Advantages Of Using Cobit

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) is a framework created by ISACA for information technology (IT) management and IT governance. It is a supporting toolset that allows managers to bridge the gap between control requirements, technical issues and business risks.

The Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) is a set of best practices (framework) for information technology (IT) management, created managers, auditors, and IT users with a set of generally accepted measures, indicators, processes and best practices, to assist them in maximizing the benefits derived through the use of information technology, and developing appropriate IT governance and control in a company.

The COBIT components include:

Framework: Organize IT governance objectives and good practices by IT domains and processes, and links them to business requirements

Process descriptions: A reference process model and common language for everyone in an organization. The processes map to responsibility areas of plan, build, run and monitor.

Control objectives: Provide a complete set of high-level requirements to be considered by management for effective control of each IT process.

Management guidelines: Help assign responsibility, agree on objectives, measure performance, and illustrate interrelationship with other processes

Maturity models: Assess maturity and capability per process and helps to address gaps.

Advantages of using COBIT

The Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) is a good framework strategy to help an organization maintain standards and develop a system of IT governance. COBIT is a common methodology used by many companies in order to develop a systematic means to meet compliance laws.

Why COBIT?

COBIT consists of 34 IT processes and is a way for an organization to use in its attempts to "balance risk and control in a cost-effective manner" (Pederiva, 2003). With newer regulations such as SOX, HIPAA and other government imposed laws, compliance is a necessary item for organizations to think about, because the costs associated with non-compliance can come with a high price tag.

Task 2

Techniques and Tools

SWOT

Porter's 5 Forces

Return on Investment (ROI)

Balanced Scorecard

SWOT

Strengths: characteristics of the business or project that give it an advantage over others

Weaknesses: are characteristics that place the team at a disadvantage relative to others

Opportunities: elements that the project could exploit to its advantage

Threats: elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or project

Porter's 5 Forces

Porter five forces analysis is a framework for industry analysis and business strategy development. It draws upon industrial organization (IO) economics to derive five forces that determine the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of a market. Attractiveness in this context refers to the overall industry profitability. An "unattractive" industry is one in which the combination of these five forces acts to drive down overall profitability. A very unattractive industry would be one approaching "pure competition", in which available profits for all firms are driven to normal profit.

Return On Investment (ROI)

Return on investment (ROI) is the concept of an investment of some resource yielding a benefit to the investor. As a performance measure, it is used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. In purely economic terms, it is one way of considering profits in relation to capital invested.

Balanced Scorecard

The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a strategy performance management tool - a semi-standard structured report, supported by design methods and automation tools, that can be used by managers to keep track of the execution of activities by the staff within their control and to monitor the consequences arising from these actions.

SWOT

SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. By definition, Strengths (S) and Weaknesses (W) are considered to be internal factors over which you have some measure of control. Also, by definition, Opportunities (O) and Threats (T) are considered to be external factors over which you have essentially no control.

Advantages of SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis is instrumental in strategy formulation and selection. It is a strong tool, but it involves a great subjective element. It is best when used as a guide, and not as a prescription. Successful businesses build on their strengths, correct their weakness and protect against internal weaknesses and external threats. They also keep a watch on their overall business environment and recognize and exploit new opportunities faster than its competitors.

SWOT Analysis helps in strategic planning in following manner-

It is a source of information for strategic planning.

Builds organization’s strengths.

Reverse its weaknesses.

Maximize its response to opportunities.

Overcome organization’s threats.

It helps in identifying core competencies of the firm.

It helps in setting of objectives for strategic planning.

It helps in knowing past, present and future so that by using past and current data, future plans can be chalked out.

SWOT Analysis provide information that helps in synchronizing the firm’s resources and capabilities with the competitive environment in which the firm operates.

Task 3

Kallman & Grillo's Ethical Framework

Understand situation

Identify facts, identify stakeholders

Identify key ethical issue

What is the issue? What action should be taken?

Analyse alternative ethical solutions

What are the consequences?

Make decision & implement action

Decide how to act and justify decision

Create an action plan and report to stakeholders

Document the findings

When things go wrong, guess who everyone comes to for answers. The boss. When the employees have a gripe, who do they go to; the boss. There are many pros and cons to being a boss, but the one that would be the hardest to deal with, would be to have to fire an employee. Especially if it is someone with whom you are close.

Lets look at just how you would want someone to fire you. I tried to put myself in that situation in order to put on paper how someone should fire another person. It was very hard to think about how I would want someone to fire me. First of all, I would definitely want them to sit me down and talk to me about the reason or reasons why I am being fired. Is it my work? Am I not carrying my load? Are they unhappy with how or what I am doing? All those questions pop into your head. Or is it because the company has to cut back. In this day of problems, it would not be hard to imagine being let go because the company needs to cut back.. If that were the case, I would think that the one chosen to fire, would be one that has not been there as long as the rest. The time put in should mean something. I totally disagree with firing someone because they are getting older. But whatever the reason for letting someone go, It should be done with respect for the employee. That person should be treated with respect. It would be a nice gesture if the boss would offer help, in any way, to the one who is being fired. That would be a good way to leave the conversation. In ending the meeting you might also tell the employee how much he was appreciated.

When is the right time to fire an employee?

Firing a co-worker or staff member is an extremely difficult task, no matter what your stake in the decision-making process or execution – albeit if you are the business owner, manager, supervisor or a human resource professional. Unethical or ill thought firing practices can be a casualty of the business world, especially if you do not treat your soon-to-exit employee with respect, professionalism and within legal guidelines.

First, realize that not every new hire will thrive and survive in the position in which he or she was recruited. When an employee continues to be poor performer and chances slim that making a lateral move within the organization is possible (and the grounds of termination are legitimate), firing an employee becomes inevitable. If you must terminate an employee, prepare yourself for the worst, as tempers may flair, and a wrongful termination can result in legal ramifications.

The best day to terminate an employee is the day you have everything ready. Being unprepared to terminate an employee both emotionally and physically can be disastrous. Don't have the immediate supervisor terminate the person, have the HR Manager do it. The HR manager is better equipped to handle the accusations that may come out and better equipped to handle the entire termination process.

Do you need to fire an employee? If you have taken the necessary steps to help the employee improve his work performance - and they are not working - it may be time. These are the legal, ethical steps to take when you fire employees.