What is Cobit?
COBIT is an IT governance framework and supporting toolset that allows managers to bridge the gap between control requirements, technical issues and business risks. COBIT enables clear policy development and good practice for IT control throughout organizations. COBIT emphasizes regulatory compliance, helps organizations to increase the value attained from IT, enables alignment and simplifies implementation of the COBIT framework.
COBIT 4.1 Online
COBIT's success as an increasingly internationally accepted set of
guidance materials for IT governance has resulted in the creation of a
growing family of publications and products designed to assist in the
implementation of effective IT governance throughout an enterprise.
Access COBIT online and members save 87 percent off the full subscription price.
The process focus of COBIT 4.1 is illustrated by a process model that
subdivides IT into four domains (Plan and Organize, Acquire and
Implement, Deliver and Support, and Monitor and Evaluate) and 34
processes in line with the responsibility areas of plan, build, run and
monitor.
The COBIT 4.1 framework specification can be obtained as a complimentary PDF at the ISACA download website. (Free self-registration may be required.)
COBIT 5 was released in April 2012. COBIT 5 consolidates and integrates the COBIT 4.1, Val IT 2.0 and Risk IT frameworks, and draws from ISACA's IT Assurance Framework (ITAF) and the Business Model for Information Security (BMIS). It aligns with frameworks and standards such as Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), PRINCE2 and The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF).
The COBIT components include:
COBIT 5 was released in April 2012. COBIT 5 consolidates and integrates the COBIT 4.1, Val IT 2.0 and Risk IT frameworks, and draws from ISACA's IT Assurance Framework (ITAF) and the Business Model for Information Security (BMIS). It aligns with frameworks and standards such as Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), PRINCE2 and The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF).
The COBIT components include:
- Framework: Organize IT governance objectives and good practices by IT domains and processes, and links them to business requirements
- Process descriptions: A reference process model and common language for everyone in an organization. The processes map to responsibility areas of plan, build, run and monitor.
- Control objectives: Provide a complete set of high-level requirements to be considered by management for effective control of each IT process.
- Management guidelines: Help assign responsibility, agree on objectives, measure performance, and illustrate interrelationship with other processes
- Maturity models: Assess maturity and capability per process and helps to address gaps.
from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBIT
http://www.isaca.org/knowledge-center/cobit/Pages/Overview.aspx