An actor is an entity or subject in an IAM system that executes processes; the actors are the subject, the relying party, the IAM service provider, IAM management, IAM support and the IAM regulator.

Actors do things in the system, and each actor is motivated by one or more stakeholders. The subject wants access, the relying party protects resources, the IAM service provider runs services, IAM management (IAM-Führung) leads the participating providers and relying parties, IAM support finds and solves problems, and the IAM regulator sets the legal, procedural, organisational and technical frame.

Go deeper:

• eCH-0219 IAM-Glossar v2.0.0 — the standard these terms come from, with the full list of 152 definitions (German).

A stakeholder is a real-world person, group or organisation with an interest in the IAM system; stakeholders have requirements towards the actors, while actors are the roles that execute the processes.

eCH-0219 names five stakeholders: the service consumer (Leistungsbezüger, who wants to use an online service), the service provider in the business sense (Leistungserbringer, who wants to offer services and hand access protection to IAM providers), the IAM service provider (Dienstanbieter, who wants to offer IAM services), management (Führung, who wants a stable system) and the regulator (who wants interoperability, robustness and security). A stakeholder motivates an actor; for example the service consumer becomes the subject when they act in a process.