A service blueprint is an operational planning tool that provides guidance on how a service will be provided, specifying the physical evidence, staff actions, and support systems / infrastructure needed to deliver the service across its different channels. For example, to plan how you will loan devices to users, a service blueprint would help determine how this would happen at a service desk, what kinds of maintenance and support activities were needed behind the scenes, how users would learn about what’s available, how it would be checked in and out, and by what means users would be trained on how to use the device.

Service Blueprints may take different forms – some more graphic than others – but should show the different means/channels through with services are delivered and show the physical evidence of the service, front line staff actions, behind the scene staff actions, and support systems. They are completed using an iterative process – taking a first pass that considers findings from personas, journey maps, and location planning and then coming back to the blueprint to refine it over time. Often blueprints raise questions that cannot be readily answered and so need to be prototyped; for instance by acting out an interaction or mocking up a product. Generally, one blueprint should be created for each core service, according to the right level of detail for each.

Example and Tool

Service Blueprint Example – Downloadable example (PDF).

Service Blueprint Template – Editable template for your use. Please download as MS Word doc or log-in to your Google docs account to ‘Make a copy’ and edit directly.