ISACA Releases “Configuration Management: Using COBIT 5” to Help Businesses Manage Change

SOURCE: ISACA

Rolling Meadows, IL, USA (16 September 2013)—Change can cause business disruptions, inefficiencies and financial losses. Proper configuration management (CM) reduces the risk of malfunctions and increases efficiency during times of IT-related change. To help enterprises implement effective CM, global IT association ISACA has released a new guide, Configuration Management:  Using COBIT 5.

CM is often interpreted differently within the same enterprise, even though it provides benefits to diverse areas. Project management, help desk and change management professionals use it to gauge the impact of their activities on the environment; audit and assurance professionals use CM to guide them when planning audits; IT service managers use CM to estimate the impact that a change will have on business users; and IT finance relies on CM for cost accounting and recovery.

Configuration Management:  Using COBIT 5 helps all stakeholders involved in CM interact as a cohesive group. It provides guidance based on the internationally accepted COBIT 5 business framework for governance over IT, and helps create a uniform view of CM across an enterprise.

Configuration Management:  Using COBIT 5 provides practical action items to manage CM successfully, maximize IT investment and achieve enterprise objectives. It outlines:

• * The challenges of configuration management
• * Why IT configuration management is not solely IT’s responsibility by clarifying the responsibilities of stakeholders within the enterprise
• * How to apply COBIT 5 practices to manage configuration
• * How to conduct a COBIT 5 Process Capability Assessment to determine the level of capability of an existing CM process

“Applying the COBIT 5 principles and enablers effectively broadens the focus of configuration management,” said Jimmy Heschl, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, head of process analytics and control for bwin.party and a developer of Configuration Management: Using COBIT 5. “This guidance will help professionals solve the problems behind configuration management and achieve the goals of reducing risk, increasing value and optimizing the use of resources.”

Configuration Management:  Using COBIT 5 is available as a free download to ISACA members and for purchase to nonmembers at www.isaca.org/configuration-management. The COBIT 5 framework publication is available as a free download in several languages at www.isaca.org/cobit. 

About ISACA

With more than 110,000 constituents in 180 countries, ISACA^® (www.isaca.org) helps business and IT leaders maximize value and manage risk related to information and technology. Founded in 1969, the nonprofit, independent ISACA is an advocate for professionals involved in information security, assurance, risk management and governance. These professionals rely on ISACA as the trusted source for information and technology knowledge, community, standards and certification. The association, which has 200 chapters worldwide, advances and validates business-critical skills and knowledge through the globally respected Certified Information Systems Auditor^® (CISA^®), Certified Information Security Manager^® (CISM^®), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT^® (CGEIT^®) and Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control^™ (CRISC^™) credentials. ISACA also developed and continually updates COBIT^®, a business framework that helps enterprises in all industries and geographies govern and manage their information and technology.