A: Governance is defined as "the processes that need to be followed in order to achieve a successful department, team, or project". In the case of IT, governance is the administering of IT resources by the processes of planning, prioritization, decision-making, and performance measurement.

Often governance is already occurring in your department, but it is not formally written down. True IT governance is this process written down, followed through and reviewed by a governance committee, in other words, a formalization of the current process.

In essence you are creating a state of control, which prevents people from following bad paths, and are forcing them through the process that you define, such as training, and proper documentation to follow the right path.