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Background: The traditional pattern of theory assessment may not address the principles of assessment due to faulty paper-setting practices. This interventional study aimed to sensitize the faculty in designing a test blueprint template to set question papers (QPs). The set QPs were reviewed by experts to evaluate the effectiveness of blueprinting in the quality of the QPs. Methods: Based on the validated weightage of the biochemistry syllabus, each of the 10 faculty prepared a test blueprint, and set theory QPs without and with those test blueprints. The QPs were blinded and randomly allocated to 9 experts for evaluation. The test paper review score and feedback from both faculty and subject experts were statistically analyzed. Results: Reliability check of faculty feedback and review checklist of test papers validated its internal consistency. In all, 95% of participants expressed their agreement with various attributes of blueprinting and its future application in assessment. Statistically significant improvement (P<0.005) was observed in the overall quality of the QPs with blueprinting. Conclusion: It was determined that blueprinting aligns objectives, content areas, and curriculum with assessment, thus improving reliability and content validity. Validated weightage of the biochemistry syllabus and blueprints for written examination were systematized.

Purpose The previous literature has indicated that the productisation of services may play a role in service management, although a certain level of obscurity still surrounds the concept. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to clarify the meaning of service productisation (SP) as well as to contribute to a greater understanding of the concept. Design/methodology/approach An inductive analysis was applied to 13 instances of activities related to the productisation of services, with secondary data being analysed to identify practices relevant to SP and to examine their significance. The analysis is guided by an extensive literature review. Findings SP has been found to play a role in systematising and tangibilising a service offering and its related processes as well as in formalising the processes and service offerings. The potential elements of SP have been identified and supporting evidence has been provided. The findings indicate that SP has a specific focus on the offering and its related processes, with the aim being to create a service product that can be sold, delivered and invoiced. SP may utilise various practices and techniques, and customer orientation also plays a significant role. A typology of SP has been created by reflecting on its commercial and technical aspects. Practical implications This study has important implications for the service industry as it provides a structure and key considerations for productising services. Originality/value This study is one of the first to seek evidence for the concept of SP from multiple instances of SP as well as an extensive literature base. The typology created provides a context for discussing SP as well as reflecting on its commercial and technical aspects.

This case study explored the application of the service blueprinting method during the conceptual design of an AI-enabled digital scribe—an intelligent documentation support system—tailored for orthopedic consultations. In this paper, we discuss how this method can be used to enhance collaboration between user experience designers and machine learning engineers. Specifically, we show how service blueprinting can help innovation teams create a common foundation for understanding design challenges, enrich data with user-related insights, and highlight the value of AI capabilities as an organizational resource. Building on recent academic research in the field of human-computer interaction, our findings provide additional insights for addressing the design challenges associated with developing human-centric AI and incorporating service design approaches.

Abstract Service blueprinting is a service design technique commonly used by for-profit organizations to illustrate and enhance customer experiences. This article describes an extensive service blueprinting initiative conducted at a large public research institution in the U.S. using a case study methodology. The case included the creation of 114 service blueprints by staff members across 29 departments to enhance non-academic student experiences. Data sources included interviews, observations, archival data, and artifacts. The researcher details the methods and benefits of service blueprinting as they apply to services in a higher education context. In addition to describing the case and the short-term and longer-term consequences of the large-scale blueprinting initiative, the article includes a series of recommendations for university administrators seeking to improve student satisfaction and student-centeredness.

Producing a robust multiple-choice question examination (MCQ) for high-stakes assessment requires significant time and effort to ensure reliability and validity. The enhancement-focused framework recommends stepwise processes to produce a high-quality assessment. The processes, consisting of blueprinting, vetting, standard setting, external review, and student orientation, were used to develop and administer the final year medical school multiple-choice question examination. Item analysis was performed, question psychometrics were interpreted, and the locally developed examination was compared with the external International Foundations of Medicine Clinical Science Examination. The examination cut score was 55.08 percent and the mean score was 62.04 percent (SD ±8.27). Internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability measure) was 0.759. 57 percent of questions had a discriminatory index > 0.2 and more than 85 percent had a difficulty index > 0.30. Comparison of the locally developed MCQ examination with the external examination resulted in a Pearson’s correlation coefficient of 0.81 validating the locally developed MCQ examination as a high-quality assessment tool. Despite availability of multiple contemporary assessment methods, MCQs remain a popular, valid, and reliable summative assessment tool in higher education. The enhancement-focused framework provides a strong foundation to develop a high-stake MCQ examination. However, continued rigorous scrutiny of all test items and the refinement of the individual processes such as blueprinting, vetting, standard setting, and external review is imperative to enhance their quality, and this process is a continuous cycle enriching locally produced question banks.

