User Journey Mapping - Current State
User Journey Mapping - Current State
Understand the service as it works today, across public-facing and inter-agency journeys.
Current-State Mapping
A current-state user journey map shows how someone experiences a service as it works today, from the event that creates a need to the outcome they receive. Users may be citizens, businesses, government officers or representatives of other agencies.
Learning outcomes
- Define a user scenario, goal and journey boundaries.
- Identify stages, actions, channels and touchpoints.
- Capture thoughts, expectations and emotions.
- Distinguish pain points, failure points and moments of truth.
- Create a current-state map and identify evidence gaps.
An internal process flow shows how teams route and approve requests. A journey map shows what the user experiences, including waiting, uncertainty and attempts to get help. Record proposed improvements separately.
Essential Terms
Select a card to explore the building blocks of a journey map.
Define the Scenario
Start with one user, one situation and one goal. “Using government services” is too broad to map meaningfully.
A [user] needs to [goal] because [trigger]. The journey begins when [starting point] and ends when [outcome].
Channels and Critical Points
A channel is the medium of interaction; a touchpoint is a specific interaction within it.
| Channel | Touchpoint |
|---|---|
| Website | Reading a requirements page |
| Shared portal | Uploading an endorsed request |
| Receiving a request for additional information | |
| Telephone | Calling to clarify status |
| Counter or meeting | Presenting documents or discussing the request |
| Official correspondence | Receiving a formal approval letter |
| Element | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Pain point | Friction that makes a journey difficult, slow or frustrating | Entering information already supplied in an attachment |
| Failure point | Progress breaks down or the required outcome is not achieved | A mandatory document is rejected by the upload system |
| Moment of truth | An interaction that strongly shapes trust or confidence | Receiving a clear, timely and useful decision |
Check whether users can continue their task when moving between channels, whether guidance stays consistent and whether they must repeat information. Moments of truth can be positive or negative.
Stages and Actions
Stages are broad phases. Actions are the specific things users do within those phases. Adjust the stages to match the actual scenario.
| Possible stage | Example user actions |
|---|---|
| Recognise a need | Receive a manager’s request for a report |
| Find information | Search for the data request procedure |
| Prepare | Complete a form, obtain endorsement and collect documents |
| Submit | Upload the request and check confirmation |
| Wait and follow up | Check status, respond to email and telephone for help |
| Receive and use | Download, open and inspect the dataset |
Document preparation, calls, email exchanges, waiting and repeated attempts belong in the map. Receiving a file may not end the journey if the user cannot open or use it.
Evidence and Experience
Capture how users interpret the service as well as what they do. Use interviews, observation, enquiries and feedback.
Journey Explorer
Explore an illustrative inter-agency journey and a public-facing alternative. Thoughts and emotions below are assumptions to validate with users.
Practical Activity
45–60 minutes · Small groups · Map one current user scenario.
1. Choose and scope a scenario
Choose a citizen applying for a permit, an officer requesting data from another agency, or a specific task through your own agency’s service. Define the user, goal, trigger, starting point and outcome.
2. Build the map
Add a column for each journey stage and complete the following rows.
| Map row | What to record |
|---|---|
| Actions | What the user actually does |
| Thoughts | Questions and concerns |
| Expectations | What the user expects |
| Channels and touchpoints | Where and how interactions occur |
| Emotions | Feelings and their reasons |
| Pain points | Confusion, effort, delays or duplication |
| Failure points | Where progress or the outcome fails |
| Moments of truth | Interactions that strongly affect trust |
| Evidence and gaps | Sources, assumptions and unanswered questions |
3. Review
- Follow the user across channels and include waiting, follow-up and repeated actions.
- Support thoughts and emotions with evidence or label them as assumptions.
- Check whether the ending point demonstrates achievement of the goal.
- Keep improvements separate from current-state observations.
4. Share findings
Present the user, scenario and goal; three significant journey problems; one moment of truth; and two assumptions or evidence gaps to investigate.
Map today’s journey from the user’s perspective. Show what happens, where the experience breaks down and what remains unknown.
Do not replace current behaviour with an ideal future journey or treat imagined emotions as research findings.
Knowledge Check
Check your understanding. Select one answer per question to see feedback.