Research performing organisations (RPOs) are expected to provide a service offering professional support for researchers to produce and use FAIR outputs. A wide variety of internal and external stakeholders are likely to influence RPO expectations. Taking action in this complex landscape requires collaboration across the organisation, involving core Research Office, Library and IT services, and drawing specialist advice from Human Resources, Legal or Commercialisation units (for example). Establishing and maintaining a service will most probably involve team effort to set measurable objectives over the short, medium, and long terms. Regardless of the maturity of the service, the team will need to consider (or review) how it addresses such questions as ‘who are our customers or beneficiaries? What is the value offered to them? What are the key capabilities, roles and relationships we need to deliver them? How will we resource the costs of providing them?’ This guide aims to offer a basis for productive discussion among the people involved in addressing such questions.