allows managers to bridge the gap between control requirements, technical issues and business risks.

Overview

COBIT was first released in 1996, the current version, COBIT 4.1 was published in 2007 and is currently being updated (COBIT 5). Its mission is “to research, develop, publish and promote an authoritative, up-to-date, international set of generally accepted information technology control objectives for day-to-day use by business managers, IT professionals and assurance professionals.”.

COBIT, initially an acronym for 'Control objectives for information and related technology' defines 34 generic processes to manage IT. Each process is defined together with process inputs and outputs, key process activities, process objectives, performance measures and an elementary maturity model. The framework supports governance of IT by defining and aligning business goals with IT goals and IT processes.

COBIT Framework

The framework provides good practices across a domain and process framework. The business orientation of COBIT consists of linking business goals to IT goals, providing metrics and maturity models to measure their achievement, and identifying the associated responsibilities of business and IT process owners. The process focus of COBIT is illustrated by a process model that subdivides IT into four domains (Plan and Organize, Acquire and Implement, Deliver and Support and Monitor and Evaluate) and 34 processes in line with the responsibility areas of plan, build, run and monitor. It is positioned at a high level and has been aligned and harmonized with other, more detailed, IT standards and good practices such as COSO, ITIL, ISO 27000, CMMI, TOGAF and PMBOK. COBIT acts as an integrator of these different guidance materials, summarizing key objectives under one umbrella framework that link the good practice models with governance and business requirements.

Releases

COBIT has had four major releases:

• In 1996, the first edition of COBIT was released.
• In 1998, the second edition added "Management Guidelines".
• In 2000, the third edition was released.
  • In 2003, an on-line version became available.
• In December 2005, the fourth edition was initially released.
  • In May 2007, the current 4.1 revision was released.
• COBIT 5 is scheduled to release in 2012, will consolidate and integrate the COBIT 4.1, Val IT 2.0 and Risk IT frameworks, and also draw significantly from the Business Model for Information Security (BMIS) and ITAF.

Components

The COBIT components include::

• Framework: Organize IT governance objectives and good practices by IT domains and processes, and links them to business requirements
• Process descriptions: A reference process model and common language for everyone in an organization. The processes map to responsibility areas of plan, build, run and monitor.
• Control objectives: Provide a complete set of high-level requirements to be considered by management for effective control of each IT process.
• Management guidelines: Help assign responsibility, agree on objectives, measure performance, and illustrate interrelationship with other processes
• Maturity models: Assess maturity and capability per process and helps to address gaps.

Other ISACA Publications based on the COBIT framework include:

• Board Briefing for IT Governances, 2nd Edition
• COBIT and Application Controls
• COBIT Control Practices, 2nd Edition
• IT Assurance Guide: Using COBIT
• Implementing and Continually Improving IT Governance
• COBIT Quickstart, 2nd Edition
• COBIT Security Baseline, 2nd Edition
• IT Control Objectives for Sarbanes-Oxley, 2nd Edition
• IT Control Objectives for Basel II
• COBIT User Guide for Service Managers
• COBIT Mappings (to ISO/IEC 27002, CMMI, ITIL, TOGAF, PMBOK etc.)
• COBIT Online

COBIT and Sarbanes Oxley

Companies that are publicly traded in the US are subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. COBIT is the framework used by most companies to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley.

See also

• IT Governance
• Risk IT
• Val IT
• Data governance
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
• Information Quality Management
• Information Technology Infrastructure Library
• Information Security Management System
• IEEE

References

• ISACA Custodians of COBIT
• COBITCampus COBIT education provided by ISACA
• ISO/IEC 20000 international standard for IT Service Management
• ISO/IEC 27000 Information Security Management Systems standards
• Wood, David J. 2010. "Assessing IT Governance Maturity: The Case of San Marcos, Texas". Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos.

http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/345 (This paper applies a modified COBIT framework to a medium sized city).