A fast staffing algorithm for multistage call centers with impatient customers and time-dependent overflow

IF 1.4 4区 管理学 Q3 OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE Central European Journal of Operations Research Pub Date : 2023-10-13 DOI:10.1007/s10100-023-00883-z
Michael Manitz, Marc-Philip Piehl
{"title":"A fast staffing algorithm for multistage call centers with impatient customers and time-dependent overflow","authors":"Michael Manitz, Marc-Philip Piehl","doi":"10.1007/s10100-023-00883-z","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Ensuring customer satisfaction is one of the main objectives of a call center. We focus on the question of how many agents are necessary and how they should be allocated to maintain a service level threshold and reduce the expected waiting time of the customers. In this paper, we consider a multistage call center that consists of a front and a back office, impatient customers, and an overflow mechanism. Based on the performance evaluation of such a system using a continuous-time Markov chain, a configuration of agents is determined using a binary search algorithm. We focus on structural insights, e.g., convexity conditions, to obtain a quick solution for the staffing problem. Since monotonicity does not always hold, the approach is heuristic. The numerical results show the performance of the algorithm. The influence of the fraction requiring second-level service in the back office and the impatience rate for the minimum number of agents is shown.","PeriodicalId":9689,"journal":{"name":"Central European Journal of Operations Research","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Central European Journal of Operations Research","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10100-023-00883-z","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract Ensuring customer satisfaction is one of the main objectives of a call center. We focus on the question of how many agents are necessary and how they should be allocated to maintain a service level threshold and reduce the expected waiting time of the customers. In this paper, we consider a multistage call center that consists of a front and a back office, impatient customers, and an overflow mechanism. Based on the performance evaluation of such a system using a continuous-time Markov chain, a configuration of agents is determined using a binary search algorithm. We focus on structural insights, e.g., convexity conditions, to obtain a quick solution for the staffing problem. Since monotonicity does not always hold, the approach is heuristic. The numerical results show the performance of the algorithm. The influence of the fraction requiring second-level service in the back office and the impatience rate for the minimum number of agents is shown.
查看原文
分享 分享
微信好友 朋友圈 QQ好友 复制链接
本刊更多论文
多阶段呼叫中心的快速人员配置算法,具有不耐烦的客户和时间依赖溢出
保证客户满意度是呼叫中心的主要目标之一。我们关注的问题是需要多少座席以及应该如何分配座席以维持服务水平阈值并减少客户的预期等待时间。在本文中,我们考虑了一个多级呼叫中心,它由前台和后台办公室、不耐烦的客户和溢出机制组成。在利用连续时间马尔可夫链对系统进行性能评价的基础上,采用二叉搜索算法确定智能体的配置。我们专注于结构性的洞察,例如,凸性条件,以获得人员配置问题的快速解决方案。由于单调性并不总是成立,所以这种方法是启发式的。数值结果表明了该算法的有效性。显示了在后台办公室中需要二级服务的比例和对最小代理数量的不耐烦率的影响。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 去求助
来源期刊
Central European Journal of Operations Research
Central European Journal of Operations Research 管理科学-运筹学与管理科学
CiteScore
4.70
自引率
11.80%
发文量
30
审稿时长
3 months
期刊介绍: The Central European Journal of Operations Research provides an international readership with high quality papers that cover the theory and practice of OR and the relationship of OR methods to modern quantitative economics and business administration. The focus is on topics such as: - finance and banking - measuring productivity and efficiency in the public sector - environmental and energy issues - computational tools for strategic decision support - production management and logistics - planning and scheduling The journal publishes theoretical papers as well as application-oriented contributions and practical case studies. Occasionally, special issues feature a particular area of OR or report on the results of scientific meetings.
期刊最新文献
Optimal model description of finance and human factor indices Properties of bundle valuations in carrier collaboration. Service time window selection for attended home deliveries: a case study for urban and rural areas Modelling pandemic behavior with a network-SIRD approach Transition towards sustainable mobility: the role of transport optimization
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
现在去查看 取消
×
提示
确定
0
微信
客服QQ
Book学术公众号 扫码关注我们
反馈
×
意见反馈
请填写您的意见或建议
请填写您的手机或邮箱
已复制链接
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
×
扫码分享
扫码分享
Book学术官方微信
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术
文献互助 智能选刊 最新文献 互助须知 联系我们:info@booksci.cn
Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。
Copyright © 2023 Book学术 All rights reserved.
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号 京ICP备2023020795号-1