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27 Types of IT Governance

John Spacey, updated on March 21, 2021

IT Governance is a mechanism that an organization's executive leadership uses to control and direct information technology. It is a subset of corporate governance.

Processes, practices and coverage of IT Governance varies widely by organization and is shaped by factors such as industry, internal politics and organizational maturity. The following are common practices.

Application Portfolio Management

Oversight of applications at the portfolio level. In many cases, an annual health check is performed to identify risks related to legacy systems, compliance, capacity and availability.

Asset Management

Governance of IT asset management processes such as asset life cycle management and IT inventory management.

Audits

Financial, technology and security audits.

Benchmarking

Comparison of IT performance and costs to your industry and competition.

Business Technology Alignment

Strategic management of gaps between business needs and IT capabilities. This includes things such as products that lack IT integration and addressing business pain points with IT. An IT Governance board may sponsor initiatives to analyze gaps that act as an input to strategy formation and tactical actions.

Capability Management

Viewing business and IT as a set of capabilities. A useful technique for executive management of strategy, risk management and performance visualization.

Compliance

Governance of IT regulatory compliance.

Enterprise Architecture

The practice of managing architecture at the organizational level. It is common for an enterprise architecture team to act as working level support for IT Governance. For example, they may propose practices, review project architecture and deliver analysis and reporting.

Facilities And Infrastructure

Governance related to IT facilities and infrastructure such as data centers.

Financial Governance

Financial controls such as budget approvals.

Information Governance

Mechanisms of information governance to support legal, risk and operational requirements. For example, roles and responsibilities such as data stewards and custodians may be established.

Information Security

The practice of defending your information from threats. In many cases, information security garners much attention from both Corporate Governance and IT Governance bodies.

IT Operations

Governance of core IT processes.

Information Technology Performance Management

Monitoring and measurement of IT performance metrics.

Information Technology Practices

Establishment and direction of practices related to IT such as a Project Management Office.

Information Technology Processes

Establishment and oversight of IT processes such as service management.

Information Technology Risk Management

Identification and treatment of risks related to IT. Not to be confused with Risk IT, the technology capabilities used to manage business risk.

Information Technology Strategy

Planning IT strategy and setting goals.

Knowledge Management

Establishing and governing knowledge management practices such as the requirement that application managers and projects document their architecture.

Problems And Incidents

It is common for an IT Governance Board to review a monthly incident report or investigate a particularly high impact incident.

Procurement

Governance of IT procurement processes potentially with approval authority for major deals.

Programs And Projects

Reviews of programs and projects often at defined checkpoints such as budget approval and pre-launch.

Quality Assurance

Governance of quality assurance practices such as development and testing processes.

Reporting And Dashboards

A governance board may sponsor reports and dashboards to support activities such as strategy formation and risk management. Dashboards may also be developed to provide visibility into IT for corporate governance and executive management purposes.