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 COBIT® 5 – A Management Guide

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 COBIT® 5
A Management Guide

Pierre Bernard

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 Colophon

Title: COBIT® 5 – A Management Guide

Author: Pierre Bernard

Editor: Jane Chittenden

Review team: Rob van der Burg (Microsoft)

Steven de Haes (University of Antwerp)
Chris Jones
Ali Makaleh (Microsoft)
Hans Reh (Microsoft)
Publisher: Van Haren Publishing, Zaltbommel, www.vanharen.net

ISBN: 978 90 8753 701 2

ISBN eBook: 978 90 8753 800 2

Print: First Edition, first impression, October 2012

First Edition, second impression, September 2016

Design and Layout: CO2 Premedia BV, Amersfoort – NL

Copyright: © Van Haren Publishing, 2012

For any further enquiries about Van Haren Publishing, please send an email to:
info@vanharen.net

Although this publication has been composed with most care, neither Author nor Editor nor
Publisher can accept any liability for damage caused by possible errors and/or incompleteness
in this publication.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form by print, photo print, microfilm or any
other means without written permission from the Publisher.

TRADEMARK NOTICES
This product includes COBIT 5® ©2012 ISACA® used by permission of ISACA®. All rights
reserved.
COBIT 5® is a registered trademark of ISACA®.

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 Preface

This Management Guide provides readers with two benefits. First, it is an easy
accessible reference guide to IT governance for those who are not acquainted with
this field. Second, it is a high-level introduction to ISACA’s open standard COBIT
5.0 that will encourage further study. This guide follows the process structure of
COBIT 5.0.

This guide is aimed at business and IT (service) managers, consultants, auditors and
anyone interested in learning more about the possible application of IT governance
standards in the IT management domain. In addition, it provides students in IT and
Business Administration with a compact reference to COBIT 5.0.

Similar to the previous version of this management guide, based on COBIT 4.1, it
aims at two important areas: Auditing and IT Service Management. It will offer
the auditors a bridge to the service management business, and it offers the service
management world a management instrument that enables them to put the pieces
of the puzzle together, and get (and remain!) in control. However, compared to
previous versions, COBIT 5 focuses less on auditing and revision. The influence
of ITIL is strongly felt – which is not least because of service orientation – and
the positioning of the service management processes within the COBIT 5 process
domains can be clearly seen. Because governance and service management are
ever-closer growing management disciplines, companies with IT organizations
that have aligned their service management according to ITIL can enrich their
management and governance with COBIT 5.

COBIT 5 has a closer alignment with ITIL than before, which confirms that IT
service management and IT governance are developing in the same direction. This
implies that for organizations that have organized their service management on
ITIL principles, improving their IT governance based on COBIT is a logical next
step.

Any comments and suggestions regarding the content of this management guide
are welcomed by the COBIT 5 project team.

October 2012
The Publisher

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VI

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 Table of contents

Preface ................................................................................................................ V
List of figures ....................................................................................................XI
List of tables .................................................................................................... XII

1 Introduction and executive summary ..............................................................1

1.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................1
1.2 What is governance of enterprise IT? ..............................................................2
Compliance ....................................................................................................4
What are the major focus areas that make up governance
of enterprise IT? ............................................................................................4
1.3 Overview of this publication ..............................................................................6
1.4 What to use? Where to start? ............................................................................6
What can go wrong if it’s not implemented effectively?...........................7
1.5 Implementation tips ............................................................................................8
1.6 Appendices ...........................................................................................................8

2 The COBIT 5 principles ....................................................................................9

2.1 Principle 1: Meeting Stakeholder Needs ........................................................10
2.2 Principle 2: Covering the enterprise end-to-end ...........................................10
Governance enablers ..................................................................................12
Governance scope .......................................................................................12
Roles, activities and relationships .............................................................12
2.3 Principle 3: Applying a Single, Integrated Framework ................................14
Stakeholders and stakeholder needs .........................................................14
2.4 Principle 4: Enabling a Holistic Approach ....................................................15
Enablers ........................................................................................................16
Systemic governance ...................................................................................16
The generic enabler model .........................................................................16
The capability attribute for enablers ........................................................18
2.5 Principle 5: Separating Governance from Management ..............................19
Governance system .....................................................................................19
Management .................................................................................................19
Interactions between governance and management .............................. 20

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VIII

3 The goals cascade..............................................................................................21

Introduction........................................................................................................21
3.1 Using the goals cascade ................................................................................... 24
Benefits of the goals cascade .................................................................... 24
Using the goals cascade carefully............................................................. 25
Metrics ......................................................................................................... 28
3.2 Enterprise goal metrics .................................................................................... 28
3.3 IT-related goal metrics ..................................................................................... 28
3.4 Drivers and benefits ..........................................................................................31
Drivers ..........................................................................................................31
Benefits .........................................................................................................31

4 Detailed description of the enabler models ................................................ 35

4.1 Overview of this section ...................................................................................35
4.2 Process model ....................................................................................................36
4.3 Information model ............................................................................................37
Information quality .....................................................................................38
4.4 Organizational structures model .................................................................... 40
4.5 Skills and competencies model ........................................................................43
4.6 Principles and policies model ......................................................................... 44
4.7 Culture, ethics, and behavior model ...............................................................45
4.8 Service capabilities model ............................................................................... 46

5 The process model ........................................................................................... 49

5.1 The process model ............................................................................................49
5.2 Governance and management processes .......................................................53
5.3 Process reference model ...................................................................................53
5.4 Process reference guide ....................................................................................55
5.5 Governance Domain: Evaluate, Direct, & Monitor .....................................57
EDM01: Ensure governance framework setting and maintenance ......58
EDM02: Ensure benefits delivery .............................................................58
EDM03: Ensure Risk Optimization .........................................................59
EDM04: Ensure Resource Optimization ................................................59
EDM05: Ensure Stakeholder Transparency ........................................... 60
5.6 Management Domain: Align, Plan, & Organize ......................................... 60
APO01: Manage the IT management framework ..................................61
APO02: Manage strategy ...........................................................................61
APO03: Manage Enterprise Architecture ..............................................62
APO04: Manage Innovation......................................................................62

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 IX

APO05: Manage Portfolio .........................................................................63

APO06: Manage Budget, and Costs .........................................................63
APO07: Manage Human Resources ....................................................... 64
APO08: Manage Relationships ................................................................ 64
APO09: Manage Service Agreements .....................................................65
APO10: Manage Suppliers .........................................................................65
APO11: Manage Quality ........................................................................... 66
APO12: Manage Risk ................................................................................ 66
APO13: Manage Security...........................................................................67
5.7 Management Domain: Build, Acquire & Implement...................................67
BAI01: Manage Programs and Projects .................................................. 68
BAI02: Manage requirements definition ................................................ 68
BAI03: Manage solutions identification and build .................................69
BAI04: Manage Availability & Capacity .................................................69
BAI05: Manage organizational change enablement...............................70
BAI06: Manage Changes ...........................................................................70
BAI07: Manage change acceptance and transitioning ...........................71
BAI08: Manage Knowledge.......................................................................71
BAI09: Manage Assets ...............................................................................72
BAI10: Manage Configuration..................................................................72
5.8 Management Domain: Deliver, Service & Support ......................................73
DSS01: Manage Operations .......................................................................73
DSS02: Manage Service Requests and Incidents....................................73
DSS03: Manage Problems ..........................................................................74
DSS04: Manage Continuity .......................................................................74
DSS05: Manage Security Services ............................................................75
DSS06: Manage Business Process Controls ............................................75
5.9 Management Domain: Monitor, Evaluate & Assure....................................76
MEA01: Monitor, evaluate and assess performance and
conformance.................................................................................................76
MEA02: Monitor, evaluate and assess the system of internal control .76
MEA03: Monitor, evaluate and assess compliance with external
requirements ................................................................................................77

