PSM 206 – SERVICE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

CHAPTER 8
SERVICE BLUEPRINT
Map out the entire process of service delivery, above and below the line of visibility.
8.1 Introduction

Over the last few decades, service blueprints have evolved as a useful method to address the
many challenges in service design and innovation. It was first introduced by Lynn Shostack, a
banking executive in 1982 in the Harvard Business Review.

8.2 Definition

The service blueprint is a diagram/ map that visualizes a service offering accurately. It provides
a clear picture of the service process to those who are involved in service production as well as
service consumption. Its purpose is to help understand the service delivery process from the
customers’ perspective in order to assist the service design and improvement processes. It
highlights the complexity and divergence of the service process and helps to upgrade the
efficiency and effectiveness in customer service.

They are particularly used during the design stage of service development to break a service
down to its logical components such as points of customer contacts, physical evidence, etc. and
analyze the steps in the service process in detail. They are usually represented with a diagram
with swimlanes which represent the different categories of the service blueprint.

8.3 Service Blueprint vs. Customer Journey Map

Customer journey map and service blueprints are two complementary methods used in service/
product design. Customer journey maps visualize the customer experience across different
touchpoints along with what they are doing, thinking, and feeling. It focuses more on the
surface customer experience and reveals less service process details.

On the other hand, service blueprints offer a detailed look at the service delivery process across
the different touchpoints, including the onstage and backstage contact employee actions. So,
the service blueprint offers more information on the internal processes and support systems
that deliver the service to the customers more than the experience of the customer. The
blueprint uses the customer journey as a starting point.

8.4 Key Elements of the Service Blueprint

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 PSM 206 – SERVICE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

The service blueprint distinguishes between onstage and backstage employee activities which
are represented with its key components.

Figure 4.1: Sample of Hotel Service Blueprint

Customer actions: This component is central to the creation of the service blueprint and
therefore is laid out first. It includes the steps, actions, choices, and interactions the customer
performs while evaluating, purchasing or using the service delivery process. These actions are
displayed chronologically across the top of the blueprint.

Onstage/ visible contact employee actions: This component appears on the diagram after
customer actions, separated by the line of interaction. These actions include what frontline
contact employees do when they encounter customers face-to-face.

Backstage/ invisible contact employee actions: This refers to the backstage or behind the
scene actions taken by contact employees that are not visible to the customer. They include
non-visible interactions with the customer such as telephone calls and other activities backstage
contact employees carry out to support the onstage activities.

Support processes: this includes all the actions, interactions, internal services carried out by
individuals or units (not contact employees) within the company to support contact employees
deliver the service. They are not visible to the customers.

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 PSM 206 – SERVICE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Physical evidence: This comes at the top of the diagram and represents the physical evidence
of the service. They are typically listed above each point of contact. For example, the physical
evidence of a face-to-face meeting can be listed as office decor.

Lines: Each component of the service blueprint is separated by a line. First comes the line of
interaction which represents direct interaction between the customer and the organization;
every time the line of interaction is crossed by a link from the customer to the contact employee,
a moment of truth occurs. During these moments of truths, the customer judges the quality of
the service and makes decisions about future purchases.

Then comes the line of visibility. All components that come above this line are visible to the
customer while the ones that come below it are invisible.

The last is the internal line of interaction. These separates contact employee activities from
other service support activities and people. Vertical lines cutting across the line of internal
interaction represent internal service encounters.

Arrows: These represent the relationships/ dependencies. A single arrow indicates a one-way
exchange, and a double arrow indicates the need for agreement from both parties or
codependence.

Some secondary elements you can include in a service blueprint are:

Time: If time is an essential part of your service, you can use a timeline to represent the
estimated time duration for each step of the process.

Emotions: Similar to the way a customer journey map reveals the emotions customers go
through during each step of their journey, you can indicate the various emotional states your
employees are in during each step of the service delivery process.

Metrics: You can also include success metrics in your service blueprint to track the progress
toward your goals.

