Who is the Customer?

Customers for an information system are many and varied. They include, of course, those individuals who directly use the system to perform their work tasks. These are the "users," and are normally easy to identify. For example, clerks in the Personnel and Accounting departments are users of a Payroll System. For TQM purposes, all users are customers.
Those in management who authorize, request, budget and approve information systems are customers. Without their participation, there would be no systems work to perform. These individuals are most often different from the users of the system. Many levels of management may need to review and approve the decision to implement a new Payroll System, and while they may never interact directly with the system, they certainly have requirements.
Many customers may receive outputs from an information system. These are indirect customers, and they may have very specific requirements. Employees receive their paychecks from a Payroll System. Government agencies have requirements for a Payroll System, as do banks, auditors and providers of employee benefits, to name just a few.
Those individuals who must operate and maintain a system are also customers and have specific requirements. These are internal customers whose requirements must be met if they, in turn, are to meet the requirements of their customers. The computer operator must be able to accurately print paychecks and payroll reports if the requirements of users and employees are to be met. Likewise, the maintenance programmer must be able to implement necessary changes over time if the Payroll System is to continue to meet the needs of other customers.