Building application context
Pega Blueprint™ uses application context to generate a business-specific starting design. Teams can develop that context in working sessions before using Blueprint, refine it with stakeholders, or combine both approaches. What matters is that the context reflects the team’s understanding of the problem, outcome, scope, and operating environment as conditions evolve.
The Solution Designer selects and refines the information that will meaningfully shape the generated design. This topic explains how to select, compose, test, and refine the application context that gives Blueprint a business-specific basis for generation.
How application context shapes generation
Application context helps Blueprint interpret the business, its intended change, and the environment in which the solution must operate. Blueprint uses that information, together with its own knowledge and patterns, to generate an initial set of Case Types, Workflows, Data Objects, and Personas.
Relevant, business-specific context gives Blueprint stronger evidence from which to generate a business-relevant starting point. Details about the business, outcome, scale, and operating environment can influence the structure, terminology, and emphasis of the generated design.
Note: Generation is influenced, not determined, by application context. Business-specific evidence gives Blueprint a stronger basis for producing a relevant starting design, but every generated result still requires practitioner and stakeholder review.
Elements of effective application context
Application context brings together five elements that give Blueprint relevant evidence about the business and the intended direction of the design. As illustrated in the figure below, each element contributes a distinct perspective and helps the Solution Designer describe the intended future in business-specific terms:
| Element | Evidence it gives Blueprint |
|---|---|
| Business and industry | What the organization does and the market conditions that shape its operation. Industry-specific information helps Blueprint draw on relevant knowledge and patterns. |
| Operational scale | The size and shape of the operation, including the people involved, volume of work, geographic footprint, and peak-volume patterns. These details distinguish an operation with 15 people working across a compressed season from one with a much larger workforce and consistent year-round demand. |
| Transformation intent | The change the business wants to achieve and the future operating model the design should support. This gives Blueprint direction beyond addressing the immediate operational need. |
| Agreed outcome | What should change, who should benefit, the intended magnitude, and the time horizon. The outcome gives the generated design a business target and gives the Solution Designer a standard for evaluating the result. |
| Operating environment | How the business works, how responsibilities and decisions are organized, and what systems, constraints, and dependencies for which the solution must account. This evidence helps Blueprint generate a design that reflects the environment in which it will operate. |
Assumptions and gaps remain visible alongside these elements. They identify which information the team is using to proceed and what still needs to be confirmed, without presenting either as established business evidence.
Testing for specificity
Before generating, the Solution Designer applies a practical test:
Could this application context describe any similar business, or does it reflect the distinctive characteristics of this one?
Specificity comes from relevant detail not length. Compare the following functional descriptions of U+ Travel:
Both descriptions contain accurate information, but the business-specific version includes details that can directly shape the generated design, including:
- Size and structure of the operation
- Tools and coordination methods used today
- Seasonal demand pattern
- Connectivity constraint
- Agreed and measurable outcome
The Solution Designer tests each detail by asking: Would removing this information change how Blueprint interprets the business or the intended direction of the design? Details that influence the structure, terminology, participants, workflows, data, or operating constraints belong in the application context. Other information may provide useful background without needing to shape generation.
Describing the intended future
Application context should describe the change the business wants to achieve and the future operating model the design should support. This transformation intent gives Blueprint direction by connecting the business problem and agreed outcome to how the organization expects to operate differently.
The current state remains an important source of evidence. Existing processes, workarounds, dependencies, and constraints help the Solution Designer understand what the design must address and what the business needs to preserve. The judgment of the practitioner is to distinguish between:
- Current-state evidence that informs the design, such as operational constraints, dependencies, and business rules.
- Future-state intent that directs the design toward the change the business wants to achieve.
Tip: Describe the current state as evidence and the intended future as direction. Together, they give Blueprint a clearer basis for generating a solution concept that reflects where the business is and where it intends to go.
Scenario: Building the Application Context for U+ Travel
The Solution Designer works with Elena and other stakeholders to translate their evolving understanding of U+ Travel into application context. The following figure shows how each element contributes business-specific evidence that can shape the generated design:
Note: The Solution Designer should review and refine the application context with stakeholders as their understanding develops and as the generated design raises new questions.
| How would you respond? | Before generating the Blueprint, Elena asks whether the description contains enough detail. Which parts of the application context are most likely to shape the generated design? What information, if removed, would materially change how Blueprint interprets U+ Travel? What assumptions or gaps should remain visible rather than being presented as confirmed evidence? |
|---|
In practice
The following practices help the Solution Designer compose, evaluate, and refine application context with stakeholders.
| Practice | Why it matters | Questions to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Include the five application-context elements | Together, the five elements provide a structured, business-specific basis for generation. | Does the application context describe the business, its scale, intended change, outcome, and operating environment? |
| Select business-specific evidence | Defining details distinguish this business from similar organizations. | Could this describe any similar business, or does it reflect the distinctive characteristics of this one? |
| Describe the current state as evidence and the intended future as direction | The generated design must account for present conditions while supporting the change the business wants to achieve. | Does this information describe a condition the design must account for or the future the design should support? |
| Evaluate the relevance of each detail | Focused application context gives design-shaping evidence greater prominence. | Would removing this information change how Blueprint interprets the business or the intended direction of the design? |
| Review and refine the application context with stakeholders | Stakeholder review keeps the context aligned with the business as understanding develops. | What accurately reflects the business, and what should we refine before generating or shaping the design further? |
Application context provides the core business direction for generation; existing materials can extend that evidence by revealing rules, constraints, exceptions, and operating details that conversations alone may not surface.
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