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COBIT 4.1 released

A powerful and user-friendly IT governance framework

The IT Governance Institute (ITGI) has released an incremental update 4.1 of the Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) IT governance framework.

The release of COBIT 4.1 is good news for IT professionals, according to Johan Botha, Managing Director of Analytix.

"COBIT has become an important tool for IT management in their quest to improve the alignment of IT with the business. The enhancements introduced with COBIT 4.1, as well as the enhancements to the supporting toolset, provide IT managers and IT process owners with powerful and pragmatic 'best practice' advice on how to establish IT governance in their organisations. COBIT enables IT management to adopt a systematic approach to add value to the business, and to manage IT's risk, resources and performance."

COBIT 4.1 has transitioned from an IT tool to an IT governance framework. COBIT was originally released by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) in 1996 as an IT audit and control framework and was initially used mainly by the assurance community. With the addition of management guidelines in 2000, COBIT 3.0 was increasingly used as a framework for IT governance. The release of COBIT 4.0 in 2005 represented a next step in the evolutionary development of the framework, from an IT control and management framework, to a fully blown IT governance framework.

"The enhancements to COBIT 4.1 should be welcomed as a fine-tuning of the COBIT framework, contributing to making the understanding of 'vague' concepts such as IT alignment, and value-add easier to understand and implement. The changes introduced with COBIT 4.1 mainly include streamlined control objectives, streamlined application controls, improved process controls, and an enhanced explanation of performance measurement," according to Botha.

The updates to the COBIT Toolset include the release of an IT Governance Implementation Guide, IT Assurance Guide, and COBIT Control practices. "These publications are complementary to the COBIT 4.1 framework, and provide valuable insight to IT management and audit professionals on how to implement IT governance, how to test the adequacy of IT control, as well as how to implement the IT controls," says Botha.

Analytix has reworked its COBIT training course to include the updated features of the latest version of COBIT. Our practical two-day hands-on COBIT 4.1 training workshop is designed for IT professionals, IT auditors and management that deal with the complexities of IT management and control functions on a daily basis.

The objective is to provide attendees with the necessary perspective, knowledge and skills to understand the risks and benefits of IT. In addition, delegates will learn how to use COBIT 4.1 in understanding the requirements needed to design and implement appropriate IT controls, ie policies, procedures, practices, and the allocation of responsibility and accountability that are required to establish the right levels of IT governance for their organisations.

"Our next COBIT course is scheduled for 28 and 29 June 2007. Booking is essential."

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Analytix

Analytix is a South African provider of specialist training and consultancy services within the governance, risk management and compliance arena. Analytix assists organisations with finding solutions to management challenges such as corporate and IT governance, information security, risk management, business continuity management, IT service management and performance management.

Our services are underpinned by internationally accepted IT management practices based on a range of de facto industry frameworks and standards including COSO, COBIT, ISO 17799, ISO 27001, BS 25999, ISO 20000, ITIL and the Balanced Scorecard.

Since 2001, Analytix has been involved with education and assistance to over 260 leading African organisations with the practical implementation of IT governance and related approaches and techniques such as COBIT and ISO 17799. (www.analytix.co.za)

COBIT

COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and related Technology), issued by ITGI, is internationally accepted as good practice for control over information, IT and related risks. COBIT is used to implement governance over IT and improve IT controls. It contains control objectives, audit guidelines, performance and outcome metrics, critical success factors and maturity models. The update COBIT 4.1 framework is available as a free download from the ISACA Web site (www.isaca.org/cobit).

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