Stakeholders in Service Relationships: Customer, User, and Sponsor — ITIL Foundation (Version 5) Masterclass: Digital Product & Service Management for the Exam

Q: A hospital introduces a new electronic health record (EHR) service. The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) describes required clinical workflows and is accountable for improving patient safety outcomes. Doctors and nurses use the EHR during treatment. The hospital CEO authorizes the budget. Which role does the CMO primarily play in this scenario?

Customer. The CMO defines the service requirements and takes responsibility for the outcomes of service consumption (patient safety). That matches the **customer** definition. The doctors and nurses are **users** (they use the service), and the CEO is the **sponsor** (authorizes budget). Seniority does not automatically mean sponsor.

Stakeholders in Service Relationships: Why These Roles Matter

The Hidden Puzzle in ITIL Questions

In ITIL 5, many questions hide a simple puzzle: who is playing which role in the service relationship? Getting this right matters for both practice and the Foundation exam.

Link to Earlier Modules

You learned that a service is "A means of enabling value co-creation by facilitating outcomes that customers want to achieve, without the customer having to manage specific costs and risks."

Value Co-creation

You also saw value co-creation: "The joint activities performed by a service provider and a service consumer to create value." Now we zoom in on the people on the consumer side.

Three Key Roles

ITIL 5 distinguishes three key roles in a service consumer organization: customer, user, and sponsor. Each participates in value co-creation in a different way.

What You Must Be Able To Do

For the exam, you must recall the exact definitions, spot each role in scenarios, and explain how each contributes to value co-creation. We will use a single realistic scenario to practice.

Canonical Definitions: Customer, User, Sponsor

Memorize These Exactly

For ITIL Foundation, you must know three definitions exactly. They are often tested with subtle wording changes as distractors.

Customer Definition

customer: "A person who defines the requirements for a service and takes responsibility for the outcomes of service consumption."

User Definition

user: "A person who uses services." This is the simplest definition, and exam items often try to overcomplicate it.

Sponsor Definition

sponsor: "A person who authorizes budget for service consumption." Think "who actually signs off the spend".

Fast Anchors

Anchor them: Customer = requirements + outcomes. User = uses. Sponsor = budget. All three are service consumer roles.

Core Scenario: A University Buys a Cloud Learning Platform

Meet the Scenario

A university (service consumer) adopts a cloud-based learning management system (LMS) from a service provider. We will reuse this story like the exam does.

Key Characters

Characters: Dr. Lee (Vice Dean), IT Director Patel, CFO Gomez, 18,000 students, and 900 lecturers. Each will play different ITIL roles.

Defining Requirements

Dr. Lee runs workshops to define needs: mobile access, forums, quizzes, integration, 99.9% availability. They also own whether learning outcomes improve.

Technical Integration

IT Director Patel handles integration, security, and data protection with the provider. They focus on single sign-on, GDPR, and backups.

Budget and Daily Use

CFO Gomez approves the annual subscription budget. Later, students and lecturers log in daily to use the LMS for teaching and learning.

Who Is the Customer, User, and Sponsor in the Scenario?

Recall the Definitions

Customer = requirements + outcomes. User = uses. Sponsor = budget. Now apply these to the university LMS story.

Identifying the Customer

Dr. Lee defines the LMS requirements and owns whether learning outcomes improve. That matches the customer definition, so Dr. Lee is the customer.

Identifying the Users

Students and lecturers log in daily and use the LMS to learn and teach. They are not setting requirements or budgets. They are users.

Identifying the Sponsor

CFO Gomez approves the annual budget for the LMS subscription and support. That matches the sponsor definition, so the CFO is the sponsor.

Where Does IT Fit?

IT Director Patel is a key stakeholder but does not clearly fit customer, user, or sponsor here. Exam items often include such extra roles to test your focus.

Service Consumer Roles and Value Co-creation

Service and Value Co-creation

A service enables value co-creation, and value co-creation is the joint activity of provider and consumer. Inside the consumer, three roles matter most.

Customer in Co-creation

The customer describes desired outcomes and defines requirements for utility and warranty, then owns whether those outcomes are realized in their context.

User in Co-creation

The user interacts with the service offering, gives feedback, and reports incidents. Their adoption and correct usage are essential for value to be realized.

Sponsor in Co-creation

The sponsor authorizes and protects the budget, weighing cost, risk, and expected value. They decide whether to continue or scale the service.

Exam Clue: Who Does What?

In scenarios, ask: Who talks about outcomes? Who actually uses the service? Who signs off the money? That mapping reveals customer, user, and sponsor.

Thought Exercise: Map the Roles in Three Mini-Stories

Apply the definitions to short situations. Do this as a mental drill before looking at the explanations.

Recall:

customer: "A person who defines the requirements for a service and takes responsibility for the outcomes of service consumption."
user: "A person who uses services."
sponsor: "A person who authorizes budget for service consumption."

Mini-story 1: Online Payroll System

HR Manager Ana designs a new payroll process and specifies what the payroll service must do and how accurate it must be.
Employees log in monthly to view payslips.
The COO approves the annual contract cost.

Pause and decide: Who is customer, who is user, who is sponsor?

Mini-story 2: Customer Support Chatbot

The Head of Customer Service defines success as reducing call volume by 30% while keeping satisfaction high and agrees to be accountable for those outcomes.
A Product Owner configures conversational flows but has no budget authority.
Customers use the chatbot on the website.
The CEO approves the investment.

Again, map the three roles.

Mini-story 3: Research Data Storage

Researchers upload and analyze data in a cloud storage platform.
The Research Office defines retention, security, and collaboration requirements and agrees to own research compliance outcomes.
The Vice Chancellor for Research signs off the multi-year contract.

