Programme overview
Technical depth: Practitioner · Practical mode: Case study
Introduction
Customers experience a service as one continuous interaction, yet it is delivered by separate teams, systems and suppliers that rarely see the whole picture. Handoffs fail, waits grow and frontline staff improvise because no one has defined what good looks like at each step. This Core Concept course equips managers to make the whole service visible with a service blueprint, find its fail points and write measurable service standards that teams can deliver. Participants apply each method to cases from several sectors and leave with a Service Blueprint and Service Standards Pack for a priority service.
Course Objectives
- Diagnose where a service falls short using the SERVQUAL gap model and direct observation evidence
- Construct a service blueprint that links customer actions to frontstage, backstage and support processes
- Identify fail points, wait points and handoff risks and design mistake-proofing controls for them
- Write measurable service standards with tolerances, owners and monitoring methods
- Test a service design for inclusivity and consistency across digital and assisted channels
- Produce a Service Blueprint and Service Standards Pack ready for approval by the service owner
Target Audience
- Service delivery managers responsible for end-to-end service performance
- Customer experience and service design managers improving specific services
- Process improvement and quality managers redesigning front and back-office workflows
- Branch, site and channel managers accountable for consistent service standards
- Operations managers in shared services who support customer-facing teams
Course Outline
Day 1: Service Foundations and Current-State Diagnosis
- Service Characteristics: Intangibility, Inseparability, Variability and Perishability
- ISO 23592 Service Excellence Model Overview
- SERVQUAL Gap Model for Diagnosing Service Shortfalls
- SIPOC Mapping of a Priority Service
- Current-State Evidence Gathering: Observation, Shadowing and Staff Interviews
Day 2: Blueprinting Frameworks and Standards
- Shostack Blueprint Notation and the Line of Visibility
- Blueprint Lanes: Customer Actions, Frontstage, Backstage and Support Processes
- ISO/TS 24082 Activities for Designing Excellent Service
- ISO 9241-210 Human-Centred Design Cycle Applied to Services
- Physical Evidence and Touchpoint Inventory Template
Day 3: Building Blueprints and Writing Standards
- Blueprint Construction with Swimlanes, Timings and Handoffs
- Fail Point and Wait Point Marking on the Blueprint
- Service Standards Derived from the RATER Dimensions
- Measurable Standard Statements with Targets and Tolerances
- Standard Operating Procedure and Service Script Drafting
Day 4: Service Risk, Inclusivity and Consistency
- Failure Mode and Effects Analysis for Service Steps per IEC 60812
- Poka-Yoke Mistake-Proofing for Customer and Employee Errors
- Inclusive Service Design for Vulnerable Customers Using ISO 22458
- Omnichannel Consistency Checks Across Digital and Assisted Channels
- Standards Compliance Monitoring with Mystery Shopping Scorecards
Day 5: Case Work and the Service Standards Pack
- Hospital Outpatient Case Study: Blueprinting a Multi-Department Service
- Licensing Service Case Study: Removing Backstage Fail Points
- Future-State Blueprint Build for an Own Service
- Service Standards Pack Drafting with Measures and Owners
- Peer Walk-Through and Blueprint Defence
Skills You Will Gain
- Service Blueprinting
- Service Gap Diagnosis
- Fail Point Analysis
- Service Standards Writing
- Service Risk Assessment
- Inclusive Service Design
- Service Compliance Monitoring
Why Attend This Course
- Return to work with a Service Blueprint and Service Standards Pack for a real service, already challenged by peers
- See how backstage processes and systems cause the problems customers complain about at the front
- Give frontline teams standards they can meet and managers can measure, instead of vague service promises
- Compare service designs with managers from public, private and non-profit organisations in other countries
Conclusion
A service improves only when everyone who delivers it can see the whole of it and knows the standard expected at each step. This course moves from diagnosing current service gaps, through the blueprinting notation and service excellence standards, to the fail-point, risk and inclusivity controls that keep a design working in practice. The final day turns that material into a Service Blueprint and Service Standards Pack that participants take back to their service owner as the basis for the next round of improvement.