Define goals for IT

The IT governance and control needs of the entity should enable some goals for IT to be stated. These IT goals are intended to be supportive of the business and its goals for the entuty.

CobiT has a business objective orientation. It fits between the business control model (e.g. COSO, Coco, Turnbull, King) and the more focused IT control models. CobiT sees information as an enabler of business and therefore the link to business objectives is IT goals.

Its important that at this stage actual goals for IT are defined. It makes no sense to proceed without a goal in mind. It may be that a relatively simple goal is stated "better control over IT processes". This statement directs the initiative towards a Control Objective and control implementation focus.

It may be that the IT goal is "to enable the business to have a technological edge on its competitors". Implemeting better IT controls may not be enough. In this scenario it would be more appropriate to focus on the maturity of IT processes.

Other IT goals may be:

to reduce risk.

to implement baseline controls.

to focus on process improvement.

to implement better IT Governance.

	to reduce risk.
	to implement baseline controls.
	to focus on process improvement.
	to implement better IT Governance.