After you decide for each story, check yourself:

Customer = the one defining requirements and owning outcomes.
User = the one interacting directly with the service.
Sponsor = the one authorizing budget.

If any character seems to fit two roles, ask: What is their primary role in this specific story? The exam usually expects the clearest match.

Quiz 1: Identify the Roles

Use the canonical definitions to answer this exam-style question.

A company adopts a new IT service for automated invoice processing. The Finance Manager defines the service requirements and is accountable for reducing payment delays. The CIO approves the budget. Accounts payable staff use the system daily to process invoices. Which statement is MOST accurate according to ITIL 5?

The Finance Manager is the customer, the CIO is the sponsor, and the accounts payable staff are users.
The CIO is the customer, the Finance Manager is the sponsor, and the accounts payable staff are users.
The Finance Manager is both the sponsor and the user, while the CIO is the customer.

Show Answer

Answer: A) The Finance Manager is the customer, the CIO is the sponsor, and the accounts payable staff are users.

The **customer** is "A person who defines the requirements for a service and takes responsibility for the outcomes of service consumption." That is the Finance Manager. The **sponsor** is "A person who authorizes budget for service consumption." That is the CIO. The **user** is "A person who uses services." That is the accounts payable staff. So option 1 matches the canonical definitions.

Quiz 2: Spot the Exam Trap

This question includes a common distractor: confusing job seniority with the customer role.

A hospital introduces a new electronic health record (EHR) service. The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) describes required clinical workflows and is accountable for improving patient safety outcomes. Doctors and nurses use the EHR during treatment. The hospital CEO authorizes the budget. Which role does the CMO primarily play in this scenario?

User
Customer
Sponsor

Show Answer

Answer: B) Customer

The CMO defines the service requirements and takes responsibility for the outcomes of service consumption (patient safety). That matches the **customer** definition. The doctors and nurses are **users** (they use the service), and the CEO is the **sponsor** (authorizes budget). Seniority does not automatically mean sponsor.

Common Exam Traps and How to Outsmart Them

Trap 1: Job Title vs. Role

Do not assume a CFO or CEO is always the sponsor. Ask: Who actually authorizes the budget in this story? That is the sponsor, regardless of title.

Trap 2: Seniority = Customer

The highest-ranking person is not automatically the customer. Look for who defines requirements and owns outcomes; that person is the customer.

Trap 3: Heavy Users

Heavy system users are often just that: users. They may influence requirements but are not necessarily accountable for outcomes.

Trap 4: Customer vs. Sponsor

Writing a business case does not make someone the sponsor. The sponsor is the one who authorizes budget for service consumption.

Trap 5: One Person, Many Hats

In small organizations, one person can wear multiple hats. Focus on the activity described in the question and match it to the right role definition.

Flashcards: Lock In the Canonical Definitions

Use these flashcards to solidify the exact wording you must recall in the exam.

customer (canonical ITIL 5 definition): A person who defines the requirements for a service and takes responsibility for the outcomes of service consumption.
user (canonical ITIL 5 definition): A person who uses services.
sponsor (canonical ITIL 5 definition): A person who authorizes budget for service consumption.
service (from previous module): A means of enabling value co-creation by facilitating outcomes that customers want to achieve, without the customer having to manage specific costs and risks.
value co-creation (from previous module): The joint activities performed by a service provider and a service consumer to create value.
Quick anchor: customer: Think: **requirements + outcomes**. Who defines what the service must do and owns whether it delivers the desired results?
Quick anchor: user: Think: **uses**. Who actually interacts with the service, app, or portal in daily work or study?
Quick anchor: sponsor: Think: **budget**. Who has the authority to approve spending for the service?

Apply to Your Own Context + Next Steps in the Skarp Path

To make these roles stick, connect them to a service you know well.

Activity: Map a real service you use

Pick a service you interact with regularly. Examples:

Your university’s learning portal
A food delivery app
A cloud storage tool your part-time job uses

Ask three questions:

Who defined the requirements and is accountable for the outcomes? (customer)
Who actually uses the service day to day? (users)
Who authorized the budget or subscription? (sponsor)

Write down the names or job roles you think match each. If one person seems to fit more than one role, note which role is emphasized in how they are described.

Check yourself against the definitions

Does your identified customer clearly define requirements and own outcomes?
Does your sponsor clearly authorize budget?
Are your users clearly the people interacting with the service?

How this feeds into the rest of your Skarp course

In upcoming modules on the service value system and service value chain, these roles will reappear when we talk about demand, value, and continual improvement.
Your next Skarp diagnostic and mock exam will include short scenarios like the LMS story. Use the C/U/S labels in your scratch notes.
Any weak items on these roles will automatically show up in your spaced review queue, along with more scenario-based practice.

If you can confidently label customer, user, and sponsor in your own chosen service, you are on track for the Foundation-level expectations on this topic.

Key Terms

user: A person who uses services.
service: A means of enabling value co-creation by facilitating outcomes that customers want to achieve, without the customer having to manage specific costs and risks.
sponsor: A person who authorizes budget for service consumption.
customer: A person who defines the requirements for a service and takes responsibility for the outcomes of service consumption.
service offering: A description of one or more services, designed to address the needs of a target consumer group.
value co-creation: The joint activities performed by a service provider and a service consumer to create value.
continual improvement: A recurring activity performed at all levels to ensure that an organization’s performance continually meets stakeholders’ expectations.
service consumer roles: The roles on the consumer side of a service relationship that participate in value co-creation, typically including customer, user, and sponsor in ITIL 5.