ISACA Automates Cobit 5 Process

Mobile Devices Can Access Governance Framework
ISACA Automates Cobit 5 Process
ISACA's Robert Stroud discusses Cobit 5 Online.

Imagine an enterprise - whether a business, government agency or not-for-profit organization - is looking to move critical applications to the cloud and wants to ensure risks are correctly managed.

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Until now, when turning to an information risk management and IT governance framework such as Cobit, project leaders would have to thumb through hundreds of pages of several guides to gather the needed information. But ISACA, the professional association that publishes Cobit, has automated that process for the latest version of its framework, Cobit 5.

As a result, project managers can now log on to the online version of the framework, choose a question or role and immediately find and export relevant guidance, ISACA International President Robert Stroud says.

Available online is what's called a "responsible, accountable, consulted, informed planner," or RACI, that helps users analyze stakeholder requirements by selecting enterprise IT-related objectives based on specific needs. The tool automatically generates a report of relevant processes and practices to employ. "The tool can save the team anywhere from 30 to 60 hours of manual development that they would have previously had to do in Excel," Stroud says.

Search, Filter, Export

Cobit 5 Online allows users to search, filter and export content from a wide range of publications in the Cobit 5 framework, according to ISACA. It also enables users to submit comments and ask questions to help facilitate learning and adopting best practices.

ISACA developed Cobit 5 Online in a Web-based format that translates files into HTML5, the markup language that makes it easier to incorporate multimedia features and display on mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. "You have to provide your information in a form that's malleable and changeable because the world is going so fast," Stroud says.

Next, he says, ISACA will consider creating "derivative apps" to help users employ the tool's most used features and functions. Before it does that, though, ISACA will examine how users employ the online version. Stroud didn't provide a timetable when such apps might become available.

More than 145,000 individuals have downloaded Cobit 5, which is free to ISACA members, including the online version. The basic Cobit 5 framework is free to non-members, but ISACA charges fees for access to various components of the framework, including those that work with the online version.


About the Author

Eric Chabrow

Eric Chabrow

Retired Executive Editor, GovInfoSecurity

Chabrow, who retired at the end of 2017, hosted and produced the semi-weekly podcast ISMG Security Report and oversaw ISMG's GovInfoSecurity and InfoRiskToday. He's a veteran multimedia journalist who has covered information technology, government and business.




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