5. COBIT 5 – Five Key Principles
a. Principle 1: Meeting Stakeholder Needs
1) COBIT 5 asserts that value creation is the most basic stakeholder need. Thus, the creation of stakeholder value is the fundamental goal of any enterprise, commercial or not.
a) value creation in this model is achieved by balancing three components:
i) Realization of benefits
ii) Optimization (not minimization) of risk
iii) Optimal use of resources
2) COBIT 5 also recognizes that stakeholder needs are not fixed. They evolve under the influence of both internal factors (e.g., changes in organizational culture) and external factors (e.g., disruptive technologies).
a) These factors are collectively referred to as stakeholder drivers.
3) In response to the identified stakeholder needs, enterprise goals are established.
a) COBIT 5 supplies generic enterprise goals that are tied directly to the balanced scorecard model.
4) Next, IT-related goals are drawn up to address the enterprise goals.
a) COBIT 5 translates the 17 generic enterprise goals into IT-related goals.
5) Finally, enablers are identified that support pursuit of the IT-related goals. An enabler is broadly defined as anything that helps achieve objectives.
a) The seven categories of enablers are listed in item 5.d. on the next page.
6) COBIT 5 refers to the process described above as the goals cascade. It can be depicted graphically as follows: