Information technology governance
The European Commission's information technology (IT) governance provides the framework for implementing the decisions required to manage, control, and monitor IT.
The Commission has put in place an IT governance system based on de facto international standards. It concerns the leadership and organisational structures and processes that ensure that the Commission’s IT is fully aligned with and sustains the organisation’s objectives.
Organisation
IT at the Commission is organised along federal lines, in keeping with the decentralised internal organisation of the institution.
Each Directorate-General has an IT function, Information Resources Manager (IRM), which is responsible for the specific needs of that DG, and there exists also a central IT function (Directorate General DIGIT) which provides common (corporate) services and support.
Well developed and smoothly functioning co-ordination mechanisms (principally committees which jointly prepare decisions on the relevant IT issues) are in place to ensure the necessary coherence and communication between the local and central IT functions.
The reporting and authorisation chain ensure that IT strategy is set by top level Commission management. The IT planning and investment processes are integrated into the global activities and resource planning cycles of the Commission, thus ensuring alignment of business and IT objectives.