ISACA releases new guide for configuration management

Rolling Meadows, USA: Change can cause business disruptions, inefficiencies and financial losses. Proper configuration management (CM) reduces the risk of malfunctions and increases efficiency during times of IT-related change. To help enterprises implement effective CM, global IT association ISACA has released a new guide, Configuration Management: Using COBIT 5.

CM is often interpreted differently within the same enterprise, even though it provides benefits to diverse areas. Project management, help desk and change management professionals use it to gauge the impact of their activities on the environment; audit and assurance professionals use CM to guide them when planning audits; IT service managers use CM to estimate the impact that a change will have on business users; and IT finance relies on CM for cost accounting and recovery.

Configuration Management: Using COBIT 5 helps all stakeholders involved in CM interact as a cohesive group. It provides guidance based on the internationally accepted COBIT 5 business framework for governance over IT, and helps create a uniform view of CM across an enterprise.

Configuration Management: Using COBIT 5 provides practical action items to manage CM successfully, maximize IT investment and achieve enterprise objectives. It outlines:

• The challenges of configuration management

• Why IT configuration management is not solely IT's responsibility by clarifying the responsibilities of stakeholders within the enterprise

• How to apply COBIT 5 practices to manage configuration

How to conduct a COBIT 5 Process Capability Assessment to determine the level of capability of an existing CM process

Configuration Management: Using COBIT 5 is available as a free download to ISACA members and for purchase to nonmembers at www.isaca.org/configuration-management. The COBIT 5 framework publication is available as a free download in several languages at www.isaca.org/cobit.