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September 2010 - Posts

How to set up a GRC framework

Published: September 28 2010, 03:43 PM | no comments
by Robert Stroud

On my recent visit to Mumbai for the ISACA Mumbai Chapter annual conference I had an opportunity to discuss how to develop a GRC framework and it was caught on video.  If GRC is on your agenda, especially if you are in banking this video will be a good investment of a few minutes of your time.

http://biztech2.in.com/videos/bfsi/international-banking-how-to-set-up-a-grc-framework/92722

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By: Robert Stroud
Robert Stroud serves as VP and as Service Management, Cloud Computing and Governance Evangelist at CA Technologies. Robert also serves as an International vice president of ISACA, is part of the Framework committee and was the former chair of the COBIT Steering Committee. Robert also serves on the itSMF...
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New Mumbai!

Published: September 27 2010, 08:30 AM | no comments
by Robert Stroud

Share the sights of New Mumbai with me while I take a break from the ISACA Mumbai Chapter meeting. Here is me presenting:

And here is a video I shot of New Mumbai!

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By: Robert Stroud
Robert Stroud serves as VP and as Service Management, Cloud Computing and Governance Evangelist at CA Technologies. Robert also serves as an International vice president of ISACA, is part of the Framework committee and was the former chair of the COBIT Steering Committee. Robert also serves on the itSMF...
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COBIT 5 Update moving the Enterprise Governance of IT forward

Published: September 24 2010, 04:28 PM | no comments
by Robert Stroud

As mentioned in the blog when at the COBIT 5 workshop I have uploaded the presentation on the current status of the development of COBIT 5 for your review. 

COBIT 5 as you will see is well advanced and if you would like to keep up to date please don't hesitate  to periodically check the COBIT 5 webpage.

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By: Robert Stroud
Robert Stroud serves as VP and as Service Management, Cloud Computing and Governance Evangelist at CA Technologies. Robert also serves as an International vice president of ISACA, is part of the Framework committee and was the former chair of the COBIT Steering Committee. Robert also serves on the itSMF...
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Software Asset Management: Everyone Into The Pool!

Published: September 23 2010, 03:13 PM | no comments
by Howard Hastings

Image by Flickr user popofatticusAnyone that still thinks Software Asset Management is unimportant must be leaning against a tree doing a Rip Van Winkle.  Recent research of IT Asset Management market opportunities indicated that 90% of new customer initiatives are being driven by the need to more effectively manage software assets and address license compliance.

On September 21, 2010 the Business Software Alliance (BSA) announced their "SAM Advantage" program, providing the following overview of this offering:

SAM Advantage is the first industry software asset management (SAM) course aligned to the ISO/IEC 19770-1 SAM standard. Based on a tiered approach, users will learn how to:

  • Build a best practice standards-based SAM program
  • Proactively and effectively manage their software assets
  • Increase IT efficiencies and control costs
  • Identify and reduce IT risks
  • Become a Certified Software Management Professional

There are two aspects of this new educational offering that are intriguing. First, it comes from the BSA ... best known for their software anti-counterfeiting activities and extremely aggressive efforts to enforce software license compliance on behalf of its member software publishers. Second, and most importantly, this program was expressly designed to help practitioners understand and implement the ISO/IEC 19770-1 international standard for SAM processes. Even though this standard was approved and published in May 2006, adoption has been very slow because of its complexity and breadth of involvement across the IT operational infrastructure.  This new curriculum hopes to overcome this boil-the-ocean challenge by stratifying implementation across four tiers of maturity.

As of now, there are FOUR major providers of Software Asset Management (SAM) education.  Besides the BSA, which just joined their ranks, the following are the other three in order first curriculum offering:

How do you choose?  Well, that depends on your objectives and priorities ... as well as your personal preferences and perspectives.

What is clear though, regardless of how you obtain your knowledge and skills, is that SAM is emerging as a MUST DO for IT organizations.

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By: Howard Hastings
Howard Hastings is CA’s ITAM Evangelist focused on IT Asset Management (ITAM) policies, controls, processes, and tools with specialization in software license management and compliance, product recognition/reporting, and auditing. Howard also represents CA as board chairman of Tagvault.org. A frequent...
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ITIL Update - the facts - not the fiction!

Published: September 20 2010, 09:34 AM | 1 Comment(s)
by Robert Stroud

The itSMF USA Fusion event is on in earnest this week in Louisville, Kentucky, the home of the Louisville slugger bat, the Kentucky Derby, as well as the current itSMF USA president Jay Stuart, and of course, itSMF Fusion, one of the greatest gatherings of service management professionals.  The event has been a "a must attend" event for me for many years now the highlight for me is always the chance for networking with practitioners sharing their stories.

Interestingly for me, one of the topics for discussion has been the upcoming update to ITIL due in 2011.  Is it ITIL v4? Will I have to start again? And so on. It seems I have heard these questions all before! 

So based on my research to date I thought that I would provide you with some of the salient points:

Activities completed

  • First updated draft authored
  • Public Review completed (Comments being reviewed and considered for inclusion in the final authoring stage).

Forthcoming

  • Second authoring phase in progress
  • Second Public review will take place towards the end of the year
  • Publication date - targeted publication in the 2nd half of 2011.

Now I have blogged on the update several times before and I can assure you that this work is not designed to be delivered to you the ITIL practitioner. What was asked for through the changes have already been accepted by you, the user of ITIL, through the change process which commenced through the change log (yes, we are using our own guidance).

Focus of the update is on correction, clarity and consistency across the publications and where appropriate, content has been re-ordered, amended clarified to aid to aid comprehension.  As communicated in the scope of the mandate for change, Service Strategy includes a re-write of many areas of the title to as well as retaining existing content and clarification of some concepts.

In recognition of the global outreach of ITIL, the translation strategy is a key consideration.  The objective is to have all 22 translated glossaries published at the same time as the English version and the lifecycle publications translated into French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish within 6 months of the English version publishing.

There is much more to consider and useful links with additional detail include:

For me the primary objective of the update is that the books will be easier to use and subsequently more useful to the consumer of ITIL--you the practitioner.

If you would like to keep up to date with the update you can register for ITIL Elert Service or if you have more specific questions you can log them on this blog or directly at the Best Management website.

Now I must run, time for my next session!

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By: Robert Stroud
Robert Stroud serves as VP and as Service Management, Cloud Computing and Governance Evangelist at CA Technologies. Robert also serves as an International vice president of ISACA, is part of the Framework committee and was the former chair of the COBIT Steering Committee. Robert also serves on the itSMF...
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