Evolving IT Governance Practices for Aligning IT with Business – A Case Study in an Australian Institution of Higher Education

Abstract

As in many industries around the world, the importance of formal IT governance practices has recently been receiving attention in the higher education sector in Australia. In 2006, the Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology (CAUDIT) has recognized IT governance as one of the top ten issues of concern for its members. The underlying goals for adopting formal IT governance practices include the improvement of business performance and conformance with regulations. This exploratory study examines how IT governance is implemented through a number of structures, processes, and relational mechanisms in an institution of higher education and discusses its evolving characteristics.  The study reveals a number of findings in the context of the implementation of IT governance in a higher education environment. The relationship between IT governance implementation and IT-business alignment is also discussed in the paper.