Management Information System Case study: NASA IT governance case study

The decentralized nature of NASAs operations and its longstanding culture of autonomy hinder the Agencys ability to implement effective IT governance. The Agency CIO has limited visibility and control over much of the Agencys IT investments, operates in an organizational structure that marginalizes the authority of the position, and cannot enforce security measures across NASAs computer networks. Moreover, the current IT governance structure is overly complex and does not function effectively. As a result, Agency managers tend to rely on informal relationships rather than formalized business processes when making IT-related decisions. While other Federal agencies are moving toward a centralized IT structure under which a senior manager has ultimate decision authority over IT budgets and resources, NASA continues to operate under a decentralized model that relegates decision making about critical IT issues to numerous individuals across the Agency, leaving such decisions outside the purview of the NASA CIO. As a result, NASAs current IT governance model weakens accountability and does not ensure that IT assets across the Agency are cost effective and secure.

Answer the following questions

1. What is IT governance?
2. Briefly explain how corporate and IT governance should be aligned.
3. Why IT governance is important at NASA?
4. What are the challenges facing IT at NASA?
5. What are the main recommendations suggested to fix the problems?