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CISA Practice Question: An IT manager wants to measure the effectiveness…
An IT manager wants to measure the effectiveness of the organization's patch management process. Which of the following KPIs would be most appropriate?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Percentage of systems with up-to-date patches
Patch compliance percentage directly measures how well the organization applies patches, indicating process effectiveness.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Average time to patch critical vulnerabilities
Why it's wrong here
This measures speed, not overall compliance across all systems.
- ✓
Percentage of systems with up-to-date patches
Why this is correct
Patch compliance percentage is a direct measure of patch management effectiveness.
- ✗
Number of security incidents related to unpatched vulnerabilities
Why it's wrong here
This is a lagging indicator; compliance is a leading indicator.
- ✗
Number of help desk tickets related to software issues
Why it's wrong here
This is a general support metric, not specific to patch management.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CISA practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISACA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CISA exam.