Most organizations have governance, but few actually govern.
Policies exist. Frameworks are documented. Audits are completed. But the system reported on paper and the system in practice are rarely the same, and that gap is where risk lives, where accountability dissolves, and where good intentions quietly fail.
David Nichols and Rick Lemieux of the DVMS Institute argue that real governance is not a compliance exercise: it is the ongoing work of aligning organizational capabilities with strategic intent and verifying that the alignment holds under pressure.
For organizations tired of finding that their controls looked better on the last audit than they performed during the last incident, this Assurance-Now™ book series and its associated certification training programs are the place to start.
Organizations have traditionally governed through artifacts such as policies, plans, reports, assessments, control documentation, and audit findings. While these artifacts are necessary, they provide point-in-time evidence of what controls are designed to do, not continuous assurance that the digital business is operating as intended and achieving its expected outcomes.
The DVMS Governance by Assurance™ Overlay System changes this model by connecting leadership intent, organizational structure, operational behavior, and trusted evidence into a continuous governance system.
Rather than asking leaders to assume that documented policies, controls, and assessments reflect operational reality, DVMS enables them to continuously know and prove that the digital business is operating as intended, fulfilling its obligations, and achieving its expected outcomes.
Governance, Resilience, Assurance, and Accountability™ (GRAA™) are the four interconnected capabilities at the heart of the DVMS® Governance by Assurance™ system.
Together, they enable organizations to move beyond governing through policies, controls, reports, and periodic assessments to governing through trusted evidence that leadership intent is being translated into operational behavior and producing intended digital business outcomes.
GRAA enables leaders to:
The result is a fundamental shift from governing through artifacts that describe what should be happening to governing by assurance that continuously demonstrates what is happening, whether it is working, and whether intended digital outcomes are being achieved.
DVMS Institute accredited training courses teach organizations and professionals how to build, implement, operate, and sustain the DVMS Governance by Assurance™ Overlay System.
For the CEO, the DVMS Governance by Assurance™ Overlay System provides a clear line of sight between digital operations, business performance, and strategic outcomes, positioning digital operations as an enabler of growth and innovation rather than a cost center.
For the Board of Directors, the DVMS Governance by Assurance™ Overlay System provides real-time, audit-ready evidence that the organization’s digital assets, operations, and ecosystem are governed, protected, and resilient, supported by continuous evidence linking operational integrity to value, trust, resilience, and accountability.
For the CIO, CRO, CISO, and Auditors, the DVMS Governance by Assurance™ Overlay System establishes a common source of verifiable truth, enabling leadership to make better decisions, strengthen accountability, and sustain confidence in enterprise performance.
The DVMS Governance by Assurance™ provides a phased, iterative approach to help organizations mature their DVMS Governance by Assurance™ program.
It all starts with selecting the first boundary you want to operate within, using DVMS governance and assurance capabilities.
That boundary will serve as the blueprint for operationalizing DVMS capabilities across the rest of your digital enterprise.
The DVMS-accredited, certified, and globally recognized certification training programs teach organizations how to build a DVMS Governance by Assurance™ Overlay System that connects leadership intent, organizational structure, operational behavior, and trusted evidence so leaders can continuously know and prove that the digital enterprise is operating as intended, fulfilling its obligations, and achieving its expected outcomes.
The DVMS Awareness non-certification course and its accompanying body of knowledge publication introduce all employees to the fundamentals of digital business, its risks, and their role in operationalizing a DVMS Governance by Assurance™ Overlay System
The DVMS Foundation certification training course and its accompanying body of knowledge publications provide IT, Cybersecurity, Risk, Audit, and Business professionals with a detailed understanding of why organizations need to adopt and adapt a DVMS Governance by Assurance™ Overlay System within their organization.
The DVMS Practitioner certification training course and its accompanying body of knowledge publications teach IT, Cybersecurity, Risk, Audit, and Business practitioners how to design, implement, and operationalize a DVMS Governance by Assurance™ Overlay System within their organization.
Guidehouse Security, Dr. Joseph Baugh shares his story on how his DVMS® Governance by Assurance™ training enabled him to help a large energy company become compliant with TSA’s new Directive for Pipeline Security
