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The IT Skeptic looks at the COBIT Body of Knowledge - a layman's view

Blog entry submitted by skeptic on Mon, 2009-08-10 03:45. [nid:1588]
in

This is a video (and synchronised powerpoint) of a presentation by the IT Skeptic given to itSMFnz Wellington chapter on "the COBIT Body of Knowledge - a layman's view". 42 minutes, no download required.
Using COBIT as the framework for ITSM, ITIL shouldn’t be centre of the universe: COBIT as more than just an Audit Tool

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Beyond COBIT?

Submitted by deaf-llama on Mon, 2009-08-10 10:06.

Rob

At last us folks in Europe get to see a Skeptic performance. Good one! A fair comparison of COBIT, VAL IT and ITIL, I felt, that was likely to motivate an interest in COBIT.

At one point, you discussed the plethora of frameworks and standards - COBIT says it is based on over 50 others. There is a need, I feel, to integrate and unify these frameworks and standards. COBIT mappings are a significant step towards this and USMBOK, that you mentioned is, perhaps, one such attempt, although I am not familiar with that, myself.

However, you didn't speak about a major initiative that has been underway for 2-3 years - IT Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF) from The Innovation Value Institute (IVI) consortium. There is a 90 minute official launch video (from Feb-09) available at http://ivi.nuim.ie/ITCMF/news/pt1/pt1.htm - if short of time just watch Martin Curley's presentation.

More Information
IT-CMF is attempting to integrate frameworks and provide a "periodic table of atomic processes". It is aimed at delivering business value from IT, so is an Enterprise Governance of IT approach but one that is broader than COBIT, VAL IT and Risk IT. It has 36 processes categorised under 4 dimensions:
1. Managing IT like a Business,
2. Managing the IT Budget,
3. Managing the IT Capability
4. Managing IT for Business Value

It maps on to COBIT, ITIL and many, many other frameworks.

IT-CMF is led by Martin Curley (Intel and National University of Ireland-Maynooth) and has as major partners and contributors: The Boston Consulting Group, BP, Chevron, Google, Microsoft, Ernst and Young, SAP, Gartner EXP and many more making about 30 of the world's leading companies. Significant testing of some of the core processes of the framework has taken place in these companies already and it is expected to be fully available by 2010. With this backing and the recent Microsoft announcement of the synergy of COBIT, VAL IT and MOF, I don't think any of us working in ITSM should ignore IT-CMF. I feel it might be the ITSM equivalent of the physicists' "Theory of Everything".

no answers

Submitted by skeptic on Mon, 2009-08-10 10:27.

I like the idea of IT-CMF. i have tried for six months to get the following questions answered. Answers are promised but not forthcoming:

1) What is the status of the IT-CMF? How much exists beyond the 4x5 matrix and how much “will be developed”? For example where I can see the 35 processes?

2) In what form does the IT-CMF exist? Book? Online content? As-yet-unsynthesised working group materials?

3) Is the IT-CMF available? How does one obtain the IT-CMF?

4) How do the books on the website relate to the IT-CMF?

5) How does the IT-CMF relate to ITIL and COBIT, as the incumbent IT frameworks? (Yes I know they are not governance frameworks but if the models and terminology differ then a mapping will be essential)

6) How does IT-CMF relate to ISO38500?

7) What will be the status of IT-CMF? Will it be public domain? Members-only? A commercial product?

You are obviously party to much more information than the website reveals. Nor does the site seem to have got any more informative in the last six months. My take so far: nice concept, where's the meat?

Sorry - I have no insider information

Submitted by deaf-llama on Tue, 2009-08-11 09:36.

I understand your concerns.

My thoughts are my own based on public information and the fact that so many "big players" are involved means we should keep tracking IT-CMF. There are academic qualifications in IT-CMF (Diplomas at NUI-Maynooth) that perhaps might spread into the commercial training domain - at least I'm personally watching this from my viewpoint as an ITSM training provider. ITIL is essential for quality IT service management but it does not alone deliver IT Governance objectives.

The plethora of ITSM frameworks and standards needs consolidation in my view; that's why I'm so interested in IT-CMF. This situation reminds me of the joke from the early 90s when the publication of international standards in networking were boomimg: "The great thing about standards is you have so many to choose from!".

A related questions that occurs to me:

Is Microsft just in IVI to keep it's eyes on the possible competition for MOF/COBIT/VAL IT, or is there a strategic intent? ITSM is after all a multi-billion dollar industry.

Q1 is partially answered in the videocast:

Time: 60:14 http://ivi1.nuim.ie/ITCMF/news/pt1/pt1.htm A list of the 36 processes and their abbreviations only

There is more information in an interview with Curley (podcast) on 9 July 09 - that's where 2010 for release comes from in fact he says middle of 2010 for V1.
http://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-3445

IT-CMF announced yet again

Submitted by skeptic on Fri, 2010-02-05 00:58.

I see IT-CMF announced yet again today but the website consists of the same pretty pictures it did a year ago (except the self-assessment may or may not be new - I don't recall).

I'm sure it's great and we're gonna just love it when we see it, but this endless tease grows tiresome.

More details on IT-CMF

Submitted by skeptic on Fri, 2010-02-05 18:35.

I've been in touch with the IVI, the organisation behind IT-CMF. Release is scheduled for June 2010. For those wondering I can share the following

the IT-CMF is an integrating framework, based on leveraging existing frameworks. While these frameworks [ITIL, COBIT, ISO38500] in their own right are good management tools, they don’t address all aspects of IT management that a CIO must deal with. As part of the outputs from the IVI research we will be addressing the mapping to the existing frameworks.

The IT-CMF will be released in 3 forms: overview material and at least one set of assessment questions will be available in the public domain, all material is available to IVI members, and IVI will offer assessments and education. In addition, key IVI members will also provide assessments (certified by IVI) and provide consultancy services to support the application of the IVI recommendations within an organization, and help in evaluating the results.

Currently it is only available to IVI Consortium members: one can join IVI by contacting the IVI office at ivi.ie (tel: +353-1-7086931). Once released, we will have local representation in many countries, including probably two initially in the USA (west coast and east coast).

Uber Framework

Submitted by ianclayton on Sat, 2010-02-06 20:20.

Skep

The Intel series of books are well produced and chase down sound theories. They need other references to work. It also had good funding.

However, its not easy finding all the frameworks - no-one has contacted us yet about positioning the USMBOK (:-)). Providing a consistent insight into these disparate frameworks and a pragmatic approach to exploiting them is the proverbial herding of cats. Believe me I know as this was exactly what I encountered when writing the USMBOK. In that case I was helped by my product management training and background and by having a different intent - universally applicable concepts and methods to manage services across industries.

Anything that offers clarity over the mission of IT is welcomed and these books have a lengthy pedigree going back as far as 2003/2004 - pre ITIL V3.

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