CobiT ® is an acronym for Control Objectives for Information and related Technology, the model developed in 1994 from information Systems Audit and Control Foundations (ISACF), today IT Governance Institute (ITGI). Its first edition was published in 1996; this followed the subsequent 1998 and 2000 (3rd edition). The current version CobiT 4.1 was recently released, in each case the improvements made with the 4.1 in no way invalidates any implementation or execution activities based on CobiT 3rd Edition.

The main theme of CobiT ® is the business orientation, as it is designed to be used not only by users and auditors, but also and primarily as a comprehensive guideline for the management and the owner of the business process.

Increasingly, the best business practices require a full involvement the business process owner so that they have full responsibility for all aspects of business process expertise, and to this end, the availability of adequate controls.

The CobiT ® framework provides a tool for the process owner that facilitates the fulfilment of this responsibility. The framework is based on a simple and pragmatic premise: provide the information they need the organization to achieve its objectives, and IT resources necessary to manage through a set of naturally grouped processes.

The framework consists of a set of 34 control objectives of a high standard, one for each of the IT processes, grouped into four domains:

• Plan and Organize, 
• Acquire and Implement, 
• Deliver and Support,  
• Monitor and Evaluate.

This structure covers all aspects of technology that supports. Through these 34 control objectives of a high standard, the owner of the business can ensure that is provided for the IT environment an adequate system of control.

IT governance provides the structure that links the processes, resources and information and IT strategies to business goals, and allows the company, through its information, to achieve a fully competitive advantage, increasing and maximizing the benefits and capitalizing opportunities.

Moreover, at each of the 34 control objectives for high level there is a guideline that allows assessment of a review of IT processes against 210 detailed control objectives and recommended CobiT ® to provide management assurance and / or recommendations for improvement. The management guidelines allow, in addition, the management company to deal more effectively the needs and requirements of IT governance. The guidelines are geared to provide the management and business information to maintain control of processes, monitor the success of organizational objectives, performance monitoring within each process and perform a benchmarking of organizational success.

In more specific terms, CobiT ® provides maturity models for control over IT processes, so management can track where the organization, and where is it in connection with the "best in class" industry standards or international and determine where the organization wants to be.

• The Critical Success Factors - Critical Success Factors (CSF) define the most important reference guide oriented management to achieve control over and within each IT process.
• Key Indicators for Objective-Key Goal Indicators (KGI) define indicators that can describe the operation - after the incident - in the event that the process has reached its business requirements.
• The Key Performance Indicators - Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are the main indicators that define the measures of how well the IT process you are behaving in allowing the goal is reached.

The guidelines for the management of CobiT ® are generic and oriented in order to respond to the following types of questions: How far should we go? and the cost is justified by the benefit? What are the indicators of good performance? What are the critical success factors? What are the risks of not achieving our goals? What are the others? How do we measure and compare?