Local government services can be complex. Often we only provide part of the service that a resident needs. For example, we provide a service to enable residents to apply for a school place. But before they can do that, they want to understand which schools are right for their child. Mapping the customer journey helps you understand the whole process, including elements that aren’t covered by our service today.

On the left hand-side of the board, write the key stakeholders involved in delivering the goal. For example, in housing repairs it might be tenants and leaseholders, contact centre, repair staff.

Write out the critical path that need to be followed to produce the end result. For example, eating a cake involves a baker, a shop and a customer. The baker bakes a cake and sends it to a shop. The shop advertises it, a customer buys it and then eats it. This is a more sophisticated map showing how a patient goes from making an appointment to beginning therapy.

Keep this simple for now, avoiding the complexity of rules. For example - ‘assess eligibility’ is better than setting out all of the qualification rules.

Remember that the end result might not necessarily be where the council service stops.

For inspiration

An example map