Service Design Patterns

An alpha list of patterns

What are Service Design Patterns?

Service design patterns are the basic building blocks that make up services — things like proving your identity, sharing your information, making a payment, or getting a notification.

Service Design Pattern ≠ Service Pattern

A service design pattern describes the building blocks of a service (Payment), while a service pattern outlines an end to end service (Licensing). Below service design patterns sits design patterns (interaction design patterns and form patterns).

Design patterns apply meaning to UI elements, service design patterns apply context to design patterns.

At this point in time our team is focusing on service design patterns.

What’s the point of service design patterns?

We don’t know what the ultimate value of service design patterns will be for service providers, designers and developers, but we believe they can be useful to:

1. Establish a common language for service design and delivery.

2. Provide a service design toolset for service providers and designers.

3. Help enable a more consistent service experience across government programs.

4. Create common ways of measuring different patterns.

5. Can be used to map new or existing services — just like a set of building blocks can be used to create new alternatives or structures.

6. Document best practices, research and resources associated to a pattern.

As we develop these patterns and conduct more research we’ll learn where the value emerges for end users.

Alpha service design patterns

Our service design patterns still exist as a list of likely or possible patterns, and what the content structure of a pattern is, how it’s communicated, documented, developed, shared, and how it fits into a larger design system are still questions we need to research.

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Apply

• I need to request a service from government.
• Government enables citizens to request a specific service from government for which they are eligible.

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Audit

• I need to demonstrate compliance with a set of conditions so I can avoid a penalty or continue to access a service.
• Government checks compliance to ensure that conditions of a service are met.

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Authenticate

• I need to prove who I am.
• Government enables citizens to verify their identity with government.

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Awareness

• I need to understand what services address my needs and how I can access them.
• Government enables citizens to understand what services are available to them, understand the service, what it offers, whether they are eligible, how to access that service and the steps/process involved.

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Confirmation

• I need to know that government has received/processed my request.
• Government has the ability to alert the citizen/business that we have received submission, request or payment.

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Eligibility

• I need to confirm that I meet a requirement so that I can access a service.
• Government enables citizens to verify that they are eligible to receive a service and access its benefits.

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Estimate Service Duration

• I need to know how long a service will take at the beginning of the service process.
• Government manages expectations and service levels at the beginning of the service delivery process.

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External Referral

• I need services that government does not provide.
• Government is able to formally or informally refer citizen to services not provided within government.

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Feedback

• I want to tell government how the service worked for me.
• Government enables citizens to provide feedback to government on their experience of the service.

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Internal Referral

• I need services provided by other parts of government.
• Government is able to formally or informally refer citizens to services provided by other areas of government.

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Notification

• I need to know when I should respond or act on something government needs me to do.
• Government makes citizen aware of possible service options, mandatory actions, or updated information.

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Pay Citizen

• I receive money from government.
• Government has the ability to pay citizens or businesses as part of a service fulfillment.

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Pay Government

• I need to pay money to government/I owe government money.
• Government enables citizens to pay government for services delivered, requested or in response to a bill from government.

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Penalty

• I have been non-compliant and therefore I’m receiving a penalty.
• Government enforces compliance by imposing a penalty.

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Performance

• I want to know how well government is delivering services.
• Government is able to provide information on service levels and service value.

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Preview Service

• I need to understand what a service involves so I can plan and prepare for it with better expectations.
• Government helps prepare people to receive a service.

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Proactive Eligibility

• I need government to let me know which services I am eligible for based on a requirement.
• Government is able to advise citizens on services they may be eligible for based on who the citizen is.

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Queue

• I need to wait in an orderly fashion for a service to be provided.
• Government requires people to wait in a specific order to manage a service request.

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Receive Information

• I need to receive specific and personal information about me from government.
• Government has the ability to send government records to a citizen or business.

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Receive Product

• I need to get a physical product from government so I can use it.
• Government provides physical products to people as part of the service.

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Status Tracking

• I need to know where I am at in the service delivery process, and how much longer I will need to wait until I get the service I requested.
• Government enables citizens to access information so they know where they are in the process and how much longer they need to wait.

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Submit Information

• I need to give information about myself to government.
• Government enables citizens to submit information to government as part of the requirement for service fulfillment.

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Triage

• I need to explain my situation and be directed to an appropriate service.
• Government directs an individual to the appropriate service based on needs and context.

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Wayfinding

• I need to know where to go to get the right information to know which service to access.
• Government enables citizens to find information and services they need.

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Since this is an alpha list, the patterns will inevitably be iterated upon. One of my initial assumptions is that the pattern names could be written more action orientated:

• Pay Government -> Make a payment
• Status Tracking -> Track my status
• Notification -> Receive a notification

Also, the confusing part of service design patterns is that they don’t all exist on the same “level”. The Apply pattern might also require the Pay Government pattern, which would create a nested or hierarchical relationship. We aren’t sure yet of how this affects the patterns, but it does have implications when used as a mapping tool.

Where do we go next?

Our research into service design patterns has actually been going on for many years and many minds have contributed to set the ground work for our team. The baton has now been handed off to myself and my colleague Marlieke Kieboom to move this work forward. Obviously we can’t go about this alone. So as the conversations around service design patterns picks up internally within the B.C. public service as well as with different organizations like Government Digital Services and conferences like Patterns Day, we wanted to put our thinking and our work out into the world.

As we move forward with this work we’re hoping we can get your feedback and thoughts into the topic. There is clearly much more research that needs to be done on this subject, and we’re figuring out what that’s going to look like.

As more of our thinking emerges we’ll hopefully be able to share what we’ve found and continue the discussion around service design patterns.

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Have you been working on service design patterns? What are your thoughts? Please let us know!