CGEIT study guide
CGEIT · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
CGEIT (Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT) is an ISACA credential aimed at professionals who set and oversee enterprise IT governance at the executive level rather than administer systems day to day. ISACA describes it as framework agnostic and as the only IT governance certification for the individual, and positions it for people who want to act as trusted advisors on strategic IT governance. ISACA reports that 8,000+ professionals hold CGEIT and cites a US 141K+ average annual salary. The exam is organized around four domains, each weighted 25 percent: Governance of Enterprise IT, IT Resources, Benefits Realization, and Risk Optimization. Topics on this exam: Governance of Enterprise IT, IT Resources, Benefits Realization, and Risk Optimization. The CGEIT study guide has 4 sections and about 1,589 words.
01Governance of Enterprise IT
Governance of Enterprise IT carries the largest weight on CGEIT. It tests whether you can design, direct and monitor an enterprise IT governance system-not run IT projects. Expect questions on governance versus management, stakeholder needs cascading into IT objectives, and COBIT 2019 tailoring. Governance sets direction and accountability; management executes.
435 words, about 2 min02IT Resources
IT Resources tests whether you can identify, classify, govern and optimize the resources an enterprise IT function uses. COBIT defines four IT resource types-applications, information, infrastructure, and people-and processes are not one of them. Expect questions on resource optimization, architecture, data quality, skills and asset lifecycle. Applications: business and infrastructure applications, including interfaces and configurations.
392 words, about 2 min03Benefits Realization
Benefits Realization tests whether IT investment delivers intended value and whether you can prove it. The exam distinguishes outputs from outcomes and benefits, and expects business ownership of benefits with IT enablement. Expect business cases, benefits registers, portfolio and programme governance, and post-implementation review. A benefit is a measurable improvement that is advantageous to a stakeholder; an output is a delivered product; an outcome is a changed business state.
387 words, about 2 min04Risk Optimization
Risk Optimization tests whether you can align IT risk with enterprise risk appetite and optimize risk rather than simply minimize it. Expect risk appetite, tolerance and capacity, risk profiles and scenarios, response options, KRIs, third-party risk and integration with ERM. Risk appetite is the amount and type of risk an enterprise is willing to pursue or retain; risk tolerance is the acceptable deviation around a specific objective; risk capacity is the maximum risk it can bear. COBIT 2019 treats risk as including upside and opportunity, not only loss.
375 words, about 2 min