Not too long ago we published an eye-opening interview with IT benchmarking pioneer Howard Rubin, who talked, basically, about what businesses and IT departments were doing wrong with metrics.

(You can see more from Howard here.)

The interview was also a timely one, as the economy teetered on the edge and report after report predicted gloomy IT budgets. But perhaps even more importantly, Rubin shed more light on the difficult business of metrics and performance measurement, a business that the business (and IT) often does completely wrong.

Forrester recently weighed in on the issue with a report titled "The Five Essential Metrics for Managing IT." In it, analyst Craig Symons and his colleagues make a point that most IT pros know but hesitate to admit: "Most IT metrics efforts lack relevance to the business and are not well linked to business outcomes."

So, what to do? Forrester suggests focusing on these five metrics for IT to create a scorecard that won't put it on business' chopping block (see the report for graphs and in-depth explanations):

1. Alignment of IT investments to business strategy
2. Cumulative business value of IT investment
3. IT spend ratio - new versus maintenance
4. Critical business service availability
5. Operational health

What do you think? Will this scorecard help IT's reputation with the business? Tell us in the comments section below.