IT Governance

1. How does the description of IT governance mechanisms in Public Sector organizations in Australia differ from those presented by Weill and Ross (2004)?

IT governance mechanisms in Public Sector organizations in Australia describes the importance of the principles, as well as, lessons of good corporate governance being replicated in the individual IT governance mechanisms laid down for the institution (Ali and Green, 2007). These mechanisms encourage a set of behavior, which encourages behavior that goes hand in hand with the company’s mission, values, strategy, and norms (Ali and Green, 2007). On the other hand, Weill and Ross determine that, managers should focus in designing, implementing, and communicating the IT governance processes (Weill & Ross, 2005). Furthermore, IT governance incorporates five important decision domains: infrastructure, investment decisions, prioritization, IT principles, infrastructure and business application needs (Weill & Ross, 2005).

IT governance mechanisms in Public Sector organizations in Australia, cautions the implementation of the above mechanisms; the nature of organizations is essential in showing how effective mechanisms are (Ali and Green, 2007). However, Weill and Ross explain six archetypal approaches applied in IT governance: IT monarchy, business monarchy, feudal, federal, duopoly, and anarchy (Weill & Ross, 2005). The two recommend guidance in effective IT governance design. One needs to identify the company’s needs for autonomy and synergy, establish the role played by organization structure, pick the desirable IT-related behaviors, and then design IT governance on a single page (Weill & Ross, 2005).

2. How does the description of IT governance mechanisms in Public Sector organizations in Australia differ from the claims of the case study material from the COBIT site: Solo Cup Uses COBIT to Develop IT Policies?

IT governance mechanisms in Public Sector organizations in Australia describes the importance of the principles, as well as, lessons of good corporate governance being replicated in the individual IT governance mechanisms laid down for the institution (Ali and Green, 2007). These mechanisms encourage a set of behavior, which encourages behavior that goes hand in hand with the company’s mission, values, strategy, and norms (Ali and Green, 2007). On the other hand, COBIT stipulates an effective set of guidelines that make sure IT policies show enough coverage of common control objectives. These guidelines also identify control gaps. The control elements have the correct content, depth, as well as breadth that would ensure compliance with the control objective put down by COBIT.

IT governance mechanisms in Public Sector organizations in Australia, cautions the implementation of the above mechanisms; the nature of organizations is essential in showing how effective mechanisms are. In its part, the COBIT framework narrowed the process of coming up with a comprehensive set of the policies. Without COBIT, time and energy would have been wasted.