Service Blueprint

A detailed diagram capturing the end-to-end delivery process of a service that not only captures the experience but also exposes the “back stage”, the behind-the-scenes work showing how the service is delivered. The diagram provides a holistic viewpoint of the experience by combining many details, including touchpoints, actors, metrics, and more.

When to Use

1. To identify process breakdowns and opportunities for process improvements, as well as representing the complexity to operate a service to increase opportunity alignment.
2. To provide context of where a product fits within the larger service model.
3. Use as a team exercise to leverage cross team knowledge sharing and more quickly generate a blueprint.
4. To be used as foundational task analysis for future journey maps to be created.

Steps

1. Start with reviewing discovery researching findings. The more the blueprint is grounded in research the more effective it will be. Contextual inquiries and Field Studies are a great research methods to understand the details of all the operational steps in a service. Other ways to gather information is through interviews or a workshop with the team members responsible for different stages of the process.
2. Go step by step (column by column) documenting all possible details and categorize with the appropriate label. Its easiest to consider each content type , such as “actors”, as a checklist and ask yourself “What actors are present in this step?”, etc.
3. After all columns have been completed, review each column one by one and add additional details. Its common to miss details the first time through. As you become more comfortable with the format and process, more details always surface as you become more detailed oriented.

Mapping Artifacts Comparison

	Point of View	Details
Service Blueprint	Process-centric	Specific & In-Context
Journey Map	User-centric	Specific & In-Context
Empathy Map	User-centric	Broad

References

1. http://www.practicalservicedesign.com/the-guide/
2. https://www.cooper.com/journal/2015/5/journey-map-or-service-blueprint
3. https://experiencinginformation.wordpress.com/2016/03/12/sorting-things-out-customer-journey-maps-experience-maps-and-service-blueprints/

Templates (if applicable)

1. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FTYj1136pvfhZQvXcVw85aSa9B5QrxJC
2. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q5Jf7-YlLLkLLjEQFkXtpmzPEaZ-lFZXf98EcaZXz6o/edit#heading=h.m1p7q7892lpv

Workshop Exercise

Attendees	Ideal Size	Suggested Time
Domain Experts	5 - 8 people	1 - 2 hours

1. Prepare the steps beforehand
2. Explain the goal of the workshop and what service blueprints are and how they’re used
3. Review and make adjustments to the steps
4. Give everyone colored Post-its and example each color’s meaning
5. Spending 30 minutes writing down each step
6. Review all the notes step-by-step

Created by: Joe Steinkamp | Last updated by: Joe Steinkamp