What is the Difference Between a Process Map and a Customer Journey Map in Government?
Rosetta Carrington Lue
AI Consulting for CX & Government Service Delivery | 2025 @ICMI CX Thought Leader | Certified Change Management Practioner
Process mapping and customer journey mapping are often used interchangeably, but the terms are defined completely differently.
First, process mapping is used to depict the sequence of steps, activities, and decision points involved in completing a specific process or task. It helps government agencies identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and opportunities for improvement within a specific process.
Below is a great example of a generic process map from the Queensland Government on incident management detection.
Second, customer journey mapping helps government agencies gain insights into the customer's perspective, emotions, and pain points by visualizing the different touchpoints and interactions a customer goes through across multiple channels and stages of their journey.
The federal government's Digital.gov blog provided a step-by-step outline to help build the business case for creating a customer journey map. Here is a great excerpt and example of a customer journey map on the process from their blog titled " Journey Mapping the Customer Experience: A USA.gov Case Study" by MaryAnn Monroe, CCXP , and Michelle Chronister.
"The journey mapping process and results helped us clearly see the pain points and gaps in the customer’s experience, including channel, content, and device gaps. It also helped to build empathy and increase understanding with our employees."
In summary, process mapping concentrates on internal workflows and operational efficiency, while journey mapping focuses on the holistic customer experience and aims to improve customer satisfaction and engagement.
President/CEO, Turnkey Solutions, LLC - Citizen Experience Aficionado - 10KSB Alum
1 年This is a really great post Rosetta Carrington Lue! The benefits of each are maximized when government agencies truly understand the importance of clear, streamlined processes and the impact they have on the customer journey! #CustomerExperience #GovernmentAgencies
CX executive passionate about making government services better.
1 年Thanks for sharing this Rosetta Carrington Lue! Both are effective and important tools to better understand what’s happening—convoluted internal processes often result in poor customer and employee experiences. I’m a big fan of both methods to better understand EX and CX. It makes no sense to automate a bad process. Understand it first. Congratulations on your new job! Super happy for you my friend.