White Papers / Thought Leadership

Holistic Framework for IT Governance
Copyright © 2000 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Posted with permission of Harvard University
Charles Popper
January 2000

Abstract: The challenge of governing an enterprise's Information Technology (IT) function, although of interest within the IT community for years, has recently become a concern of senior business management. Strategic alignment of IT with the business is now being emphasized, as well as approaches to management of the IT portfolio, yet efforts so far have not attained the alignment and integration senior management want. An approach to management of IT is needed that is inclusive-with a scope that truly reflects the range of activities and responsibilities of IT-and specific. This report offers such an approach to IT as a holistic framework that addresses three primary objectives: (1) it fosters strategic and tactical alignment of IT with the business; (2) it relates the cost of IT to the value brought to the business; and (3) it supports a drive toward operational excellence.

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