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A popular enthusiasm for new technology, has made the objective evaluation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) difficult. Audit reports into government projects, academic studies and ongoing media coverage (1) demonstrated that the approach to ICT has been far from satisfactory.
While many significant financial and organisational investments in ICT returned very little, the use of ICT has become intrinsic to business operations and vital to the well being of organisations. Increasingly, customers and suppliers expect to do business over the Internet. As new business practices continue to be driven by developments in ICT, the threats and opportunities it offers to organisations need to be monitored and managed effectively.
AS8015 - 2005 Australian Standard for Corporate Governance of ICT was drafted in the context of the bursting of the dot.com bubble, a cluster of corporate collapses and the costly failure of broadscale outsourcing of ICT.
AS8015 is a brief and concise, 12 page guide to effectively governing the use of ICT.
AS8015 positions the governance of Information and Communication Technology, within organisations, as an aspect of Corporate Governance. AS8015 sought to clarify the link and context for the management standards for security (ISO 27000), quality (ISO 9000), service delivery (ISO 200000), project management and audit.
The Australian Standard also listed areas of Legislation of particular relevance to the use of ICT by organisations such as record keeping, trade practices, spam, intellectual property and privacy.
"Corporate Governance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is the system by which the current and future use of ICT is directed and controlled. It involves evaluating and directing the plans for the use of ICT to support the organization and monitoring this use to achieve plans. It includes the strategy and policies for using ICT within an organization."-AS8015:2005
The standard provides a framework through which "Directors", those to whom they turn to for advice or those to whom they delegate responsibilities for managing the operations of the organisation, such as Senior managers, technical specialists, vendors and service providers, can understand their obligations and work more effectively to maximise the return and minimise the cost of ICT to their organisations.
AS8015 provides six Principles for Good Governance of ICT
AS8015 was submitted for fast-track ISO adoption and provides the basis for ISO/IEC 38500:2008 Corporate governance of information technology, which was published in May 2008.
The AS8015 model categorises ICT activities into projects and operations - Draft standard for "Corporate governance of projects involving information technology investments" has been issued for public comment.
Marghanita da Cruz joined the Standards Australia IT Governance working group in 2002. She instigated and co-ordinated market research to position and scope the standard. Between 2003 and 2006, Marghanita represented the Australian Computer Society (ACS) on Standards Australia's IT-030 ICT Governance and Management Committee. She also established the ACS's Governance of ICT committee in 2003, and chaired it until 2006. In 2004, with the support of the ACS, Marghanita presented a series of seminars, to socialise and seek feedback on the draft.
In 2005, Marghanita established the ICT Governance Forum to further good governance of ICT. In 2006, Marghanita contributed the chapter on AS8015 in Frameworks for IT Management, which is also available as a Pocket Guide in English and Dutch and in Japanese and German.
, Japanese and German. It is also available as a Pocket Guide in english and dutch) (1) Pre 2006, Links to Audit Reports, Court Cases and Media Coverage available at www.acs.org.au/governance/#reading