A Blueprint Workshop Structure for March 2026 (Not September 2025)

Blueprint and App Design
1

A Blueprint Workshop Structure for March 2026 (Not September 2025)

Based on the discussions in this series, I want to share something practical: a workshop structure that leverages Blueprint capabilities available right now — not the simplified version most of us designed when Blueprint had fewer features.

This is what I’m recommending to partners. I’d welcome this community’s feedback on what’s missing or what you’d change.

Pre-Workshop (1–2 hours)

  • Upload supporting assets: process documentation (DOCX/PDF), BPMN diagrams, video walkthroughs of legacy processes, DDL/OpenAPI specifications for existing systems of record

  • Let Blueprint’s GenAI analyze and summarize — use the autocompletion to pre-populate application context

  • * If you’re working with a domain-heavy client, consider uploading SQL DDL schemas or OpenAPI YAML contracts at this stage. Blueprint’s dedicated GenAI model for BPMN import is separate from the asset-generation model — meaning it doesn’t trade off quality between the two tasks. Use both deliberately.

  • Create initial Blueprint and share with client stakeholders as viewers

  • * New (March 2026): Configure domain-based sharing restrictions before you send stakeholder invites. This ensures the Blueprint remains within approved organizational domains — a governance step that used to be an afterthought, but is now a first-class feature.

This step alone eliminates the first 2–3 days of a traditional discovery. The client arrives at the workshop having already seen a working model of their process.

Day 1: Structure + Logic

  • Refine Case Type hierarchy (parent/child relationships modeled since December 2024)

  • Walk through Lifecycles with stakeholders, editing inline

  • * As you walk the Lifecycle, pull up the BPMN viewer alongside it. Since August 2025, Blueprint preserves the original BPMN source and lets you view or download it while editing — a powerful way to show clients exactly what was interpreted and what was refined.

  • Introduce Business Rules where decisions exist — model the conditional logic in Decision Tables, reference them in Decision Steps

  • Use Stage-level routing from Decisions for exception handling and reassessment scenarios

  • Configure User Reference routing where business process requires specific user assignments (“return to original creator”)

  • * Workshop best practice: At the end of Day 1, take a version snapshot. Label it “Structure Baseline.” The changelog tracks every action — Case Type edits, Data Model changes, collaborator additions — so if the client pushes back on Day 2, you have a clean restore point and an audit trail to reference.

Day 2: Data + Integration

  • Curate Data Models — add Embedded Data structures (addresses, line items, nested objects)

  • Import Data Objects from DDL/OpenAPI specs brought from pre-workshop prep

  • Visualise relationships using the entity relationship diagram

  • * Updated (March 2026): Blueprint now actively suggests Case and Data references within each Case Type’s Data Model. Rather than manually mapping relationships, let the AI surface connection candidates — then validate with your client in real time. This is particularly powerful when the data model is complex (e.g., trade finance, claims, or onboarding workflows with many nested entities).

  • Define Case creation fields — the client sees the intake form in live preview immediately

  • Configure Attachment categories for document-heavy processes

  • AI-generate picklist values where standard options apply — refine with stakeholders

  • * Workshop best practice: If the client’s process involves Salesforce integration, activate the Pega Process Extender for Salesforce Lightning channel in live preview now. Stakeholders from Salesforce-heavy organizations will immediately see how the Pega workflow surfaces inside their existing CRM — a strong visual anchor for the “why Pega” conversation.

Day 3: Governance + Validation

  • * Updated (March 2026): SLA configuration has been significantly enhanced. You can now configure SLAs — including goal durations, deadline durations, and escalation actions — directly on Assignment Steps (both Collect Information and Approve/Reject steps) within Blueprint itself. This is a meaningful shift: governance that used to be deferred to implementation is now modeled during design. The client sees it working in live preview on the same day they define it.

  • Define Persona access rights (use AI-generated suggestions as starting point)

  • Walk the entire process in live preview — Desktop, Mobile, Web Self Service, and Conversational Agent channels

  • * Updated (March 2026): The Conversational Agent channel now supports two distinct interaction modes. The Agentic Chat channel engages users to collect data for new cases and surfaces an interaction history log. The Voice channel supports browser-based voice conversations via WebRTC — meaning stakeholders can test the voice bot directly in the browser without any phone infrastructure. Run both with real scenario data before the session ends.

  • * Workshop best practice: Run the voice scenario with a stakeholder playing the role of the customer. The combination of live preview fidelity and real-scenario data tends to be the moment the room shifts from evaluating to advocating. That shift is worth engineering deliberately.

  • Create a version snapshot as the “Discovery Baseline”

  • Assign release planning tags to Case Types and Personas

Post-Workshop Deliverable

  • Shareable Blueprint with version history

  • Blueprint Estimator-generated scope

  • Fixed-price proposal based on the modeled complexity

  • * New framing for partners: The fixed-price proposal is credible because the scope is based on modeled complexity, not estimated complexity. Every governance exception, data relationship, SLA, and channel variation was captured during design — not deferred to a statement of work written from memory. That’s the differentiated value of arriving with production-grade specs.

The key difference from a September 2025 workshop: every governance, exception, and data modeling pattern that would have been deferred to “implementation” is now captured in design. The client has seen it working in the live preview. The scope is based on modeled complexity, not estimated complexity.

For this community: What would you add? What have you tried in a Blueprint workshop that worked better than expected? What failed?

I’ll compile the best responses into an updated template for this circle.

2

Pumulo, This is really strong — and I like that it’s grounded in the new features of what Blueprint can do now!

One thought: this 3-day structure is great, especially as new features keep getting added I can see us spending more time in blueprint refining, but I could also see it working really well as a 2-day workshop for situations where getting stakeholders for 3 full days can be challenging.

If the pre-work is solid — docs uploaded, BPMN/API assets loaded, initial Blueprint set up — then I think you could compress it pretty effectively:

  • Day 1: case types, lifecycles, rules, routing, exceptions, and key data

  • Day 2: data/integrations, personas, SLAs, live preview, and scope alignment

So maybe a guidance could be:

  • 3 days if you want more depth and refinement

  • 2 days if stakeholder time is tight and you’re using the workshop more for validation than first-pass discovery

Could be useful to have both versions, since I imagine a lot of teams run into that constraint.

Thanks for the post, this is a great workshop structure! :slight_smile:

3

Hi Jimenez, I think that is a great way to position 2 versions of this. Sometimes even two days is a challenge to coordinate. It is important that all the influential people are present and focused. Two days of focus is much better than 3 days or even a week of multi-taskers or participants who miss parts of the workshop.

1 Like
4

Insightful post! @sikap my addition would be an ice breaker or kick start to the session with a “Just for fun” exercise, especially if the audience are new to Pega or Blueprint. Ask everyone to just create something either from their personal lives or something work related. Use this as a talking point to explain stages, steps, case types. etc. Get everyone on the same page and fast!

Equally when tackling the business problem you are trying to solve, ask everyone to generate their version of what needs to happen and run a show and tell. If you have multiple stakeholders in the room this sometimes surfaces specific requirements for a team or individual, whilst also aligning the audience on what is important.