Standards Australia has announced it is developing national guidelines for IT governance and project management.
The aim is to help organisations better allocate and manage their expense on IT projects, according to a statement about the proposed standards.
Alan Lloyd, executive director at advisory and training firm wwITe, has been involved in the development of the program.
He said the issue surrounding IT governance and project management was a multi-dimensional one. "At the board level there is a lack of IT understanding," Lloyd argued.
Lloyd also said that sometimes IT professionals could bamboozle business managers with vendor buzzwords. "My belief is if we can provide the information to all levels in the organisation...if you can educate people to the language of IT--and relevance of the language--that's where the benefits lie."
Mark Bezzina, director of communications, IT and e-commerce standards at Standards Australia, said its aim is to develop guidelines which cover technical, business and contractual elements of IT projects. This includes hardware, software, software development, and outsourcing.
Lack of awareness and involvement at CEO and board level; lack of user consultation; and excessive management expectations are among the issues the guidelines aim to tackle, according to the statement. Artificial deadline setting and poor contracting decisions and management would also be addressed.
The proposed guidelines are expected to be released for public comment next year.