6 Implementation guidance ............................................................................... 79

6.1 Introduction........................................................................................................79
6.2 Considering the IT organization context ...................................................... 80
6.3 Creating the right environment .......................................................................81

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X

6.4 Recognizing pain-points and event triggers ................................................. 82

6.5 Enabling change ............................................................................................... 83
6.6 A lifecycle approach ......................................................................................... 83
6.7 Getting started: making the business case .................................................... 85

7 The process capability model......................................................................... 87

7.1 Introduction....................................................................................................... 87
7.2 Benefits of the changes .................................................................................... 90
7.3 Performing process capability assessments .................................................. 90

Appendices
A Detailed mappings ........................................................................................... 93
B Stakeholder needs and enterprise goals ........................................................ 99
C COBIT 5 vs. COBIT 4.1 .................................................................................105
D COBIT 5 and ITGI’s five governance focus areas ......................................107
E Mapping between COBIT 5 and legacy ISACA frameworks ...................109
F About ISACA® ................................................................................................119

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 List of figures

Figure 2.1 – COBIT 5 principles ...................................................................................9

Figure 2.2 – Architecture .............................................................................................11
Figure 2.3 – The governance objective: value creation ............................................12
Figure 2.4 – Governance roles, activities, and relationships ...................................13
Figure 2.5 – Governance in COBIT 5 ........................................................................13
Figure 2.6 – Enablers: systemic model with interacting enablers ...........................17
Figure 2.7 – Generic enabler model ............................................................................17
Figure 2.8 – Generic enabler capability model..........................................................18

Figure 3.1 – Goals cascade overview ......................................................................... 22

Figure 4.1 – Generic enabler model ............................................................................35

Figure 4.2 – Process model...........................................................................................36
Figure 4.3 – Metadata: information cycle ..................................................................37
Figure 4.4 – Information model...................................................................................38
Figure 4.5 – Organizational structures model .......................................................... 40
Figure 4.6 – Skills and competencies model ..............................................................43
Figure 4.7 – Principles and policies model ................................................................ 44
Figure 4.8 – Culture, ethics, and behavior model .....................................................45
Figure 4.9 – Service capabilities model ..................................................................... 46

Figure 5.1 – The process model revisited ...................................................................50

Figure 5.2 – Governance and management processes..............................................53
Figure 5.3 – Illustrative governance and management processes ...........................55

Figure 6.1 – The seven phases of the implementation lifecycle ............................. 85

Figure 7.1 – Summary of the COBIT 4.1 process maturity model ........................ 88
Figure 7.2 – Summary of the COBIT 5 process capability model ..........................89

Figure E1 – Legacy governance of enterprise IT focus areas ...............................107

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 List of tables

Table 1.1 – Various frameworks ....................................................................................7

Table 2.1 – Stakeholder needs......................................................................................15

Table 2.2 – Governance and management interactions .......................................... 20

Table 3.1 – Enterprise goals mapped to governance objectives ............................. 23

Table 3.2 – IT-related goals ......................................................................................... 24
Table 3.3 – Enterprise goal sample metrics .............................................................. 26
Table 3.4 – IT-related goal sample metrics................................................................ 28
Table 3.5 – Benefits .......................................................................................................32

Table 4.1 – Roles and organizational structures .......................................................41

Table 4.2 – Skills categories ........................................................................................ 44

Table B1 – Mapping COBIT 5 enterprise goals to IT-related goals .......................95

Table B2 – Mapping COBIT 5 IT-related goals to COBIT 5 processes ............... 97

Table C1 – Mapping COBIT 5 enterprise goals to typical stakeholder needs ... 100
Table C2 – Mapping COBIT 5 IT-related goals to typical stakeholder needs ....102

Table E1 – Coverage of governance focus areas .....................................................108

Table F1 – COBIT 4.1 control objectives mapped to COBIT 5 ............................109

Table F2 – Val IT 2.0 key management practices covered by COBIT 5 ..............115
Table F3 – Risk IT key management practices covered by COBIT 5 ..................117

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 CHAPTER 1

Introduction and
executive summary

1.1 Introduction

Information is a key resource for all enterprises, and throughout the whole
lifecycle of information there is a huge dependency on technology. Information
and related information technologies are pervasive in enterprises and they need
to be governed and managed in a holistic manner, taking in the full end‐to‐end
business and IT functional areas of responsibility.

Today, more than ever, enterprises need to achieve increased:

• Value creation throughout the enterprise’s IT
• Business user satisfaction with IT engagement and services
• Compliance with relevant laws, regulations and policies

COBIT 5 is a governance and management framework for information and related

technology that starts from stakeholder needs with regard to information and
technology. The framework is intended for all enterprises, including non‐profit
and public sector.

Several global business catastrophes over the last few decades such as the Asian
financial crisis of 19971, the early 2000s recession (2001 to 2003 – the collapse

1 www.stocktradingtogo.com/2008/07/18/timeline-of-all-recessions-and-world-crises-since-
great-depression/

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2 cobit® 5 – a management guide

of the Dot Com Bubble, September 11th attacks and accounting scandals)2 , the
ENRON scandal3, and the banking collapses of 2008 to 2012 4, have brought the
term “governance” to the forefront of business thinking. On the positive side, some
success stories have also demonstrated the importance of good governance. Both
have established a clear and widely accepted need for more rigorous governance.
Increasingly, legislation is being passed and regulations implemented to address
this need, which has moved governance to the top of agendas at all levels of the
enterprise.

The COBIT framework allows enterprises to achieve their governance and

management objectives, i.e., to create optimal value from information and
technology by maintaining a balance amongst realizing benefits, managing risk
and balancing resources. Further benefits include but are not limited to:
• Maintain high-quality information to support business decisions
• Achieve strategic goals and realize business benefits through the effective and
innovative use of IT
• Achieve operational excellence through reliable, efficient application of
technology
• Maintain IT-related risk at an acceptable level
• Optimize the cost of IT services and technology
• Support compliance with relevant laws, regulations, contractual agreements
and policies

1.2 What is governance of enterprise IT?

There are many sources competing to be the definitive authority on this topic. Here
are a few examples. For the purpose of this publication ‘governance of enterprise
IT’ is used as a short form for “the governance of enterprise IT”.

CIO Magazine5
Governance of enterprise IT is putting in place a structure aligning the IT strategy
with the business strategy. This enables enterprises in staying the course in achieving
their strategies and goals, as well as implementing proper means of measuring

2 www.stocktradingtogo.com/2008/07/18/timeline-of-all-recessions-and-world-crises-since-
great-depression/
3 http://www.oecd.org/daf/corporateaffairs/corporategovernanceprinciples/35639607.pdf
4 news.bbc.co.uk
5 Based on the defi nition found at www.cio.com

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cobit® 5 – a management guide 3

the performance of the IT enterprise. Governance of enterprise IT takes into

consideration the interests of all stakeholders and ensures that processes provide
measurable results. A governance of enterprise IT framework should answer some
key questions, such as:
• What are the key metrics needed by the management team?
• How well is the IT enterprise functioning?
• What is the return on investment to the business of investing in IT?

Enterprise for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)6

Governance of enterprise IT is the set of processes and procedures to direct and
control an enterprise. The corporate governance structure specifies the distribution
of rights and responsibilities among the different participants in the enterprise
–  such as the board, managers, shareholders and other stakeholders – and lays
down the rules and procedures for decision-making.

BWISE7
Governance of enterprise IT is a subset of an enterprise’s corporate governance
strategy. Governance of enterprise IT focuses specifically on information
technology systems, their performance, and risk management. The primary goals
of governance of enterprise IT are to assure that the investments in IT generate
business value, and to mitigate the risks that are associated with IT.

