Service blueprint
Definitions
A service blueprint describes a service in enough detail to implement and maintain it carefully.
According to the British Standard for Service Design (BS 7000 -3, BS 7000 -10, BS EN ISO 9000), blueprinting is described as Mapping out of a service journey identifying the processes that constitute the service, isolating possible fail points and establishing the time frame for the journey.
G Lynn Shostack who was VP of Citibank in the US during the 1980’s pioneered the concept of service blueprinting, and developed it as a way to plan the cost and revenue associated with operating a service.
A blueprint can be used by both business process managers, designers and software engineers during development, and can be used as a guide to service managers that operate services on a day-to-day basis.
Currently, the biggest challenges in blueprinting revolve around ways of depicting services in a holistic way, from elements of the branding and user experience on one hand to back-end technical and business processes on the other.
Methods
Service blueprints need to describe time in a service. This includes the sequence of events of a service experience, its durations and timings. A blueprint should graphically and narriatively describe this time element.
A sequence of events - sometimes called use cases or flows - is relatively easy to blueprint as it can be represented in a linear flow identifying user actions, service responses and the touchpoints or interfaces that enable the service relationship. Sequences become challenged when there are multiple options or directions and when the planned process goes awry. The danger here is that the sequence becomes prescriptive with little room for variation from the ideal path.
References
- Lynn G. Shostack. Breaking Free from Product Marketing. Journal of Marketing. 41 (Summer 1977), 73-80.
- Lynn G. Shostack, Designing Services that Deliver, Harvard Business Review 62, no. 1 (January-February 1984), 133-139.
- Lynn G. Shostack, How to Design a Service, European Journal of Marketing 16,1 (2001), 49-63.
- G Hollins and W Hollins, Total Design: Managing the design process in the service sector, Trans Atlantic Publications, 1991 (republished 2002 in its original form), ISBN 0273033387
Comments
17 Feb 2009
Hi there im doing a project for third year services marketing on a wellness health sanctuary in the mountains, providing sedish masages, colon cleanses, 7 day detox ans seen on BBC prime rality tv and we need to do a service blueprint could you help us wiht and example or where to begin? thank you
11 Nov 2008
I would like to know about the service blue print for Emergency Obstetric Centre
01 Nov 2008
Hi, I like your glossary, first of all. Second: I’ve been working on service blueprints for a while and I found use cases and scenarios very useful to develop service blueprint. Some example of use of scenarios and use cases for service design are in a wiki: http://servicedesign.wikispaces.com/Use+Cases
26 Oct 2008
I owned a restuarant,i want to discuss with my marketing team what is meant by service blueprinting.Someone should help me how it can be used design a service and creat satisfying experience.
05 Oct 2008
I am interested to see service blue print for Quick Service Restaurant as extension of processed food industry
09 Sep 2008
i want to make a blue print for icecream parlour
08 Sep 2008
I am a uni student in my first year and i need to design a service blueprint for one service process in my oragnisation i have created , my organisation is a backpacker hostel , can anyone please lead me in the right direction ..
kind regards
Matthew
27 May 2008
i am working at a material department of a ****hotel and i want to design the service blueprint, can someone be a help of it. i will be very glad and thankful to you. i realy need it on 28-05-2008.
thanks in advance.
23 May 2008
Hi, my name is David from Lancashire, UK.
I found a good paper that combines service blueprinting wth FMEA (Chuang, 2007) in the service industries journal. Not quite touchy feely enough for me but it may be of more use to techie types. Adnan?
I have recently developed a service blueprint for my own training and consultancy service as part of the Lancaster MBA programme. The tool works well on its own but I extended it to include a second line of visibility - the area the service provider can’t see.
C2C interactions in the customer ‘back stage’ and their impact on branding etc were elements I wanted to include for such a high involvement service. It is not exactly a blueprint because you can’t influence it directly. Taking the time to consider how those interactions might be influenced by service touchpoints was certainly a useful exercise.
I am interested to talk with others about their experience of designing new services.
20 May 2008
Hi,
I am Adnan, and I am really interesting about service blueprinting. So if any one of you have some materials about blueprinting in IT sector I will be thank full.
12 May 2008
Really helpful for my MBA research, thank you : - )
17 Mar 2008
Hi, I am Nitesh Kumar Jha. I am really very much impress the way you have presented your views and as an MBA student it’s really beneficial to me.
I want to share my views regarding service blueprint.
service blueprint is a map which shows the various stages of customer interacation with the service personnel and it helps in breaking up the service delivery.
thank you.
04 Mar 2008
good work
21 Feb 2008
Great resource! Good work - live work.
Some illustrated examples would be great!
11 Feb 2008
Do you have the current e-mail of Lynn G. Shostack ?
30 Aug 2007
i want to make a service blueprint for consultancy firm