IBM ’ s Unified Governance Framework ( UGF ) Initiative

Governance has become a huge topic in the business world. Key drivers are increasing regulatory pressure, needs for better risk management, and the desire of enterprises to monitor and influence their business performance faster. IBM’s Unified Governance Framework is intended to cover the entire space of enterprise governance, with a focus on how IT-related services and components can support governance. We give an overview of the main parts of UGF, a governance lifecycle and a component model. We also show the use of UGF in devising consistent governance solutions by two concrete scenarios. The first scenario is a business-oriented one about the automation of business controls. The second scenario is primarily an IT-oriented one about access control, but shows how the strategic focus can help getting a broader view..