ISYS90038 Chap.10 ICT Governance Design Methodology
ICT Governance Design Methodology
Week 10 turns the design tools into a method. It begins with Weill and Ross's seven characteristics of top governance performers, of which the most significant predictor is how many managers in leadership roles can accurately describe ICT governance: 48 per cent in above-average organisations against 29 per cent in below-average ones.
Clearer objectives for ICT investment are the hardest characteristic to achieve, and top performers change their governance rarely, because a change takes six to twelve months to settle.
A four-step checklist turns these findings into a design: compare with top performers, apply default principles such as federal input with a duopoly deciding principles and investment, moderate the defaults by performance goal and operating model, and benchmark against comparable organisations. Four design principles add tough choices, metrics for those choices, inhibitors and activators, and gradual evolution.
The module then sets out Clementi and Carvalho's five-phase ICT governance methodology, from enterprise analysis through assessment, redesign and implementation to assessment of the new stage, and the subject's own simpler method for the assignment. The sources differ on how many governance changes a year are wise, so cite the one you rely on. The worked case sets design defaults for a shared-services group.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Seven characteristics of top governance performers
- 02
The four-step design checklist and its default principles
- 03
Moderating defaults by performance goal and operating model
- 04
Four design principles: tough choices, metrics, inhibitors and activators, gradual evolution
- 05
Clementi and Carvalho's five-phase cycle
- 06
The subject's own methodology: analysis, prioritisation and implementation
Worked example · free
Test an organisation against the top-performer list
- 1Few managers can describe governance (P3, L2–4): it lacks the first characteristic, the strongest predictor of performance.
- 1Three structural changes in a year (P4, L7): it lacks the seventh, since changes take six to twelve months to settle.
- 1Twelve priorities (P2, L10): it lacks the fourth, clear objectives for ICT investment, which should be three or four.
Key terms
- Top governance performer
- An organisation whose ICT governance outperforms its peers and shows Weill and Ross's seven characteristics.
- Default principles
- Weill and Ross's starting design, such as federal input and an IT and senior management duopoly for principles and investment.
- Renegade exception
- A departure from IT standards made outside the approved process, which top performers keep rare.
- Inhibitor
- An organisational limit that blocks desirable behaviour, to be paired with an activator that works around it.
- Enterprise analysis
- The first Clementi phase, studying the organisation's value discipline, governance mode and performance.
- Value discipline
- An organisation's dominant basis for value: operational excellence, customer intimacy or product leadership.
ICT Governance Design Methodology FAQ
What is the strongest predictor of good ICT governance?
How many managers in leadership roles can accurately describe how ICT governance works. In Weill and Ross's data it was 48 per cent in above-average organisations and 29 per cent in below-average ones.
How often should governance be changed?
Rarely and gradually. The checklist suggests at most one major change a year, the module page two to four changes a year, and the methodology one or two at a time; each change takes six to twelve months.
What are the phases of the Clementi methodology?
Enterprise analysis, assessment of ICT governance, redesign, implementation of the new design, and assessment of the new stage, after which the cycle starts again. It works with any framework.
What are the default principles for designing governance?
Federal input for all significant decisions, an IT and senior management duopoly for principles and investment, and avoiding federal decision-making where possible, then moderating these by the organisation's goals and operating model.
How does the subject's own methodology differ from Clementi's?
It is simpler and built for the assignment: a critical analysis of the plan and other inputs, then prioritisation and strategic alignment of the gaps, then implementation split into governance and management initiatives that follow the two rows of the design framework.
Exam move
Number the seven characteristics and learn one sign of each that you could find in a case. Rehearse the checklist as a four-sentence answer: current state, default, moderation, benchmark. Draw the Clementi cycle and note one activity for each phase. When a question asks for a roadmap, keep it gradual and cite the source you rely on for the pace of change, because the module's sources do not agree on a number.
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