ISACA - developer of the CISA and CISM certifications - announced details of its latest certification, Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT).

The new certification is aimed at IT governance professionals with at least five years of experience and who are charged with the management, support and counsel of corporate IT governance initiatives. Individuals must pass a written exam, which isn't expected to be available until December 2008. A grandfathering program is now available to highly experienced individuals who may apply for the certification without taking the exam.

Candidates must also adhere to the ISACA Code of Professional Ethics, agree to comply with the CGEIT Continuing Education Policy, and provide appropriate IT governance work experience as defined by the CGEIT Job Practice, according to ISACA.

Bob Frelinger, a CGEIT developer says the certification is not meant to replace the use of established IT governance frameworks, such as Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) or the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) but to help recognize the candidate's understanding of those frameworks and where they are best used.

The CGEIT designation is the third certification offered by ISACA. It established the Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) designation in 1978 and is currently held by 50,000 professionals. The management focused Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) certification was introduced in 2003 and is held by 7,000 individuals.

More about CGEIT and its grandfathering process is available at the ISACA Web site.

Jon Brodkin is senior writer at Network World.