Developing Standards is an engagement whose final deliverable includes the body of written standards required to support the corporate information technology policies of the company. 

In an effort to ensure that the correct activities are performed in a manner consistent with the overall goals of the enterprise, companies develop policies, standards, processes, and procedures.  Policies establish the framework necessary to achieve the corporate goals.  Standards define the day to day operating activities required to carry out  the policies.  Processes depict the roles and responsibilities between the various resources involved with these day to day  activities.  Procedures define the step by step instructions regarding who, what, when, where, and how the activities are performed.

The development of standards requires that the policies have already been established.  When a company has completed the four phases as defined above, they move into a more sophisticated operating environment that can help mitigate risk, and ensure that their IT operations are being conducted in an efficient manner, capable of achieving expected results on a consistent basis.