ISACA8
Governance ensures that stakeholder needs, conditions, and options are evaluated
to determine balanced, agreed-on enterprise objectives to be achieved; setting
direction through prioritization and decision making; and monitoring performance
and compliance against agreed-on direction and objectives.

COBIT 5 provides an end-to-end business view of the governance of enterprise

IT that reflects the central role of information and technology in creating value
for enterprises. The principles, practices, analytical tools and models found
in COBIT  5 embody thought leadership and guidance from business, IT and
governance experts around the world.

6 Based on the defi nition found at www.oecd.org

7 Based on the defi nition found at www.bwise.com
8 Based on the defi nition found in the glossary at www.isaca.org

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4 cobit® 5 – a management guide

Compliance
Governance and compliance are not synonymous. Basically compliance can be
summarized as the state or fact of according with or meeting rules or standards.
Synonyms include: agreement, consent, accord, accordance, and conformity.

What are the major focus areas that make up governance of enterprise IT?
According to the IT Governance Institute9, there are five areas of focus:

1. Strategic alignment
This covers the alignment of the enterprise’s and IT’s perspective, position,
plans, and patterns.

2. Value delivery
From a customer perspective, value is expressed in terms of the desired business
outcomes, their preferences, and their perceptions in regards to the product or
service.

3. Resource management
It is important to include the following elements as resources: funding,
applications/software, infrastructure/hardware, information/data, and of
course people. In order to properly manage their resources, enterprises must
develop and maintain the following capabilities: management, enterprise,
processes, knowledge, and people.

4. Risk management
A risk may be defined as the uncertainty of an outcome whether positive or
negative. The management of the risk includes the identification of the tangible
and intangible items to be protected, the various (real or potential) threats
facing those items and the level of vulnerability of the items in regards to a
specific threat. The enterprise must then decide an appropriate means of
mitigating the risk; this may range from doing nothing to attempting to fully
protect the item from the threat.

5. Performance measures
Before establishing any measure an enterprise needs to identify the reason for
the measure. There are four basic reasons for measuring: they are to direct,
to validate, to justify, and to intervene. The enterprise needs to identify many

9 Based on the defi nition found at http://www.isaca.org/Pages/Glossary.aspx?tid=422&char=G

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cobit® 5 – a management guide 5

other criteria for the measures. These criteria include, but are not limited to,
compliance, performance, quality, and value. Furthermore, the measures can
be quantitative (objective) or qualitative (subjective). All the measures must
also adhere to the SMART principle where
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Achievable
R = Realistic
T = Timely or time bounded

Evidently, there is much more regarding the above. However, as this publication is
only a management guide about governance of enterprise IT, the reader is invited
to consult Appendix A for a list of websites and books for further details and
explanations.

The topics of governance and compliance (sometimes known as “transparency”)

are now common in various books, whitepapers, articles, conference presentations,
and blogs. To make good governance happen and deliver the expected results,
enterprises must address the challenge of participation. It’s all about the attitude,
the behavior, and the culture of the enterprise10.

One of the primary behaviors that the management team of the IT enterprise
needs to encourage is the broad on-going participation of all IT stakeholders
to ensure that governance of enterprise IT makes a significant and visible
contribution.

Corporate governance is critical for ensuring that key decisions are consistent with
corporate vision, values, and strategy. The same can be said about governance of
enterprise IT. However, this can only be accomplished if the IT enterprise derives
its vision, values, and strategy from the corporate ones.

According to the CIO Magazine11, the IT enterprise makes five types of business-
related decisions
1. IT principles and policies to drive the role of IT in the enterprise
2. IT architecture based on existing and future technical choices and directions
3. IT infrastructure for the delivery of shared IT services

10 ABC of ICT
11 www.cio.com

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6 cobit® 5 – a management guide

4. Business application requirements for each project

5. Prioritization of IT investments based on business priorities

Enterprises need to design, transition, and operate governance mechanisms to

make and then implement each of the above types of decisions. There are many
types of governance mechanisms and techniques:
• Mechanisms that facilitate decision making
• Processes that ensure alignment between technology and business goals
• Methods for communicating governance principles and decisions

In order to accomplish the above, the executive team (corporate and IT) should:
• Set the IT priorities
• Communicate priorities and progress clearly and regularly
• Monitor projects regularly

1.3 Overview of this publication

This publication provides an explanation of the objectives, scope and format of

COBIT 5, and introduces the COBIT 5 architecture. It allows various stakeholders
to understand how COBIT 5 meets the stakeholder needs for governance and
management of enterprise IT and how it can be used, and it provides implementation
guidance. Further sections of the document are:

1. Introduction and executive summary

2. The COBIT 5 principles
3. The goals cascade
4. Detailed description of the enabler models
5. The process model
6. Implementation guidance
7. The process capability model

1.4 What to use? Where to start?

There is an old adage that says that “it doesn’t make sense to reinvent the wheel”.
There are many existing and well documented complementary frameworks and
methodologies which can be used. All have been designed, implemented, and used
by a worldwide community of enterprises and industry experts.

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cobit® 5 – a management guide 7

Table 1.1 Various frameworks

COBIT The framework, from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA),
is probably the most popular. It is a set of guidelines and supporting toolset for
governance of enterprise IT that is accepted worldwide. Auditors and enterprises use
it as a mechanism to integrate technology in implementing controls and meet specific
business objectives. COBIT is well suited to enterprises focused on risk management and
mitigation.
ITIL ITIL advocates that IT services must be aligned to the needs of the business and underpin
the core business processes. It provides guidance to enterprises on how to use IT
effectively and efficiently as a tool to facilitate business change, transformation, and
growth. There are five core publications which provide a systematic and professional
approach to the management of IT services, enabling enterprises to deliver appropriate
services and continually ensure they are meeting business goals and delivering benefits.
COSO This model for evaluating internal controls is from the Committee of Sponsoring
Enterprises of the Treadway Commission. It includes guidelines on many functions,
including human resource management, inbound and outbound logistics, external
resources, information technology, risk, legal affairs, the enterprise, marketing and sales,
operations, all financial functions, procurement and reporting. This is a more business-
general framework that is less IT-specific than COBIT or ITIL.
CMMI The Capability Maturity Model Integration method, created by a group from government,
industry and Carnegie-Mellon’s Software Engineering Institute, is a process improvement
approach that contains 22 process areas. It is divided into appraisal, evaluation, and
structure. CMMI is particularly well suited to enterprises that need help with application
development, lifecycle issues, and improving the delivery of products throughout the
lifecycle.

What can go wrong if it’s not implemented effectively?

If the governance of enterprise IT framework isn’t implemented properly, it
can directly affect how IT is perceived by the business and other high-level
stakeholders. Ineffective implementation of the governance of enterprise IT can
exacerbate already on-going issues such as project overruns and poor value to cost
measurements, not to mention stakeholder dissatisfaction.

Complying with governance of enterprise IT represents a myriad of challenges.

Some of these challenges include, but are not limited to
• IT personnel not informed of the requirements of compliance
• Not having IT controls in place
• Missing a deadline or reporting a “material weakness” in your IT controls

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8 cobit® 5 – a management guide

1.5 Implementation tips

The following list represent “must-have” to ensure a (relatively) smooth

implementation as well as the positive delivery of expected results. The following
approach, often referred to as Kotter’s12 Eight-Steps to transformation is widely
known and well documented.
1. Create a sense of urgency
2. Form a guiding coalition
3. Create a vision
4. Communicate the vision
5. Empower others to act on the vision
6. Plan for and create quick wins
7. Consolidate improvements and produce more change
8. Institutionalize the change

1.6 Appendices

Appendices contain reference information, mappings and more detailed

information on specific subjects:

Appendix A – References
Appendix B – Detailed mappings
Appendix C – Stakeholder needs and enterprise goals
Appendix D – COBIT 5 vs. COBIT 4.1
Appendix E – COBIT 5 and the IT Governance Institute’s (ITGI) five
governance focus areas
Appendix F – Mapping between COBIT 5 and legacy ISACA frameworks
Appendix G – About ISACA

12 Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail, Kotter John P, Harvard Business
Review March-April 1995

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 CHAPTER 2

The COBIT 5 principles

The framework covers the whole enterprise providing a basis to integrate effectively
other frameworks, standards, and practices used. The framework is made up of a
single overarching one, allowing for a consistent and integrated source of guidance
in a non-technical, technology-independent common language.

