Four Years Later

Four Years Later

As one reflects on the evolution of IT Governance at NB Power over the past four years, it is easy to identify factors that contributed positively to its initiation and growth. The executive support and sponsorship for the implementation of IT Governance at NB Power was critical to its success. The executive team provided corporate business direction and approved funding, and committed their time and that of management to manage the corporate IT plan.

The three Client Relationship Managers were instrumental in keeping the IT department abreast of client needs, educating the client about IT and educating the IT group about business. They were the conduits to effective communication between IT and business.

IT Governance at NB Power was successful because of the structures that supported the committee. Among other duties , resources in BIS, under the guidance of BIS senior managers and the IT Governance Management committee, created tools for project initiation that help capture the value of IT for business initiatives, methodologies for effective project delivery and integration, education strategies, programs, and prioritization tools. These governance mechanisms were critical in helping evolve the committee such that it could begin informal IT-business alignment exercises, make informed decisions regarding project prioritization, and understand how business decisions cannot be made in the absence of IT inputs. The idea that IT decisions must be made in the context of business objectives was also emphasized .

Having representation from all areas of the corporation has helped IT Governance succeed. The interests of every business unit and corporate service were represented, both by executive management and by senior managers. Not only did this structure ensure everyone's needs were being addressed, but it also provided an opportunity for others in the corporation to, either directly or indirectly, influence the way IT was governed and managed at NB Power.

Once the IT Governance executive and management committees were operational, local IT Governance committees were established in some parts of the organization. The local committees, in taking the responsibility to align their own IT-business interests at a local level, freed the other committees time to work on other tasks . One could argue that most importantly, it helped move the responsibility of initial IT-business alignment and determination of value/cost to yet another level of organization, thus permeating business with a greater awareness of IT-business relationships.

As the old adage, "hindsight is 20/20" implies, in looking back on the evolution of IT Governance one can derive many lessons.

A key lesson is that requests for changes to the IT plan or for IT funding must include input from the IT governing committees. This alone ensures that organizations can undertake IT- related initiatives that support organizational goals and strategies.

There is a difference between governance and management. Governance involves directing and controlling while management concerns planning, organizing, and directing. Governance is responsible for making sure the management framework is in place, not for executing it (Williams, 2000). IT Governance committees must resist the urge to manage IT initiatives or resolve issues better left for management teams and steering committees.

Besides ensuring that managers have the tools to manage IT, IT Governance committees need tools to perform their functions. Balanced Scorecards to assess the value of IT, IT auditing processes like COBIT to control IT investments, and best industry practices, like those from the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) are necessary for effective IT Governance.

Communications to the organization regarding IT must be effective and timely . Those responsible for governing IT, deploying IT, and requesting IT services must be informed about corporate IT decisions, goals, policies, and standards. Two-way communications between those responsible for governing and managing IT investments must remain open in order to make informed decisions about IT and business.

Business leaders must become educated about IT and those responsible for IT must develop business knowledge. An appreciation of how IT can enable or jeopardize business goals better positions everyone to make informed decisions.

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