IT governance in the Brazilian central government: developments and constraints

Abstract

This paper is based on a case study conducted from October 2011 to August 2012 in the Secretariat for Logistics and Information Technology SLTI of the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management in Brazil. SLTI was successful in improving IT governance in the central government from the mid-2000s onwards, through the adoption of initiatives focused on: 1 enacting, disseminating and enforcing rules and regulations; 2 human resources training and skill development; 3 providing technical assistance through consultancies. The Secretariat effectively disseminated throughout public bodies of the central government the importance of establishing IT committees, conducting IT procurement planning and designing an IT strategy. Nonetheless, this study also shows a number of drawbacks that need to be addressed to further improve IT governance in the Brazilian central government. Particularly, it is necessary to increase the participation of non-IT management staff in the IT committees as a way of promoting greater alignment between IT strategies and organisational objectives and to intensify communication exchange between IT divisions in order to avoid duplication of procurement procedures and inefficient allocation of financial and human resources.