The framework is based on the following principles, see figure 2.1.

1. Meeting
Stakeholder
Needs

5. Separating 2. Covering the

Governance Enterprise
From End-to-end
Management
COBIT 5
Principles

4. Enabling a 3. Applying a
Holistic Single
Approach Integrated
Framework

Figure 2.1 COBIT 5 principles

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10 cobit® 5 – a management guide

The framework integrates all knowledge previously dispersed over different

ISACA frameworks13 such as COBIT, Val IT, Risk IT, and the Business Model for
Information Security (BMIS) and the IT Assurance Framework (ITAF).

The benefit of the architecture within the framework is to support the goals,
i.e., providing to all stakeholders the most complete and up‐to‐date guidance on
governance and management of the enterprise’s IT.

Figure 2.2 provides a graphical description of the COBIT 5 architecture that result
from this principle.

2.1 Principle 1: Meeting Stakeholder Needs

COBIT 5 is an integrator framework because it:

• Brings together existing ISACA14 guidance on governance and management of
the enterprise’s IT
• Aligns with the latest versions of relevant standards and frameworks15
• Provides a simple architecture for structuring guidance materials and producing
a consistent product set

2.2 Principle 2: Covering the enterprise end-to-end

Enterprises exist to create value for their stakeholders, so the governance objective
for any enterprise – commercial or not – is value creation. Value creation is based
on the customer’s perceptions, preferences, and desired business outcomes. It
means realizing benefits at an optimal resource cost while optimizing risk (see
Figure 2.3). Enterprises have many stakeholders, and “creating value” means
different things to each of them – sometimes conflicting. Governance is about
negotiating and deciding the value interests amongst different stakeholders. By
consequence, the governance system must consider all stakeholders when making
assessments and decisions about benefit, resource, and risk. For each of these
value creation components, the question can and should be asked: for who are the
benefits, and risk, and which resources are required?

13 See www.isaca.org for more details on each of these frameworks

14 See Appendix G – About ISACA
15 Such as ITIL ®, ISO/IEC 20000 ®, ISO/IEC 27000 ®, ISO/IEC 31000 ®, PMI’s PMBOK® for
example

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cobit® 5 – a management guide 11

Existing ISACA Other

New ISACA
Guidance Standards
Guidance
(COBIT, Val IT, and
Materials
Risk IT, BMIS, ...) Frameworks

COBIT 5 Knowledge Base

COBIT 5
• Current guidance and contents Enablers
• Structure for future contents

Content Filter for

Knowledge Base

COBIT 5 Product Family

COBIT 5

COBIT 5 Enabler Guides

COBIT 5 Professional Guides

COBIT 5 Online
Collaborative
Environment

Figure 2.2 Architecture

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12 cobit® 5 – a management guide

Stakeholder
Needs

Drive
Governance Objective: Value Creation

Benefits Risk Resource

Realisation Optimisation Optimisation

Figure 2.3 The governance objective: value creation

Source: Figure 3: The Governance Objective: Value Creation, COBIT 5: A Business Framework for the Governance
and Management of Enterprise IT, 2012 © ISACA.

In addition to the governance objective, the other three main elements of the
governance approach include the following.

Governance enablers
These are the organizational resources for governance, such as frameworks,
principles, structure, processes, and practices, toward which (or through which)
action is directed and objectives can be attained. Enablers also include the enterprise’s
resources (people, funding, applications, infrastructures, and information) and
service capabilities (management, enterprise, process, knowledge, and people).

Governance scope
Governance can be applied to the whole enterprise, an entity, a tangible or
intangible asset, anything that requires governance. It is possible to define different
views of the enterprise to which governance is applied, and it is essential to define
this scope of the governance system well.

Roles, activities and relationships

Lastly, we have the governance roles, activities, and relationships. It defines who is
involved in governance, how they are involved, what they do, and how they interact,
within the scope of any governance system. In the governance and management
domains, there is a clear differentiation between governance and management

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cobit® 5 – a management guide 13

activities, interfaces and roles. Figure 2.416 builds on the previous figure (see
Figure 2.3), by including the interactions between the different roles.

Roles, Activities and Relationships

Instruct and
Delegate Set Direction Operations
Owners and Governing Align
Management and
Stakeholders Body
Accountable Monitor Report Execution

Figure 2.4 Governance roles, activities, and relationships

Source: Figure 9: Key Roles, Activities and Relationships, COBIT 5: A Business Framework for the Governance and
Management of Enterprise IT, 2012 © ISACA.

Figure 2.5 (Governance in COBIT 5) represents the key components of a

governance system.17

Governance Objective: Value Creation

Benefits Risk Resource

Realisation Optimisation Optimisation

Governance Governance
Enablers Scope

Roles, Activities and Relationships

Figure 2.5 Governance in COBIT 5

Source: Figure 8: Governance and Management in COBIT 5: A Business Framework for the Governance and
Management of Enterprise IT, 2012 © ISACA

16 COBIT 5: The Framework Exposure Draft (June 2011)

17 This governance system is an illustration of ISACA’s Taking Governance Forward (TGF)
initiative; more information on TGF can be found on page www.takinggovernanceforward.
org/Pages/default.aspx

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14 cobit® 5 – a management guide

2.3 Principle 3: Applying a Single, Integrated

Framework

COBIT 5 addresses the governance and management of information and related

technology from an enterprise‐wide, end‐to‐end perspective, including the
activities and responsibilities of both the IT function and non‐IT business functions.
The end‐to-end aspect is further supported by the framework’s coverage of all
critical business elements, i.e. processes, organizational structures, principles and
policies, culture, skills, and service capabilities. In addition, an information model
provides a simple link between business information and the IT function, which
further supports the business focus.

Every enterprise operates in a different context; this context is determined by

external factors (market, industry, geopolitical, etc.) and internal factors (culture,
enterprise, risk appetite, etc.), and requires that every enterprise builds their own,
customized governance and management system. The structure of COBIT 5, the
governance and management model, and the enabler models apply to all contexts
and facilitate this customization. For example:
• The goals cascade is the mechanism to translate context specific business
drivers and stakeholder needs into specific, actionable and customized IT
related and enabler goals
• Quality goals associated with each enabler are to a large extent contextual

The framework achieves a business focus by identifying all stakeholders and their
needs and determining how they link to governance and management decisions
and activities. In this section, the typical internal and external stakeholders for
information and related technology in the enterprise are described first, along
with some of their typical issues and concerns.

Stakeholders and stakeholder needs

The needs of stakeholders are influenced by many drivers such as changes in
strategy, changes in business and regulatory environment, and making use of
new technologies. The needs of stakeholder materialize in a series of potential
expectations, concerns, or requirements. These relate to one or more of the three
generic governance objectives within the framework: benefits realization, risk
balancing and cost optimization.

Stakeholders for information and related technology can be external and internal,
and they can have many different and sometimes conflicting needs – as shown in
Table 2.1.

