What is COBIT 5 framework?

• COBIT 5 provides a comprehensive framework that assists enterprises in achieving their objectives for the governance and management of enterprise IT.

• It helps enterprises create optimal value from IT by maintaining a balance between realising benefits and optimising risk levels and resource use.

• COBIT 5 enables IT to be governed and managed in a holistic manner for the entire enterprise, taking in the full end-to-end business and IT functional areas of responsibility, considering the IT-related interests of internal and external stakeholders.

• COBIT 5 is generic and useful for enterprises of all sizes, whether commercial, not-for-profit or in the public sector.

COBIT 5 is based on five key principles for governance and management of enterprise IT:

Principle 1: Meeting Stakeholder Needs—Enterprises exist to create value for their stakeholders by maintaining a balance between the realisation of benefits and the optimisation of risk and use of resources.

Principle 2: Covering the Enterprise End-to-end—COBIT 5 integrates governance of enterprise IT into enterprise governance:

– It covers all functions and processes within the enterprise; COBIT 5 does not focus only on the ‘IT function’, but treats information and related technologies as assets that need to be dealt with just like any other asset by everyone in the enterprise.

– It considers all IT-related governance and management enablers to be enterprisewide and end-to-end, i.e., inclusive of everything and everyone—internal and external—that is relevant to governance and management of enterprise information and related IT.

Principle 3: Applying a Single, Integrated Framework—There are many IT-related standards and good practices, each providing guidance on a subset of IT activities. COBIT 5 aligns with other relevant standards and frameworks at a high level, and thus can serve as the overarching framework for governance and management of enterprise IT.

Principle 4: Enabling a Holistic Approach—Efficient and effective governance and management of enterprise IT require a holistic approach, taking into account several interacting components. COBIT 5 defines a set of enablers to support the implementation of a comprehensive governance and management system for enterprise IT. Enablers are

broadly defined as anything that can help to achieve the objectives of the enterprise.

The COBIT 5 framework defines seven categories of enablers:

– Principles, Policies and Frameworks

– Processes

– Organisational Structures

– Culture, Ethics and Behaviour

– Information

– Services, Infrastructure and Applications

– People, Skills and Competencies

Principle 5: Separating Governance From Management—The COBIT 5 framework makes a clear distinction between governance and management. These two disciplines encompass different types of activities, require different organisational structures and serve different purposes. COBIT 5’s view on this key distinction between governance and management is:

Governance ensures that stakeholder needs, conditions and options are evaluated to determine balanced, agreed-on enterprise objectives to be achieved; setting direction through prioritisation and decision making; and monitoring performance and compliance against agreed-on direction and objectives.

Management plans, builds, runs and monitors activities in alignment with the direction set by the governance body to achieve the enterprise objectives.