Why Is COBIT Important?
The COBIT framework provides a common language for IT professionals, compliance auditors, and business executives. They can communicate with each other on the same IT goals, controls, objectives and outcomes.
The absence of a common language demands explanations on when, how, where, and why certain IT controls were created.
Implementing COBIT in any organization from any industry ensures control, quality, and reliability of IT systems.
What Is COBIT Framework?
The COBIT business orientation includes linking business goals with its IT infrastructure by providing various maturity models and metrics that measure the achievement while identifying associated business responsibilities of IT processes. The main focus of COBIT 4.1 was illustrated with a process-based model subdivided into four specific domains, including:
- Planning & Organization
- Delivering and Support
- Acquiring & Implementation
- Monitoring & Evaluating
All of this is further understood under 34 processes as per the specific line of responsibilities. COBIT has a high position in business frameworks and has been recognized under various international standards, including ITIL, CMMI, COSO, PRINCE2, TOGAF, PMBOK, TOGAF, and ISO 27000. COBIT acts as a guideline integrator—merging all solutions under one umbrella.
The latest COBIT version 5 came out in April 2012 and consolidated the principles of COBIT 4.1, Risk IT Frameworks, and Val IT 2.0. This version draws reference from IT Assurance Framework (ITAF) from ISACA and the revered BMIS (Business Model for Information Security).
What Are the COBIT Framework Basics?
COBIT is more than a set of technical standards for IT managers. This framework supports the requirements of businesses via combined IT applications, related processes and sources. It provides the following two main parameters:
- Control: IT management practices, policies, procedures, and structures, providing an acceptable assurance level that business goals will be met.
- IT control objective: States the acceptable results level that must be attained on implementing control procedures for a particular IT operation.
What Are the Principles of COBIT?
The latest version, COBIT 2019, presents six principles for a governance system:
- Meet stakeholder needs
- Holistic approach
- Dynamic governance system
- Distinct governance from management
- Tailored to enterprise needs
- End-to-end governance system
What Do You Need to Know Before Using COBIT?
- Objectives: The latest version has 40 governance and business management objectives. IT professionals can prioritize or ignore the objectives based on the stakeholders’ needs.
- Design factors Include strategic, contextual, and tactical factors that help define an organization’s requirements and how they must be addressed in a framework. They drive implementation choices for technology, methods, and outsourcing.
- Domains: The objectives are categorized into specific domains that map to various business processes such as planning, creating, and monitoring.
- Goals cascade: It defines the connection between business goals and requirements.
- Components: These are generic elements such as infrastructure, skills, process descriptions and structures influencing IT.
