Today's Business Process
How does it work?
Overview
To achieve innovation in a service, you need to have clarity on how it's actually delivered–or you won’t know what needs to change to get there. Every step in your user’s journey relies on things happening behind the scenes: people doing work, collaborating, and using tools and automated systems.
This Business Process tool helps teams understand how work flows behind the scenes, using a common and simple view on service delivery. It links each step in Today’s User Journey to the actions happening on the provider side.
Use this tool to reveal who does what to support the user, and where things might go wrong. That’s how you spot friction, delays, or handoffs that can be improved. Looking at the process this way will also show you opportunities to do things radically differently, for the user’s benefit.
Input
Before completing this canvas, ensure you have completed the following steps:
Stakeholder MapUser InterviewUser ObservationToday's User JourneyContext
Use this after mapping Today’s User Journey. You’ll walk through the same steps—this time from the service provider’s side.
The goal is not to describe the ideal process, but what really happens today. Include workarounds, handoffs, even unofficial tools people really use. This helps teams see where user pain is rooted in service delivery, and start thinking about what might change in a future setting.
Use one template per journey. If you have multiple user journeys, create a separate map for each.
Recipe
Choose a journey
Pick a specific user journey you’ve already mapped. Ideally one where the user faced challenges or delays. Reuse the same steps from the journey map:
Start: How did the user first engage?
Middle: What happened next?
End: How did the service conclude?
Add people
Who is involved? For each step, list people making the service happen. You can list specific people's names or roles, or entire teams.
Look at your Stakeholder Map again, and add people previously unaccounted for.
You might encounter
Frontline staff such as call center, intake workers
Back office like case handlers, admins
Support teams such as IT, legal, finance
Third parties like external partners or suppliers
Add activities and tools
For each step, list the internal actions in the bottom row. What are they doing?
They might be
Receiving info
Checking documents
Entering data
Moving requests to the next team
Waiting for approval
What are they using?
Forms and procedures
E-Mail or Phone to exchange
Digital tools or apps
IT Systems running automated workflows
Spot disconnects
Mark where delays, confusion, or unnecessary steps appear. Compare this to what the user felt at that point. If the user was confused, lost, frustrated, or waiting, what was happening behind the scenes?
Add your observations. What slows service delivery down or causes issues?
Handoffs
Errors
Asking again for things we already know
Manual steps, system issues
Lack of clarity
Missed opportunities
Results
This map connects the service user experience to delivery operations and makes invisible work visible. You’ll be able to spot opportunities for improvements, or doing things completely differently. Your Today's Business Process highlights where to simplify, automate, or better coordinate. It also helps teams understand how their part fits in, and where other stakeholders play a role.
Tips
See the Big Picture – Focus on the big steps first, not tiny details.
Don't get lost in details – Don’t map every small step or reproduce lengthy documentation. Capture only what triggers or delivers results for the user.
Keep it simple – Keep the language simple and avoid technical jargon.
Get first hand input – Talk to frontline and operational staff, they know how it really works. Include workarounds or unofficial ways staff get things done.
We'd love to hear how you're using this tool! Please share your examples and feedback to inspire others and help improve the Booster. Submit your example today and be part of our community.
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