8.5 Benefits of a Service Blueprint

The service blueprint helps organizations to effectively understand their services – the
resources and the underlying processes. There are several other benefits of service blueprints:

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 PSM 206 – SERVICE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

1. Streamlined service delivery: A service blueprint provides a clear overview of the different
processes, activities, and touchpoints involved in delivering a service. It helps organizations
identify redundancies, bottlenecks, and areas of inefficiency, allowing for process optimization
and streamlining. A service blueprint also helps check the process’s logical flow and evaluate
its effectiveness and productivity.

2. Enhanced customer experience: Service blueprints allow organizations to identify pain

points and areas for improvement in the customer journey. It helps to understand customer
needs and wants and the impact of a failed delivery service. By mapping out the entire service
process, organizations can identify moments of truth, optimize interactions, and design better
customer experiences.

3. Improved service design and innovation: By visualizing the service process, organizations
can spot opportunities for innovation and new service offerings. Using a service blueprint, you
can isolate service systems that are slow, repetitive, overly complex, waste resources and are
toxic to the customer. Service blueprints enable service designers to identify areas where
technology, automation, or new approaches can be implemented to enhance the service and
provide additional value to customers.

4. Measurement and performance evaluation: Service blueprints provide a framework for

measuring service performance and evaluating key metrics at each step of the process. By
tracking and analyzing data related to service delivery, organizations can identify areas for
improvement, set benchmarks, and monitor progress over time. A service blueprint helps with
measuring the cost-of-service delivery and identifying opportunities for improving the service
delivery system.

5. Cross-functional collaboration: Service blueprints involve multiple stakeholders and

departments, facilitating team collaboration and communication. It helps break down silos and
fosters a shared understanding of the service process, allowing for coordinated efforts in
delivering an exceptional service experience. You can also use them to understand cross-
functional relationships in your organization and align front-stage and back-stage actions.

6. Training and employee empowerment: Service blueprints can be used as training tools for
employees, providing a step-by-step guide to service delivery. They help employees understand
their roles and responsibilities and how their actions impact the service experience. This
empowers employees to make informed decisions and deliver consistent, high-quality service.

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 PSM 206 – SERVICE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

7. Service recovery and problem-solving: When service failures or issues occur, service
blueprints serve as a valuable tool for identifying the root causes and developing solutions. By
pinpointing the specific steps and touchpoints where problems arise, organizations can
implement effective service recovery strategies and prevent similar issues in the future.

8.6 Applications of a Service Blueprint

Service blueprints have various applications across industries and sectors. Here are some
common applications of service blueprints:

Service Design: Service blueprints are used to understand the customer journey, identify pain
points, and design customer-centric experiences.

Customer Experience Management: Service blueprints help manage and improve customer
experiences by aligning processes, policies, and resources to meet customer expectations.

Process Optimization: Service blueprints identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and redundant

activities, improving efficiency, reducing costs, and enhancing service quality.

Service Innovation: Service blueprints act as a foundation for identifying opportunities and
implementing innovative solutions to enhance the service experience.

Employee Training and Onboarding: Service blueprints are used as training tools to help
employees understand their roles, responsibilities and how their actions contribute to the
overall service experience.

Service Recovery: Service blueprints assist in analyzing service failures, identifying root
causes, and developing effective strategies for service recovery.

Cross-functional Collaboration: Service blueprints promote collaboration and

communication among departments by providing a shared understanding of the service process
and interdependencies.

Performance Measurement and Evaluation: Service blueprints provide a framework for

measuring and evaluating service performance, allowing organizations to identify areas for
improvement, set benchmarks, and monitor progress.

8.7 How to Read the Service Blueprint

A service blueprint can be read in multiple ways. In this section, we will show you how to read
and understand them for different purposes.

