ISO/IEC 38506:2020

This document provides guidance on governance of IT enabled investments to the governing body of all forms of organizations, whether private, public or government entities, and will equally apply regardless of the size of the organization or its industry or sector. The terms business and business outcome throughout this document include all forms of organization covered by this document.

The document also provides guidance to other parties interacting with governing bodies such as project personnel, accountants, management consultants, investment portfolio managers and governance support staff.

IT enabled investments within the scope of this document could be investments of any scale from acquiring businesses to any business change incorporating IT, building new business services or addressing effectiveness and efficiency gains in IT operational services to gain competitive edge, whether those services are internal or provided by external parties.

Resource allocation for strategic innovation is addressed by providing guidance to the governing body's decision for investment resource allocation between short-, medium- and long-term innovation projects.

This document also provides guidance that can be applied in the due diligence process related to business acquisitions. This document may provide guidance on the application of the principles documented in ISO/IEC 38500 for ranking IT enabled investments including assessing the value and risks of IT elements in the context of investment banking or as performed by investment companies.

This document does not prescribe or define specific management practices required for IT enabled investments.

ISO/IEC TS 38501 contains guidance on the implementation arrangement for the effective governance of IT in general. The constructs in ISO/IEC TS 38501 can help to identify internal and external factors relating to the governance of IT and to define beneficial outcomes and identify evidence of success. ISO/IEC TR 38502 contains guidance on the integration between the governing body and management of an organization in general.

This document is written in accordance with the principles of ISO/IEC TR 38504:2016.