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cobit® 5 – a management guide 15

Table 2.1 Stakeholder needs

Internal stakeholders Internal stakeholder needs

Board, CEO, chief financial officer (CFO), • How do I get value from IT?
chief information officer (CIO), business • How do I manage performance of IT?
executives, business process owners, • How can I best exploit new technology for new
business managers, risk managers, security strategic opportunities?
managers, service managers, HR managers, • How do I know whether I’m compliant with all
internal audit, privacy officers, IT users, applicable regulations?
IT managers, etc. • How do I best build and structure my IT
department?
• What are (control) requirements for Information?
• Did I address all IT‐related risks?
• Am I running an efficient and resilient IT operation?
• How do I control cost of IT? How do I use IT
resources in the most effective and efficient
manner? What are the most effective and efficient
sourcing options?
• Do I have enough people for IT? How do I develop
and maintain their skills, and how do I manage their
performance?
• How do I get assurance over IT?
• Is the information I am processing well secured?
• How do I improve business agility through a more
flexible IT environment?
• Is it clear what IT is doing?
• How often do IT projects fail to deliver what
they promised?
• How critical is IT to sustaining the enterprise?
External stakeholders External stakeholder needs
Business partners, suppliers, shareholders, • How do I know my business partner’s operations
regulators/government, external users, are secure and reliable?
customers, standardization enterprises, • How do I know the enterprise is compliant with
external auditors, consultants, etc. applicable rules and regulations?
• How do I know the enterprise is maintaining an
effective system of internal control?

2.4 Principle 4: Enabling a Holistic Approach

The purpose of an enabler is to implement an effective governance and management

system for the enterprise’s IT. An enabler is broadly defined as anything that
can assist in achieving the governance objectives of the enterprise. This includes
resources, such as funding, applications, infrastructure, information, and people.
Enablers interact in a systemic way, meaning that a governance and management
system cannot succeed unless all enablers are dealt with and the major interactions
are understood. The framework lists seven categories of enablers:

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16 cobit® 5 – a management guide

• Principles, policies, and frameworks

• Processes
• Organizational structures
• Culture, ethics, and behavior
• Information
• Services, infrastructure and applications
• People, skills, and competencies

Enablers
These are the tangible and intangible elements that make something work – in this
case, governance, and management of the enterprise over IT. Enablers are driven
by the goals cascade described later in this book: the higher-level IT‐related goals
define what the different enablers should achieve.

Systemic governance
When dealing with governance of enterprise IT, good decisions, and enterprise
should take into account the systemic nature of governance arrangements. All
interrelated enablers are analyzed and addressed to meet the needs of the various
stakeholders.

Figure 2.6 shows the seven categories of enablers and the fact that they are all
interconnected. This interconnection represents the mind-set an enterprise
should adopt for enterprise governance, which includes governance of enterprise
IT. In order to achieve its main objective an enterprise must always consider an
interconnected set of enablers. An enabler:
• Needs the input of other enablers to be fully effective (e.g., processes need
information, organizational structures need people, people need skills and
behavior, and vice versa)
• Delivers output to the benefit of other enablers, e.g., processes deliver
information, skills, and behavior make processes efficient

The generic enabler model

All enablers have certain common elements. Because a governance system is a
complex interaction amongst all enablers, having a simple, structured, and uniform
enabler model can facilitate both adoption and successful execution. This model is
a key component of the framework as it represents the basic structure for all seven
categories of enablers. The generic enabler model identifies a number of common
components:
• Stakeholders

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cobit® 5 – a management guide 17

3. Organisational 4. Culture, Ethics

2. Processes
Structures and Behaviour

1. Principles, Policies and Frameworks

6. Services, 7. People,
5. Information Infrastructure Skills and
and Applications Competencies

Resources

Figure 2.6 Enablers: systemic model with interacting enablers

Source: Figure 12: COBIT 5 Enterprise Enablers in COBIT 5: A Business Framework for the Governance and
Management of Enterprise IT, 2012 © ISACA.

Stakeholders Goals Life Cycle Good Practices

Enabler Dimension

• Internal • Intrinsic Quality • Plan • Practices

Stakeholders • Contextual Quality • Design • Work Products
• External (Relevance, • Build/Acquire/ (Inputs/Outputs)
Stakeholders Effectiveness) Create/Implement
• Accessibility and • Use/Operate
Security • Evaluate/Monitor
• Update/Dispose
Enabler Performance

Are Stakeholders Are Enabler Is Life Cycle Are Good Practices

Management

Needs Addressed? Goals Achieved? Managed? Applied?

Metrics for Achievement of Goals Metrics for Application of Practice

(Lag Indicators) (Lead Indicators)

Figure 2.7 Generic enabler model

Source: Figure 13: COBIT 5 Enablers: Generic, COBIT 5: A Business Framework for the Governance and
Management of Enterprise IT, 2012 © ISACA.

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18 cobit® 5 – a management guide

• Goals and metrics

• Life cycle
• Good practice
• Attributes

Figure 2.7 shows the overall generic structure of the COBIT 5 enablers.

The capability attribute for enablers

The model makes a distinction between:
• The basic capability level (Level 1‐Performed), which indicates that an enabler
is generally achieving its stated goals, and that enabler good practices are to a
large extent applied. These two criteria – achieving goals and applying good
practice – are the attribute of the performed level
• More advanced capability levels, indicating increasing levels of sophistication in
the enabler, providing greater efficiency, formalization, control, optimization etc.
These advanced capability levels are expressed using a scale from 2 to 518, and
for each of these levels a number of attributes will need to be achieved. These
attributes are different between enablers and need to be defined per enabler.

COBIT 5 Generic Enabler Capability Model

Capability Level Characteristics
Generic Enabler Capability Level/Name Generic Enabler Capability Attributes

0 Incomplete

Basic Capability Level

Basic Capability Level:
 Enabler Goals are
1 Performed Enabler Attribute for Capability
achieved
Level 1 – Performance
 Enabler best
practice is applied

Enabler Specific Attribute(s) for

Advanced Capability Levels 2 Managed
Capability Level 2

Advanced Capability Enabler Specific Attribute(s) for

3 Established
Levels: higher levels Capability Level 3
achieved in:
 efficiency
Enabler Specific Attribute(s) for
 formalisation 4 Predictable
Capability Level 4
 optimisation
 control
Enabler Specific Attribute(s) for
5 Optimising
Capability Level 5

Figure 2.8 Generic enabler capability model

18 This scale, with the names of the different levels, is taken from ISO/IEC 15504

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cobit® 5 – a management guide 19

The generic capability attribute model is based on the principles of ISO/IEC

15504, which is a process capability assessment model, see figure 2.8.

2.5 Principle 5: Separating Governance from

Management

Governance and management are very different types of activities that require
different organizational structures, and serve different purposes. In every enterprise,
multiple stakeholders have different and sometimes conflicting perceptions of
benefits, risk, and resources. This creates a need for clarity on what should be done
and how it should be done to meet the stakeholder objectives.

In summary, the disciplines of governance and management include different

types of activities, require different organizational structures, and serve different
purposes.

The framework makes a clear distinction between governance and management.

As this distinction is fundamental to the framework, the following sections explain
the framework’s view of governance and management.

Governance system
A governance system refers to all the methods and techniques that enable multiple
stakeholders in an enterprise to have an organized say in evaluating conditions and
options; setting direction; and monitoring compliance, performance, and progress
against plans, to satisfy specific enterprise objectives. Methods and techniques
include frameworks, principles, policies, sponsorship, structures and decision
tools, roles and responsibilities, processes and practices, to set direction and
monitor compliance and performance aligned with the overall objectives. In most
enterprises, this is the responsibility of the board of directors under the leadership
of the chief executive officer (CEO) and chairperson.

Management
Management entails the considered use of means (resources, people, processes,
practices, etc.) to achieve an identified end. It is through management that the
governance body achieves a result or objective. Management is responsible for the
execution of the direction set by the guiding body or unit. Management is about
planning, building, organizing and controlling operational activities to align with
the direction set by the governance body.

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20 cobit® 5 – a management guide

Interactions between governance and management

The above definitions of governance and management make it clear they are different
types of activities, with different responsibilities. Given the role of governance
which is to evaluate, direct, and monitor, a set of interactions is required between
governance and management to result in an efficient and effective governance
system. These interactions, using the enabler structure, include those shown in
Table 2.2.