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 PSM 206 – SERVICE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

• To understand the customers’ view of the process or of their experience; read the
service blueprint from left to right while tracking the elements in the customer action
category. You can understand the view of the customer by focusing on how they initiate
the service, the choices they make, how involved they are in creating the service, the
physical evidence of the service from their point of view and whether the evidence is
consistent with the strategy and positioning of the evidence.
• To understand the role of the contact employees; read the diagram horizontally
focusing on the activities that are directly above and below the line of visibility. Here
you can look into how effective and efficient the process is, who interacts with the
customer and how often they do so and whether there is one or several people to deal
with a customer.
• To understand how the various elements of the service process are integrated;
Here you need to analyze the blueprint vertically. This analysis will help you identify
which employees and which tasks are essential to effectively deliver the service to
customers. Focus on what actions are performed backstage to assist the critical
customer interaction points, what the supporting actions are, and how the handoffs
between employees are taking place.
• To redesign the service process; Here you can analyze the service blueprint as a
whole. By doing so you can understand its complexity, how it can be changed and how
changes in the customer’s point of view may affect the contact employee actions and
internal processes. You can also use the blueprint to evaluate inefficiencies and failure
points and identify opportunities for improvement and redesign.

8.8 How to Create a Service Blueprint

The process of building a service blueprint itself has many benefits. It’ll help develop a shared
vision of the service process among everyone involved, identify complexities of the service
that were never apparent and understand the roles and responsibilities of the task owners.

The development of the service blueprint requires a cross-functional team consisting of

members from marketing, operations, HR, and in some cases, even customers.

You can simplify the process of creating a service blueprint by using an online diagramming
tool like Creately. It enables you and your team to work on the same canvas with infinite space
in real-time. And using comments and discussion threads you can monitor feedback from

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 PSM 206 – SERVICE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

stakeholders. There are many pre-made templates as well, and you can use them right away to
start your project.

Step 1: Identify the service process to be blueprinted: Whether it is a main process or sub-
process, it’s important to have identified what it is beforehand. Once you have determined the
underlying purpose for creating the service blueprint, you can identify which process to start
with. Focus on blueprinting one process at a time.

Step 2: Identify the customer segment: Different customer segments may have different needs
and requirements; therefore, your service may change from segment to segment. If your service
process varies across different customer segments you cater to, then it’s important to blueprint
these processes separately.

Dedicate the second step to identifying the particular customer segment the identified service
process caters to. Once that’s specified, you need to get an idea about the interactions of the
customers during each step of the process.

A good way to understand the customer interactions or the choices and the actions they perform
across the various service touchpoints is the customer journey map. Since the service blueprint
is primarily about the employee actions, your customer journey map for this step doesn’t have
to be a comprehensive one – one that highlights the touchpoints and the parallel actions would
suffice.

However, it is important to thoroughly understand who the customer is, which may require
considerable research. If you already have customer profiles for different segments, you can
use them at this point; if not consider creating one for they may come in handy when you are
blueprinting service processes anytime. This will help you get an idea about the process from
the point of view of the customer. And it will also help you identify and avoid process steps
that have no customer impact.

Step 3: Map onstage/ backstage contact employee actions: This step starts with mapping the
service process from the point of view of the contact employee both frontstage and backstage.
You can question operations employees to gather the relevant information on the activities they
perform in full view of the customer and which are carried out behind the scenes. If technology
is involved in delivering the service, you can map the actions on the technology interface.

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 PSM 206 – SERVICE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Ask your team members to provide their input. Use sticky notes, shapes, notes and data panel
to note down all information and to start sketching out the service blueprint.

Step 4: Link contact activities to needed support functions: Map the support processes the
employees rely on to carry out the actions you identified above the line of interaction. These
activities may involve employees from different departments of the organization, even those
who are don’t directly interact with customers. Once the support functions are identified, link
the contact activities to them. This step will help you understand the direct and indirect impact
of internal actions on the customers. Use the dynamic connectors to link activities. You can
also color code and customize the connectors.

Step 5: Add physical evidence of service at each customer action step: Finally, add the
physical evidence to the map. This highlights what the customer sees or receives as tangible
evidence of the service during each step of their experience.

Step 6: Fine-tune and share: In the final step of creating a service blueprint, you can add
additional elements such as time indicators, metrics, or employee emotions to refine your
diagram even further. Then share it across the organization to communicate your take on how
the internal organizational processes work.

Compiled by: Dr. Isaac Quaye 8 CCTU