DS6 Identify and Allocate Costs

by Bill Oxley

CobiT definition:

The need for a fair and equitable system of allocating IT costs to the business requires accurate measurement of IT costs and agreement with business users on fair allocation. This process includes building and operating a system to capture, allocate and report IT costs to the users of services. A fair system of allocation enables the business to make more informed decisions regarding the use of IT services.

Control over the IT process of
Identify and allocate costs

that satisfies the business requirement for IT of
ensuring transparency and understanding of IT costs and improving cost-efficiency through wellinformed use of IT services

by focusing on
complete and accurate capture of IT costs, a fair system of allocation agreed upon by business users, and a system for timely reporting of IT use and costs allocated

is achieved by

  • Aligning charges to the quality and quantity of services provided
  • Building and agreeing on a complete cost model
  • Implementing charges as per the agreed-upon policy

and is measured by

  • Percent of IT service bills accepted/paid by business management
  • Percent of variance amongst budgets, forecasts and actual costs
  • Percent of overall IT costs that are allocated according to the agreed-upon cost models

Control objectives:

DS6 Identify and Allocate Costs

DS6.1 Definition of Services
DS6.2 IT Accounting
DS6.3 Cost Modelling and Charging
DS6.4 Cost Model Maintenance

Check out the links for details on the control objectives.

No related posts.

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: