I’ve decided it was time that I get a little more serious about my IT Governance education and as such I have decided to pursue a couple of worthwhile certifications – ITIL Foundations (for a start) and CGEIT, which is Isaca’s Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT certification.

For the Foundations’s certificate studying I purchased Introduction to the ITIL Service Lifecycle (ITIL Version 3) which does a very good job going over the highlight’s of ITIL and is their official introductory guide. I also signed up for some online education through HDI, which is an acreddited training organization, which also included a discunted exam fee. The online course is available for about 12 weeks, so sometime between now and then I’ll register and take the exam, which is multiple choice.

Going through the book and the online course together has been invaluable, I am really understanding the overall service lifecycle very well, and am actually looking forward to starting to purchase the core books and getting more in depth into studying ITIL and IT Governance.

Update – I passed the exam with a 90% score. Read more on how I did it by checking out How to Pass the ITIL Foundations Certification Exam.

This is what Isaca says about the CGEIT:

This certification will benefit the individual, through recognition of their professional knowledge and competencies; skill-sets; abilities and experiences, and will enhance their professional standing. It will also add value to the enterprises they support through the demonstration of a visible commitment to excellence in IT governance practices.

The certification process has been specifically developed for professionals who have a significant management, advisory, or assurance role relating to the governance of IT. The certification promotes the advancement of professionals who wish to be recognized for their IT governance-related experience and knowledge.

The exam for this is scheduled on December 12th. Just passing the exam is not enough to earn the certification To earn the CGEIT credential, an individual must:

1. Pass the CGEIT exam (first exam – December 2008)
2. Adhere to the ISACA Code of Professional Ethics
3. Agree to comply with the CGEIT Continuing Education Policy
4. Provide evidence of appropriate IT governance work experience as defined by the CGEIT Job Practice

Based on my work experience I should have no problem qualifying (as long as I pass the exam!). Reference materials for study are available as free downloads on their website. I did register as an Isaca member to get the discount, so now I am an official Isaca member.

It’s been awhile since I have studied like this but I like it! I look forward to sharing more about my experience in seeking these certifications.

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Wikipedia describes IT Governance as:

Information Technology Governance, IT Governance or ICT Governance, is a subset discipline of Corporate Governance focused on information technology systems and their performance and risk management. The rising interest in IT governance is partly due to compliance initiatives (e.g. Sarbanes-Oxley (USA) and Basel II (Europe)), as well as the acknowledgement that IT projects can easily get out of control and profoundly affect the performance of an organization.

Certainly in my case both of these reasons for interest in IT Governance rings true. As a small technology company looking to go public in a couple of years we realize that getting a handle on our SOX compliance now is an absolute must. We do a good job now managing projects but of course we can always improve. What I will be looking for are processes we can implement that don’t slow down the go-getter spirit we have established within our project teams. I am concerned about what too much governance overhead will do to us and will be trying to balance the needs carefully.

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