coordination

More work needed on risk management

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:59:58 -0400

A new survey by Ernst & Young LLP, entitled "Managing Information Technology Risk," found that an effective ITRM program is still missing from many companies at a time when it is important to have these programs in place. Nearly 60 percent of 150 respondents indicated that their programs were not aligned with the organization's Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) strategies and framework. Forty percent of respondents indicated that they did not have effective coordination of risk and compliance activities.

"While cost savings can be significant, it's the top-line benefits that result from actionable risk reporting, strategic investments, and enhanced organizational performance that will be significantly more valuable over the long term to the individual organization and the financial services industry as a whole," said Bill Barrett, practice leader of Ernst & Young's Technology and Information Practice in Ernst & Young's Financial Services Office in New York.

For more on this survey:
- See this SOX Compliance Journal article

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ALM grows up

Sun, 06 May 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Application lifecycle management is growing up. ALM 2.0 offers more dynamic applications and services-oriented architecture, transforming software development and deployment into a managed business process and more componentized software. Business applications must be integrated at both the information level and the data level, even if they are different code sets or physically different databases. ALM 2.0 is a positive step toward finding one coherent answer to any kind of business question, no matter what the toolsets. But along with more functionality comes the need for better coordination between design and real-world use.

Read more about ALM 2.0:
- read the article at E-Commerce Times

Study: Poor governance = project failure

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:01:39 -0400

IT governance initiatives are generally deployed only within the IT department, leading to a lack of coordination between the IT part of the project and the overall management of business transformation initiatives. This type of poor IT governance leads to project failure, increased costs, data security risks, problems with regulatory compliance and inefficiency, according to a report from consultancy Butler Group. Much of this, the report says, is due to a lack of awareness of IT in boardrooms, although it is generally believed to be the board's responsibility to ensure that large capital expenditures are managed properly. The solution is creating a separate IT governance committee with non-IT executives to oversee and scrutinize large IT projects. This committee can also ensure that risks are identified and mitigated and that transparency exists.

Learn more about the effects of poor IT governance:
- read the article at Silicon

ALSO: read this on the importance of IT governance

Succeeding with project management

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Succeeding with project management means developing an effective project management office and using the right tools. To make a project management office work, start by having clear objectives and a reliable way of measuring ROI. The payoff includes money saved from eliminating the development of redundant applications and time saved on completing projects more quickly, due to better oversight and coordination. Picking the right project management tools is also important. One option is using tools delivered through a software-as-a-service model, available from vendors like eProject, 37signal, Vertabase and Intuit. Another option is traditional project management software, from vendors like Planview, Primavera and Microsoft.

Learn more about effective project management:
- read the article at Baseline