Background Most research into the validity of admissions tools focuses on the isolated correlations of individual tools with later outcomes. Instead, looking at how domains of attributes, rather than tools, predict later success is likely to be more generalizable. We aim to produce a blueprint for an admissions scheme that is broadly relevant across institutions. Methods We broke down all measures used for admissions at one medical school into the smallest possible component scores. We grouped these into domains on the basis of a multicollinearity analysis, and conducted a regression analysis to determine the independent validity of each domain to predict outcomes of interest. Results We identified four broad domains: logical reasoning and problem solving, understanding people, communication skills, and biomedical science. Each was independently and significantly associated with performance in final medical school examinations. Conclusions We identified two potential errors in the design of admissions schema that can undermine their validity: focusing on tools rather than outcomes, and including a wide range of measures without objectively evaluating the independent contribution of each. Both could be avoided by following a process of programmatic assessment for selection.

Background Since volatile and rising cost factors such as energy, raw materials and market competitiveness have a significant impact on the economic efficiency of biotechnological bulk productions, industrial processes need to be steadily improved and optimized. Thereby the current production hosts can undergo various limitations. To overcome those limitations and in addition increase the diversity of available production hosts for future applications, we suggest a Production Strain Blueprinting (PSB) strategy to develop new production systems in a reduced time lapse in contrast to a development from scratch. To demonstrate this approach, Bacillus pumilus has been developed as an alternative expression platform for the production of alkaline enzymes in reference to the established industrial production host Bacillus licheniformis . Results To develop the selected B. pumilus as an alternative production host the suggested PSB strategy was applied proceeding in the following steps (dedicated product titers are scaled to the protease titer of Henkel’s industrial production strain B. licheniformis at lab scale): Introduction of a protease production plasmid, adaptation of a protease production process (44%), process optimization (92%) and expression optimization (114%). To further evaluate the production capability of the developed B. pumilus platform, the target protease was substituted by an α-amylase. The expression performance was tested under the previously optimized protease process conditions and under subsequently adapted process conditions resulting in a maximum product titer of 65% in reference to B. licheniformis protease titer. Conclusions In this contribution the applied PSB strategy performed very well for the development of B. pumilus as an alternative production strain. Thereby the engineered B. pumilus expression platform even exceeded the protease titer of the industrial production host B. licheniformis by 14%. This result exhibits a remarkable potential of B. pumilus to be the basis for a next generation production host, since the strain has still a large potential for further genetic engineering. The final amylase titer of 65% in reference to B. licheniformis protease titer suggests that the developed B. pumilus expression platform is also suitable for an efficient production of non-proteolytic enzymes reaching a final titer of several grams per liter without complex process modifications.

Purpose – Demand-based pricing fixes price according to customers’ perceptions of service value and to their resulting willingness to pay. This pricing approach enables service companies to align their prices to customers’ preferences and to their expenditure propensity. Accordingly, it can generate higher margins than other pricing approaches. Nevertheless, this approach is difficult to implement operationally. Consequently, in order to overcome these implementation difficulties, the purpose of this paper is to provide a demand-based pricing approach based on the user-friendly technique of service blueprint (SB). Design/methodology/approach – The methodology relies on the design science leads. Design science deals with creating artefacts or models for supporting human or organizational purposes; such artefacts have to be assessed against criteria of utility or value for users. Accordingly, an experimental action research is performed for both implementing and testing the proposed pricing approach. Findings – Starting from the main difficulties hindering implementation of demand-based pricing, SB is proved to enable companies to overcome such difficulties and to support its implementation. Moreover, by employing SB, an innovative approach for fixing service prices is provided. Practical implications – The proposed approach enables managers of service companies to overcome difficulties of demand-based pricing and to employ pricing strategies according to demand-based drivers. Originality/value – In line with a recent call for research on service pricing, this paper develops a new pricing approach, which is able to promote demand-based pricing.