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Rethinking IT governance: Designing a framework for mitigating risk and fostering internal control in a DevOps environment

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  • Plant, Olivia H.
  • van Hillegersberg, Jos
  • Aldea, Adina

Abstract

An increasing amount of companies is transforming their IT departments towards cross-functional teams which are responsible for both development and operation of software and use automation to speed up their delivery process. This novel approach, which is commonly known as “DevOps”, promises many benefits such as increased speed and frequency of deployment. However, companies using DevOps are often struggling with demonstrating control of their software delivery processes to IT auditing parties, due to the decentralized decision-making structures and high degree of automation in DevOps teams. The research at hand presents a framework which aims to provide guidance to organizations in mitigating and governing risks in IT teams and departments that make use of the DevOps paradigm. We have adopted a design science research approach, building on a literature review and semi-structured interviews with seventeen employees from nine Dutch companies that are in different stages of their DevOps transition. The results suggest that two main factors which influence how departments design their DevOps environment are risk appetite and the DevOps maturity. We furthermore find that companies in practice often use a mixture of traditional, manual IT controls and the automated controls suggested in literature. Based on these insights, a situational control framework is designed which suggests suitable risk mitigation practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Plant, Olivia H. & van Hillegersberg, Jos & Aldea, Adina, 2022. "Rethinking IT governance: Designing a framework for mitigating risk and fostering internal control in a DevOps environment," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ijoais:v:45:y:2022:i:c:s1467089522000124
    DOI: 10.1016/j.accinf.2022.100560
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Benaroch, Michel & Chernobai, Anna & Goldstein, James, 2012. "An internal control perspective on the market value consequences of IT operational risk events," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 357-381.
    2. Kumar, Satish & Marrone, Mauricio & Liu, Qi & Pandey, Nitesh, 2020. "Twenty years of the International Journal of Accounting Information Systems: A bibliometric analysis," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    3. Geerts, Guido L., 2011. "A design science research methodology and its application to accounting information systems research," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 142-151.
    4. Stoel, M. Dale & Muhanna, Waleed A., 2011. "IT internal control weaknesses and firm performance: An organizational liability lens," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 280-304.
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    Cited by:

    1. Fábio Albuquerque & Paula Gomes Dos Santos, 2023. "Recent Trends in Accounting and Information System Research: A Literature Review Using Textual Analysis Tools," FinTech, MDPI, vol. 2(2), pages 1-27, April.
    2. Perdana, Arif & Lee, W. Eric & Mui Kim, Chu, 2023. "Prototyping and implementing Robotic Process Automation in accounting firms: Benefits, challenges and opportunities to audit automation," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).

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