Adapting IT Governance Frameworks using Domain Specific Requirements Methods: Examples from Small & Medium Enterprises and Emergency Management

IT Governance methods and frameworks have been applied in most large for-profit organizations since these enterprisesrealize the benefits of IT Governance for their business. However, former research and our own surveys show thatframeworks such as ITIL and COBIT are not very well established in Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) as well as inEmergency Management (EM) organizations. Thus, we investigated what kind of barriers can be the cause for the lowadoption rate. These results built the basis for our Domain Specific Engineering (DSE) approach. The research is based onthe data of two research projects. The first project investigated the utilization of ITSM methods in European SMEs, and thesecond has researched different emergency management organizations. This paper defines similarities and differences of thetwo domain specific solutions, describes the engineering approach, and gives guidelines for further research in otherdomains

[Editorial] Low carbon China: emerging phenomena and implications for innovation governance - introduction to the special section of environmental innovation and societal transitions

This special section of ‘Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions’ investigates emerging phenomena associated with low carbon transitions in contemporary China. It looks at supply and demand side dynamics, the changing role of citizens and a range of policy approaches characteristic of the Chinese context. The papers draw on diverse methods and frameworks, considering various sectors – such as energy, mobility, food and agriculture – to understand and explain these phenomena and to derive implications for innovation and transition governance

Challenges of CoBIT 5 IT Governance Framework Migration

As information technology (IT) persists as an integral means for achieving success in organisational business processes, IT Governance (ITG) continues to be a top priority too. Current reports show that enterprises continue to suffer financial losses as a result of poor ITG practices. To better govern IT resources, many have tried to address this problem by migrating to the highly recommended IT governance frameworks such as CoBIT 5, unfortunately with little success. This study seeks to explore the barriers to successful migration to CoBIT 5 and identify the key factors that influence effective migration. A survey was conducted and data collected from 84 professionals with sound IT Governance knowledge and experience in the financial services and telecoms industry. The quantitative data was analyzed using statistical methods. Findings suggested that there are four distinct aspects that need to be reconciled; it is only then that before organisations should embark on the migration to CoBIT 5. Results obtained augmented existing literature and also revealed new factors noticeably absent from the ITG literature. The findings provided useful input towards the development of a model to guide migration to CoBIT 5 ITG framework

Taming the ‘trolls’ : major public projects in the making

Major projects are not yet sufficiently understood, and practices in project governance and project management do not yet reflect the current state of knowledge of large, complex projects. In an attempt to understand the reasons, the authors therefore investigated the latest relevant findings documented in three countries: the UK, Norway, and the Netherlands. Their examination of the effect of implementing governance frameworks for public projects in these countries indicates that efforts to improve major projects are giving rewards: Even if complex public projects, the ‘trolls’, become more challenging, efforts to ‘tame’ them are improving. The results of the study show that project planning has improved and cost overruns are reduced. However, recent observations indicate that the effect may wear off remarkably quickly. Hence, the need for continuous improvement and change is prominent. There are fundamental limitations in the use of formal systems as they cannot detect all problems and there are limitations to humans' ability in terms of optimism bias that cannot be eliminated

Approaches and frameworks for management and research in small-scale fisheries in the developing world

Commonly adopted approaches to managing small-scale fisheries (SSFs) in developing countries do not ensure sustainability. Progress is impeded by a gap between innovative SSF research and slower-moving SSF management. The paper aims to bridge the gap by showing that the three primary bases of SSF management--ecosystem, stakeholders’ rights and resilience--are mutually consistent and complementary. It nominates the ecosystem approach as an appropriate starting point because it is established in national and international law and policy. Within this approach, the emerging resilience perspective and associated concepts of adaptive management and institutional learning can move management beyond traditional control and resource-use optimization, which largely ignore the different expectations of stakeholders; the complexity of ecosystem dynamics; and how ecological, social, political and economic subsystems are linked. Integrating a rights-based perspective helps balance the ecological bias of ecosystem-based and resilience approaches. The paper introduces three management implementation frameworks that can lend structure and order to research and management regardless of the management approach chosen. Finally, it outlines possible research approaches to overcome the heretofore limited capacity of fishery research to integrate across ecological, social and economic dimensions and so better serve the management objective of avoiding fishery failure by nurturing and preserving the ecological, social and institutional attributes that enable it to renew and reorganize itself. (PDF contains 29 pages

Research governance in children's services: the scope for new advice (Research report DFE-RR072)

"In 2009, following a period of informal consultation with key stakeholders, the former DCSF commissioned the work reported here, with the following overarching aims: to identify and evaluate existing arrangements for research governance and ethics review in children’s services in England; and to make recommendations for the future development of those governance arrangements, with the overall goal of ensuring a more coherent and transparent system, that is proportionate to the governance needs and ethical risks in research with users of children’s services." - Page iii

How IT Governance should be established in order to have a good alignment between IT, Business and external Service Providers

IT governance deals with connections between business focus and IT management. The goal of clear governance is to assure that investment in IT generates true value to business. IT governance is defined as the processes, structures and relational mechanisms that ensure the effective and efficient use of IT in enabling an organization to achieve its goals. IT and business alignment begins and ends with good IT governance. Business-IT alignment is the fit and integration among business strategy, IT strategy, business and IT structures. Research has shown that organizations where IT strategies and operations are aligned with business strategies and operations seem to be more innovative in use of new information technolo-gies. The objectives for this research are to find out the elements for a good IT governance and understand what are the components and requirements for an effective Business- IT alignment. The study will seek answers to the following three research questions: (RQ1) what are the elements for a good IT Governance” , (RQ2) “How to achieve a real alignment between IT, business and external service providers”, and (RQ3) “what are the drawbacks in the current IT Governance in the case company”. The research includes theoretical part and the empirical part. Theoretical part through literature review introduces the main concepts and frameworks. Empirical part describes the research methods. This study was conducted by using a qualitative and quantitative methods. The data was gathered via web survey in a case company where the author is currently working. The questions in the survey are based on theoretical framework called the Strategic Alignment Model. The survey was conducted in February 2020, the survey was sent to preselected persons in IT and Business. With the web survey, the target was to get the understanding what are the drawbacks with the current IT Governance and Business-IT alignment. As a result of the study, all research questions were answered. Based on the survey results in the case company, clear improvement areas were found in the areas of IT and business pro-cess understanding, roles and responsibilities, processes and collaboration. Recommenda-tions for the case company are made to improve the Business-IT alignment especially on tac-tical and operational levels

Scaling agile on large enterprise level – systematic bundling and application of state of the art approaches for lasting agile transitions

International audienceOrganizations are looking for ways of establishing agile and lean process for delivery. Many approaches exist in the form of frameworks, methods and tools to setup an individual composition for a best fit. The challenge is that large organizations are heterogeneous and diverse, and hence there is no "one size fits all" approach. To facilitate a systematic implementation of agile and lean, this article proposes a transition kit based on abstraction. This kit scouts and bundles state of the art methods and tools from the agile and lean community to align them with governance and compliance aspects of the specific enterprise. Coaching of the application of the transition kit ensures an adequate instantiation. The instantiation handles business domain specific aspects and standards. A coaching governance ensures continuous improvement. An example of the systematic application of the transition approach as well as its scaling is demonstrated through its application in the Volkswagen Group IT