CISA Governance and Management of IT Practice Question
An organization wants to ensure that IT performance is measured against strategic goals. Which tool is BEST suited?
⚠ Common exam trap
CISA often tests the difference between strategic alignment tools and general quality/planning tools — candidates pick SWOT because it sounds strategic, but SWOT assesses position, not performance against goals.
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
✓
Balanced scorecard
A balanced scorecard measures organizational performance across four perspectives — financial, customer, internal business processes, and learning and growth — and explicitly links operational metrics to strategic objectives. This makes it the best tool for ensuring IT performance is measured against strategic goals, since it translates strategy into measurable KPIs.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Balanced scorecard
Why this is correct
The balanced scorecard translates strategic objectives into measurable perspectives — financial, customer, internal process, and learning and growth — and cascades them into IT metrics. This directly links IT performance measurement to strategic goals, which financial or operational metrics alone cannot achieve.
- ✗
Pareto chart
Why it's wrong here
A Pareto chart ranks defect or cost frequencies to prioritise improvement effort, so it cannot map IT metrics to strategic objectives. It is tempting because it drives quality initiatives, and would be the right pick when identifying the few causes producing most problems.
- ✗
SWOT analysis
Why it's wrong here
SWOT assesses internal strengths and weaknesses against external opportunities and threats; it produces strategic positioning input, not ongoing performance measures tied to goals. SWOT suits strategy formulation or environmental scanning, whereas measuring IT against strategic goals needs a scorecard linking metrics to objectives.
- ✗
Gantt chart
Why it's wrong here
A Gantt chart schedules tasks and dependencies over time; it holds no mechanism for linking IT metrics to strategic objectives. It suits project timeline planning and resource sequencing, not performance measurement, which requires a balanced scorecard or similar framework mapping measures to goals.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official ISACA exam blueprint
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