Table 2.2 Governance and management interactions

Enabler Governance‐Management Interaction

Process In the illustrative COBIT 5 process model (COBIT 5: Enabling Processes),
a distinction is made between governance and management processes,
including specific sets of practices and activities for each. The process
model also includes RACI charts, describing the responsibilities of different
organisational structures and roles within the enterprise.
Information The process model describes inputs to and outputs from the different process
practices to other processes, including information exchanged between
governance and management processes. Information used for evaluating,
directing, and monitoring enterprise IT is exchanged between governance and
management as described in the process model inputs and outputs.
Organizational A number of organisational structures are defined in each enterprise;
structures structures can sit in the governance space or the management space,
depending on their composition and scope of decisions. Because governance
is about setting the direction, interaction takes place between the decisions
taken by the governance structures, e.g.: deciding about the investment
portfolio and setting risk appetite and the decisions and operations
implementing the former.
Principles, policies Principles, policies and frameworks are the vehicle by which governance
and framework decisions are institutionalised within the enterprise, and for that reason are an
interaction between governance decisions (direction setting) and management
(execution of decisions).
Culture, ethics & Behavior is also a key enabler of good governance and management of the
behavior enterprise. It is set at the top – leading by example – and is therefore an
important interaction between governance and management.
People, skills, & Governance and management activities require different skill sets, but an
competencies essential skill for both governance body members and management is to
understand both tasks and how they are different.
Services, Services are required, supported by applications and infrastructure to provide
infrastructure and the governance body with adequate information and to support the governance
applications activities of evaluating, setting direction, and monitoring.

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 CHAPTER 3

The goals cascade

Introduction

The goals cascade translates stakeholder needs into governance objective and
enterprise goals, and then further down to IT-related goals, processes, and process
goals. This cascade is shown in Figure 3.1.

The cascade applies to every enterprise – for-profit, non-profit, government

departments and agencies, etc. The goals cascade is the mechanism that translates
stakeholder concerns into tangible goals that can be managed in a more consistent
manner. This cascade can be described systematically as follows.

Step #1 Stakeholder needs to governance objectives

Stakeholder needs, which are influenced by a number of drivers, can be
related to one or more of the governance objectives of benefits delivery,
risk balancing, and cost optimization.

Step #2 Governance objectives to enterprise goals

Overall governance objectives for the enterprise translate into, and map
onto a set of generic enterprise goals; these enterprise goals have been
developed using the Balanced Scorecard (BSC)19 dimensions and they
represent a list of commonly used goals an enterprise has defined for

19 Kaplan, Robert S.; David P. Norton; The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into
Action; Harvard University Press, USA, 1996

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22 cobit® 5 – a management guide

Stakeholder Drivers
(Environment, Technology Evolution, ...)

Influence

Stakeholder Needs

Benefits Risk Resource

Realisation Optimisation Optimisation

Cascade to Appendix D

Enterprise Goals Figure 5

Cascade to Appendix B

IT-related Goals Figure 6

Cascade to Appendix C

Enabler Goals

Figure 3.1 Goals cascade overview

Source: Figure 4: COBIT 5 Goals Cascade Overview, COBIT 5: A Business Framework for the Governance and
Management of Enterprise IT, 2012 © ISACA.

itself. Although this list is not exhaustive, most enterprise-specific goals

can be easily mapped onto one or more of the generic enterprise goals.
The framework defines 17 generic goals (as shown in Table 3.1), which list
the enterprise goals, and how they relate to the governance objectives.

The framework uses two types of relationships: primary and secondary.

A relationship deemed primary is a strong and direct one. A relationship
deemed secondary is not as strong and may be indirect. In the mapping
table below, a “P” stands for primary relationship, and an “S” for
secondary relationship.

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cobit® 5 – a management guide 23

Table 3.1 Enterprise goals mapped to governance objectives

Source Figure 22: COBIT 5, A Business Framework for the Governance and Management of Enterprise IT, 2012
© ISACA.

Governance objectives
BSC Enterprise goals Benefits Risk Resource
Dimension realization management optimization
Financial 1. Stakeholder value of business P
investments
2. Portfolio of competitive products, P P S
and services
3. Managed business risks P S
(safeguarding of assets)
4. Compliance with external laws, P
and regulations
5. Financial transparency P S S
Customer 6. Customer-oriented service P S
culture
7. Business service continuity and P
availability
8. Agile responses to a changing P S
business environment
9. Information-based strategic P P P
decision making
10. Optimization of service delivery P P
costs
Internal 11. Optimization of business process P P
functionality
12. Optimization of business process P P
costs
13. Managed business change P P S
programs
14. Operational, and staff P P
productivity
15. Compliance with internal policies P
Learning and 16. Skilled, and motivated people S P P
growth 17. Product and business innovation P
culture

Step #3 Enterprise goals to IT-related goals

Realizing enterprise goals requires a number of IT-related outcomes; 2
these IT-related outcomes are represented by the IT-related goals, which
are also a set of generic goals (related to IT) for business departments, and
for IT. The framework defines 17 IT-related goals as listed in Table 3.2.

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24 cobit® 5 – a management guide

Table 3.2 IT-related goals

Source Figure 22: COBIT 5, A Business Framework for the Governance and Management of Enterprise IT, 2012
© ISACA.

IT-related goals
Financial 1. Alignment of it, and business strategy
2. IT compliance, and support for business compliance with external
laws, and regulations
3. Commitment of executive management for making it-related decisions
4. Managed it-related business risks
5. Realized benefits from it-enabled investments, and services portfolio
6. Transparency of IT costs, benefits, and risks
Customer 7. Delivery of IT services in line with business requirements
8. Adequate usage of applications, information, and technology solutions
Internal 9. IT agility
10. Security of information, and processing infrastructure, and
applications
11. Optimization of IT assets, resources, and capabilities
12. Enablement and support of business processes by integrating
applications, and technology into business processes
13. Delivery of programs on time, on budget, and meeting requirements,
and quality standards
14. Availability of reliable and useful information
15. IT compliance with internal policies
Learning and growth 16. Competent and motivated IT personnel
17. Knowledge, expertise, and initiatives for business innovation

Step #4 IT-related goals to enabler goals

IT-related goals require the successful application and use of a number
of enablers to be achieved. Enablers include processes, organizational
structures, and information. For each enabler there is a set of goals
defined in support of the IT-related goals.

3.1 Using the goals cascade

Benefits of the goals cascade

The goals cascade is important because it allows the definition of priorities for
implementation, improvement, and assurance of the enterprise’s governance of IT,
based on (strategic) objectives of the enterprise20. In practice, the goals cascade:

20 Source: COBIT 5 Enabling Processes, page 15

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cobit® 5 – a management guide 25

• Defines relevant, and tangible goals, and objectives at various levels of

responsibility
• Filters the knowledge base of the framework based on enterprise goals, to extract
relevant guidance for inclusion in specific implementation, improvement, or
assurance projects
• Clearly identifies, and communicates how (sometimes very operational)
enablers are important to achieve enterprise goals

The goals cascade is based on research performed by the University of Antwerp

Management School (UAMS) IT Alignment, and Governance Institute in Belgium. 20

Using the goals cascade carefully 2122

The goals cascade provides mapping tables between enterprise goals and IT-related
goals and between IT-related goals and the framework processes; but it does not
contain the ultimate and most complete answer. Users of the framework should
not attempt to use it in a purely literal way, but rather as a guideline. There are
various reasons for this, including:
• Enterprises have different priorities and goals that usually change over time
• No distinction is made allowing for the enterprise size and industry
• They represent a sort of common denominator of how, in general, the different
levels of goals are inter-related
• Because they use two levels of importance or relevancy, the mapping indicators
seem to suggest these are “discrete” levels. In reality, the mapping is closer to
a continuum of various degrees of relevancy

When using the goals cascade an enterprise should first customize the mapping,
taking into account its specific situation:
• Strategic priorities, translated into a specific “weight” or importance for each
of the enterprise goals
• A validation of the mappings of the goals cascade, taking into account the
specific environment, industry, etc.

