New guide helps service managers integrate COBIT and ITIL for successful governance.

To help service managers use COBIT and ITIL to effectively govern IT services, the IT Governance Institute (ITGI) (www.itgi.org) has released a new publication, titled COBIT User Guide for Service Managers.

The guide, supported by itSMF, helps service managers better understand the need for IT governance and how to apply good practices in their specific roles and responsibilities. It facilitates easier use and adoption of Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) and IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) concepts and approaches, and encourages integration of COBIT with ITIL.

"When used together, COBIT and ITIL provide a top-to-bottom approach to IT governance, including service management," said Robert Stroud of ITGI and chair of the COBIT Steering Committee. "When used together, the power of both approaches is amplified, resulting in greater likelihood of management support and more cost-effective use of resources."

The guidance is based on good practice and the practical experiences of industry experts, and is intended to be pragmatic and helpful rather than prescriptive. The structure has been based on COBIT's key components of key controls, goals and metrics, roles and responsibility (RACI) charts, and maturity models. It also leverages ITGI's COBIT mapping research, including the latest mapping of COBIT 4.1 with ITIL V3 and the soon-to-be-released mapping of COBIT 4.1 with ISO/IEC 20000.

COBIT User Guide for Service Managers is available as a complimentary download for ISACA members at www.isaca.org/ deliverables. The electronic version is US $35 for nonmembers. Print copies can be purchased for US $50 from the ISACA Bookstore (www.isaca.org/bookstore).