Isaca Updated CGEIT Exam Questions and Answers by dulcie

A new CIO must first understand the enterprise’s context, including its corporate culture and how IT contributes to business value, to ensure that the IT governance framework is relevant and effective. The CGEIT Review Manual 8th Edition stresses that understanding the organizational context is the foundational step for governance initiatives.

Extract from CGEIT Review Manual 8th Edition (Domain 1: Governance of Enterprise IT):"Before designing an IT governance framework, the CIO must understand the enterprise’s corporate culture, business objectives, and the role of IT in delivering value. This ensures that the governance framework is tailored to the organization’s unique needs and context.” (Approximate reference: Domain 1, Section on Governance Framework Development)

Understanding corporate culture and IT’s role in providing business value (option C) sets the stage for designing a governance framework that aligns with the enterprise’s goals and is accepted by stakeholders.

Why not the other options?

A. Develop an IT balanced scorecard to monitor and track IT performance: A balanced scorecard is a performance management tool, not the first step in governance framework development.

B. Verify stakeholder sponsorship of the IT governance initiative: Sponsorship is important but follows understanding the organizational context, as the CIO needs to know what stakeholders value.

D. Understand critical IT processes to define the scope of the IT governance framework: Process understanding is a subsequent step that builds on the broader organizational context.

This is because enterprise risk appetite is the amount and type of risk that an organization is willing and able to accept in pursuit of its objectives. It reflects the organization’s risk culture, strategy, and values. When implementing an emerging technology with unclear regulatory and compliance requirements, the organization should consider its risk appetite and tolerance, as well as the potential benefits, costs, and impacts of the technology. The organization should also assess the likelihood and severity of the regulatory and compliance risks, and implement appropriate controls and mitigation measures to manage them within acceptable levels.

Some of the sources that support this answer are:

1: This source provides a comprehensive guide on how to navigate the hype and risk of emerging technologies. It suggests that organizations should define their risk appetite and tolerance for adopting emerging technologies, and conduct a balanced risk and benefit assessment before making any decisions.

2: This source discusses the challenges and best practices for mitigating emerging technology risk. It recommends that organizations should align their emerging technology strategy with their enterprise risk appetite, and establish a governance framework that covers the identification, evaluation, response, and monitoring of emerging technology risks.

3: This source defines enterprise risk appetite and explains its importance for effective risk management. It also provides some guidance on how to develop, communicate, and monitor enterprise risk appetite statements.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

The CGEIT Review Manual 8th Edition, in its Benefits Realization domain, stresses the importance of evaluating IT investments to ensure they deliver sustained value to the enterprise. The IT steering committee needs a holistic approach to assess benefits, not just financial metrics at specific points.

Option D: Measure value creation throughout the economic life cycle is the best approach. This involves tracking benefits (e.g., revenue growth, cost savings, customer satisfaction) from project initiation through implementation and into ongoing operations, ensuring the investment delivers value over its full lifecycle. For example, a new CRM system’s benefits (e.g., improved sales) should be measured post-implementation to confirm sustained value. The manual likely references COBIT 2019’s APO05-Managed Portfolio, which advocates for lifecycle-based value management.

Option A: Measure ROI during implementation is premature, as ROI is most meaningful post-implementation when benefits are realized.

Option B: Measure NPV during stage gate review is useful for decision-making but focuses on financial projections at a single point, not actual benefits.

Option C: Measure planned versus actual spend tracks costs, not benefits, and is irrelevant to value creation.

Double Verification: The answer aligns with COBIT’s emphasis on lifecycle value management and the CGEIT domain’s focus on benefits realization. Lifecycle measurement is a standard ISACA practice for IT investments.

ISACA CGEIT Review Manual 8th Edition, Domain 3: Benefits Realization (focus on value measurement).

COBIT 2019, APO05-Managed Portfolio.

ISACA Glossary (for definitions of value creation), available at https://www.isaca.org/resources/glossary.

Ensuring that IT resources have the appropriate skills and experience begins with identifying the competencies required to meet enterprise objectives. The CGEIT Review Manual 8th Edition stresses that competency assessment is the foundational step in IT resource management to align human capital with strategic goals.

Extract from CGEIT Review Manual 8th Edition (Domain 2: IT Resources):"Determining the required competencies for IT roles is the first step in ensuring that human resources are capable of supporting enterprise objectives. This involves identifying the skills, knowledge, and experience needed to deliver IT services and projects effectively." (Approximate reference: Domain 2, Section on Human Resource Management)

Determining the required competencies (option A) establishes a baseline for assessing current capabilities, identifying gaps, and planning interventions like training or recruitment. This step must precede actions like developing a skills matrix or providing training, as those depend on knowing what competencies are needed.

Why not the other options?

B. Providing training to IT personnel: Training is a follow-up action after identifying competency gaps, which requires knowing the required competencies first.

C. Developing an IT skills matrix: A skills matrix is a tool to document and track competencies, but it cannot be created without first defining what competencies are required.

D. Monitoring resource performance: Performance monitoring is ongoing but does not address the initial need to define required skills and experience.