21 Source: COBIT 5 Enabling Processes, page 15

22 IT-related outcomes are obviously not the only intermediate benefit required to achieve
enterprise goals. All other functional areas in an enterprise, such as fi nance, and marketing,
also contribute to the achievement of enterprise goals, but within the context of COBIT 5
only IT-related activities and goals are considered.

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26 cobit® 5 – a management guide

Table 3.3 Enterprise goal sample metrics

Source Figure 22: COBIT 5, A Business Framework for the Governance and Management of Enterprise IT, 2012
© ISACA.

BSC Enterprise goals Metrics

Dimensions
Financial 1. Compliance with - Cost of regulatory non-compliance, including settlements,
external laws, and fines
and regulations - Number of regulatory non-compliance issues causing public
comment or negative publicity
- Number of regulatory non-compliance issues relating to
contractual agreements with business partners
2. Managed - Percent of critical business objectives, and services covered
business risks by risk assessment
(safeguarding of - Ratio of significant incidents that were not identified in risk
assets) assessments vs. total incidents
- Update frequency of risk profile
3. Portfolio of - Percent of products, and services that meet or exceed
competitive targets in revenues, and/or market share
products, and - Ratio of products, and services per lifecycle phase
services - Percent of products, and services that meet or exceed
customer satisfaction targets
- Percent of products, and services that provide competitive
advantage
4. Stakeholder - Percent of investments where value delivered meets
value of business stakeholder expectations
investments - Percent of products, and services where expected benefits
realized
- Percent of investments where claimed benefits are met or
exceeded
5. Financial - Percent of investment business cases with clearly defined,
transparency and approved expected costs, and benefits
- Percent of products, and services with defined, and
approved operational costs, and expected benefits
- Satisfaction survey of key stakeholders regarding the
transparency, understanding, and accuracy of enterprise
financial information
- Percent of service cost that can be allocated to users
Customer 6. Customer- - Number of customer service disruptions due to it service-
oriented service related incidents (reliability)
culture - Percent of business stakeholders satisfied that customer
service delivery meets agreed-upon levels
- Number of customer complaints
- Trend of customer satisfaction survey results
7. Business service - Number of customer service interruptions causing
continuity and significant incidents
availability - Business cost of incidents
- Number of business processing hours lost due to unplanned
service interruptions
- Percent of complaints as a function of committed service
availability targets
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cobit® 5 – a management guide 27

BSC Enterprise goals Metrics

Dimensions
8. Agile responses - Level of board satisfaction with enterprise responsiveness
to a changing to new requirements
business - Number of critical products, and services supported by
environment up-to-date business processes
- Average time to turn strategic enterprise objectives into an
agreed and approved initiative
9. Information- - Degree of board, and executive management satisfaction
based strategic with decision making
decision making - Number of incidents caused by incorrect business decisions
based on inaccurate information
- Time to provide supporting information to enable effective
business decisions
10. Optimization of - Frequency of service delivery cost optimization assessments
service delivery - Trend of cost assessment vs. service level results
costs - Satisfaction levels of board and executive management with
service delivery costs internal
Internal 11. Optimization of - Frequency of business process capability maturity
business process assessments
functionality - Trend of assessment results
- Satisfaction levels of board, and executives with business
process capabilities
12. Optimization of - Frequency of business process cost optimization
business process assessments
costs - Trend of cost assessment vs. service level results
- Satisfaction levels of board and executive management with
business processing costs
13. Managed - Number of programs on time, and within budget
business change - Percent of stakeholders satisfied with program delivery
programs - Level of awareness of business change induced by
it-enabled business initiatives
14. Operational and - Number of programs/projects on time, and within budget
staff productivity - Cost and staffing levels compared to benchmarks
15. Compliance with - Number of incidents related to non-compliance to policy
internal policies - Percent of stakeholders who understand policies
- Percent of policies supported by effective standards, and
working practices
- Learning and growth
Learning 16. Skilled, and - Level of stakeholder satisfaction with staff expertise,
and growth motivated people and skills
- Percent of staff whose skills are insufficient for the
competency required for their role
- Percent of satisfied staff
17. Product and - Level of awareness, and understanding of business
business innovation opportunities
innovation - Stakeholder satisfaction with levels of product, and
culture innovation expertise, and ideas
- Number of approved product, and service initiatives
resulting from innovative ideas

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28 cobit® 5 – a management guide

Metrics
The following section contains the enterprise goals, and IT-related goals, with sample
metrics that can be used to measure the achievement of each goal. These metrics are
samples, and every enterprise should carefully review the list, decide on relevant and
achievable metrics for its own environment, and design its own scorecard system.

3.2 Enterprise goal metrics

Table 3.3 contains all enterprise goals as identified in the framework publication,
with sample metrics for each.

3.3 IT-related goal metrics

Table 3.4 contains all IT-related goals as defined in the goals cascade, and includes
sample metrics for each goal.

Table 3.4 IT-related goal sample metrics

Source: EDM01 Ensure Governance Framework Setting and Maintenance, EDM02 Ensure Benefits Delivery [– etc.],
COBIT 5: Enabling Processes, 2012 © ISACA.

BSC Enterprise goals Metrics

Dimensions
Financial 1. Alignment of IT, - Percent of enterprise strategic goals, and requirements
and business supported by IT strategic goals
strategy - Stakeholder satisfaction with scope of the planned
portfolio of programs, and services
- Percent of IT value drivers mapped to business value
drivers
2. IT compliance, - Cost of IT non-compliance, including settlements, and fines
and support - Number of IT-related non-compliance issues reported to
for business the board or causing public comment or embarrassment
compliance with - Number of non-compliance issues relating to contractual
external laws, agreements with IT service providers
and regulations - Coverage of compliance assessments
3. Commitment - Percent of executive management roles with clearly
of executive defined accountabilities for IT decisions
management for - Number of times IT is on the board agenda in a proactive
making IT-related manner
decisions - Frequency of IT strategy (executive) committee meetings
- Rate of execution of executive IT-related decisions

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cobit® 5 – a management guide 29

BSC Enterprise goals Metrics

Dimensions
4. Managed IT- - Percent of critical business processes, IT services, and IT-
related business enabled business programs covered by risk assessment
risks - Number of significant IT-related incidents that were not
identified in risk assessment
- Percent of enterprise risk assessments including IT-related
risks
- Update frequency of risk profile
5. Realized benefits - Percent of IT-enabled investments where benefit
from IT-enabled realization monitored through full economic life cycle
investments, and - Percent of IT services where expected benefits realized
services portfolio - Percent of IT-enabled investments where claimed benefits
met or exceeded
Customer 6. Transparency of - Percent of investment business cases with clearly defined,
IT costs, benefits, and approved expected IT-related costs, and benefits
and risk - Percent of IT services with clearly defined, and approved
operational costs, and expected benefits
- Satisfaction survey of key stakeholders regarding the
transparency, understanding, and accuracy of IT financial
information
7. Delivery of IT - Number of business disruptions due to IT service incidents
services in line - Percent of business stakeholders satisfied that IT service
with business delivery meets agreed-upon service levels
requirements - Percent of users satisfied with quality of IT service delivery
- Adequate usage of applications, information, and
technology solutions
8. Percent of - Level of business user understanding of how technology
business process solutions support their processes
owners satisfied - Satisfaction level of business users with training, and user
with supporting manuals
IT products, and
services
9. IT agility - Level of satisfaction of business executives with IT’s
responsiveness to new requirements
- Number of critical business processes supported by up-to-
date infrastructure, and applications
- Average time to turn strategic IT objectives into an agreed
and approved initiative
10. Security of - Number of security incidents causing business disruption
information, or public embarrassment
and processing - Number of IT services with outstanding security
infrastructure, requirements
and applications - Time to grant, change, and remove access privileges,
compared to agreed service levels
- Frequency of security assessment against latest standards,
and guidelines

