Document code:  PRO-0027.06  Security level:  Internal  Effective date:  15/01/2019  ICT Governance  3. Description  3.1. The Need for ICT Governance 3.2. Overall Summary of ECHA ICT Governance  TEM-0129.01  Uncontrolled copy once printed. Ensure that the right version is in use.  Page  6  of  92 • the directly interacting areas in order to work with them successfully  • the overall frame of governance in order to understand the larger context  ❖ Building IT is a complex endeavour. There is a wide range of expertise required to turn  customers’ and stakeholders’ requirements, ideas and wishe s into high quality, ready- for-consumption IT services and products. This requires that a large number of actors  with different expertise profiles need to work together in the right way at the right  time to produce successful results.  ❖ ECHA’s capability to build and run IT service and products is limited in both financial  and human resources, with the demand from internal and external stakeholders and  customers constantly outpacing the available capacity.  ❖ ECHA uses a sizable proportion of its financial resources on IT. The  EU Financial  Regulation and implementing rules  stipulate  sound financial management  as one of the  key principles, requiring efficiency and effectiveness of investments and making  economical choices in budget implementation. The need for a comprehensive and well working ICT Governance model comes from a  combination of several factors.  ECHA’s capacity has t o be utilised for the right purpose and in the right manner to  maximise the benefits for the Agency. All investments have to be properly aligned with the  mission and strategic direction of the Agency, investment proposals have to be well  analysed and provide a sound financial manner of fulfilling the business needs.  Accurate planning and sufficient risk controls have to be in place to reduce any waste of  capacity. In this kind of complex environment, it takes effort to foresee and manage  potential risks to quality, time or resources via proper planning and risk management  practices; however, this effort is worth spending since typically the cost of any of the risks  realising far exceeds the effort to avoid them. The complexity of building IT calls for clear organisation and methods of working: timing  and synchronising the different steps in the work and ensuring that capacity is not wasted  on misunderstandings, duplicate work or any other side effects of disorganised operations.  Having said that, IT needs to retain sufficient flexibility to keep the agility to react and  adjust to changing situations and circumstances.  In essence, quality IT requires governance to ensure alignment of decision making with  the strategic direction of the organisation, to apply the principle of sound financial  management, to manage change properly, to provide the frame for IT work and to give  the necessary guidelines for it. Working successfully in IT requires more than an in-depth kn owledge of one’s own specific  area and a good understanding of 