A provider delivers a payroll service. Each month it produces a set of payslip files and a bank payment instruction. As a result, the consumer's staff are paid accurately and on time. Which of these is an OUTCOME?
ITIL 4 Foundation, objective 1. Key concepts of service management medium
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The options
Correct Staff are paid accurately and on time
Correct. This is the result for a stakeholder that the deliverables enable — the reason the consumer bought the service.
Not correct The payslip files produced each month
Wrong. A deliverable of an activity is an output. Files can be produced perfectly and the outcome can still fail, for example if they are never distributed.
Not correct The bank payment instruction
Wrong. This is another tangible deliverable, so it is an output. It is a means to the outcome, not the outcome.
Not correct The monthly payroll processing run
Wrong. That is the activity itself. Outputs are what the activity delivers; outcomes are the results those outputs enable for a stakeholder.
Why
An output is a tangible or intangible deliverable of an activity; an outcome is a result for a stakeholder that one or more outputs enable. The reliable test: outputs are what the provider hands over, outcomes are what changes for the stakeholder. Delivering outputs never guarantees the outcome.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- ITIL 4 syllabus clause 1
- What it says
- Output is a deliverable of an activity; outcome is a result for a stakeholder enabled by one or more outputs.
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a set from objective 1 and space the ones you get wrong.