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30 cobit® 5 – a management guide

BSC Enterprise goals Metrics

Dimensions
Internal 11. Optimization - Frequency of capability maturity, and cost optimization
of IT assets, assessments
resources, and - Trend of assessment results
capabilities - Satisfaction levels of business and IT executives with IT-
related costs, and capabilities
12. Enablement, - Number of business processing incidents caused by
and support technology integration errors
of business - Number of business process changes that need to be
processes by delayed or reworked because of technology integration
integrating issues
applications, - Number of IT-enabled business programs delayed or
and technology incurring additional cost due to technology integration
into business issues
processes - Number of applications or critical infrastructures operating
in silos, and not integrated
13. Delivery of - Number of programs/projects on time, and within budget
programs on - Percent of stakeholders satisfied with program/project
time, on budget, quality
and meeting - Number of programs needing significant rework due to
requirements, and quality defects
quality standards - Cost of application maintenance vs. overall IT cost
14. Availability of - Level of business user satisfaction with quality of
reliable and management information
useful information - Number of business process incidents caused by non-
availability of information
- Ratio and extent of erroneous business decisions where
erroneous or unavailable information was key factor
15. IT compliance - Number of incidents related to non-compliance to policy
with internal - Percent of stakeholders who understand policies
policies - Percent of policies supported by effective standards, and
working practices
- Frequency of policies review, and update
- Learning and Growth
Learning 16. Competent and - Percent of staff whose IT-related skills are sufficient for
and growth motivated IT the competency required for their role
personnel - Percent of staff satisfied with their IT-related roles
- Number of learning/training hours per staff
17. Knowledge, - Level of business executive awareness, and understanding
expertise, of IT innovation possibilities
and initiatives - Stakeholder satisfaction with levels of IT innovation
for business expertise, and ideas
innovation - Number of approved initiatives resulting from innovative
IT ideas

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cobit® 5 – a management guide 31

3.4 Drivers and benefits

Drivers
The major drivers for the development of the framework include:
• A need to link together and reinforce all major ISACA research, frameworks
and guidance, with a primary focus on COBIT, Val IT and Risk IT, but also
considering, amongst others, BMIS, ITAF, Board Briefing on IT Governance,
and Taking Governance Forward
• A need to connect to, and (where relevant) align with, other major frameworks
and standards in the marketplace, such as ITIL®, The Open Group Architecture
Forum (TOGAF®), Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®),
PRINCE2® and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO®)
standards. This will help stakeholders understand how various frameworks,
best practices and standards are positioned relative to each other and how they
can be used together and could augment each other.
• A need to provide further guidance in areas with high interest, such as
enterprise architecture, asset and service management, and the management
of IT innovation and emerging technologies
• A recognition that there are many current and potential users who wish to
focus on specific topics, who find it difficult to navigate current material and
identify content that will satisfy their requirements. There is also a general
need to improve ease of use and ease of navigation and to bring consistency in
concepts, terminology, and the level of detail provided by ISACA.
• A need to ensure that the scope covers the full end‐to‐end business and IT
functional responsibilities, and a need to cover all aspects that lead to effective
governance and management of enterprise IT, such as organizational structures,
policies, culture, etc., over and above processes. This is especially important
given the increasing pervasiveness of IT and it helps increase transparency.
• A need to for the enterprise to achieve increased:
{ Value creation through enterprise IT
{ Business user satisfaction with IT engagement and services
{ Compliance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies

Benefits
COBIT 5 brings a substantial number of benefits to enterprises, improving on
guidance previously available from ISACA. Table 3.5 summarizes the business
benefits, the impacts that will bring about the benefits, and the fundamental
capabilities delivering the benefits, and points to more information in the
framework.

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 32

Table 3.5 Benefits

Source COBIT 5 Business Framework COBIT 5: Enabling Processes, 2012 © ISACA.

Benefits Impacts that will bring about New capabilities delivering More information on the changes
these benefits this benefit
Enterprise wide benefits: Key business impacts of COBIT 5 COBIT 5 provides new capabilities Section 3 provides more information on
• Increased value include: for effective organizational stakeholders, their typical needs and how
creation through • Increased business focus on governance and management of IT: these can be linked to practical enabler goals
enterprise IT organizational governance and • The starting point of governance in COBIT 5. This is described by means of the
• Increased business management of IT. This has and management activities is COBIIT 5 goals cascade.
user satisfaction with become a part of the enterprise’s the stakeholder needs related to All good-practice advice contained in COBIT 5 is
IT engagement and good practices enterprise IT consolidated into a knowledge base, combining
services. IT seen as a • Increased transparency • Creates a more holistic, the strengths and experiences of the guidance,
fundamental enabler in decision making for the integrated, and complete view research, and frameworks of COBIT, Val IT, Risk
• Increased compliance organizational governance of IT of organizational governance IT, BMIS, ITAF, and the Board Briefing.
with relevant laws, and management of IT that: COBIT 5 is relevant to and aligned with the most
regulations and policies { Is consistent important standards and frameworks, e.g., ISO/
IT function has become Key IT impacts of COBIT 5 include: { Provides an end‐to‐end view IEC 38500 and other recent global governmental
more business-focused • Increased agility of IT to respond on all IT‐related matters and market‐driven enterprise and governance of
to business needs { Provides a systemic view enterprise IT initiatives.
• Increased alignment of IT tasks/ • Creates a common language In addition, the compliance requirement is
activities with business need between IT and business for the covered throughout COBIT 5, from being
• Increased optimization of IT organizational governance and recognized as one of the enterprise goals to
assets and resources management of IT being embedded in processes and practices and
• Optimized IT‐related business • Is consistent with generally other enablers.
risk accepted corporate governance In COBIT 5: Process Reference Guide,

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• Optimized cost performance standards, and thus helps to compliance is embedded in the processes and
of IT meet regulatory requirements practices.
• Creates a clear distinction Introduces consistency, linkages and views
between governance and with other leading frameworks and standards,

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management of organizational e.g., generally accepted corporate governance,
governance of IT and standards, regulatory and compliance
requirements.
cobit® 5 – a management guide
 Benefits Impacts that will bring about New capabilities delivering More information on the changes
these benefits this benefit
• Increases the content (depth Introduces further guidance in high‐interest
and breadth) and connection areas for organizational governance and
to relevant contemporary management of IT, e.g., enterprise architecture,
governance developments emerging technologies (e.g., cloud), and
• Creates an integrator framework innovation.
and structure for enablers In Section 4 and Appendix H, COBIT 5 introduces
(including processes) that are a set of principles and enablers for the
uniform across the enterprise organizational governance and management
for both IT and business to use of IT.
cobit® 5 – a management guide

• COBIT 5 includes an information Enablers include processes; information; people

model (IM). and skills; organizational structures; culture,
• Information is a crucial enabler ethics and behavior; principles; and policies.
and fundamental resource The simple models included with COBIT for
for the whole enterprise. governance enablers (policies, structures,
Information is stored and processes, etc.) are not specific for IT. They can
processed by IT, but is be used to govern and manage business areas
generated, used and creates as well, thus providing a uniform way of dealing
value by its business use. By with all processes in the enterprise.
providing a unique model – the COBIT 5 has integrated – in its enabler model –
IM – COBIT 5 connects the all IT-related activities an enterprise should
business areas with IT in the undertake, including core IT processes and
most efficient and effective activities, but also all activities required from
way. business stakeholders. Section 5 describes the
overall enabler model.

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33
34 cobit® 5 – a management guide

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