Complexity: High
Time required: 4-5 hours
Material required: pen, post-its
Other: The activity is better done in a group of members coming from all of the areas of activity.
References: Flanders Service Design Toolkit, www.servicedesigntoolkit.org
What is it for?
The Service Blueprint is an operational tool that gives an overview of the organization’s operations: key activities, products, services and points of interaction with the intended audience, stakeholders and beneficiaries. The tool is quite useful for planning or improving a service as it demonstrates what is happening along the service line and who is doing what through what means.
How to use it?
The Service Blueprint should involve a representative from each area of the service. The first step is to identify which user you’re planning for: customer or beneficiary if you have more than one. Then plot out the different steps that are taken before, during and after using the service.
How do you engage the users and notify them of your service? What happens when they decide to use it? How do you stimulate re-use of the service or properly end the use of the service? These are all questions that must be considered when constructing the blueprint of the service.
After mapping out the steps of the user (See Customer Journey tool), the rest of the worksheet can be filled out line by line according to the steps individuated. At the end of the activity, a line of interaction is created between what happens out front and what needs to happen in the back. This allows for successful and planning or improvement if necessary. At the bottom of the tool, there’s room for ideas on how to improve
each phase.
