Staffing Call Centers with Impatient Customers: Refinements to Many-Server Asymptotics

In call centers it is crucial to staff the right number of agents so that the targeted service levels are met. These staffing problems typically lead to constraint satisfaction problems that are hard to solve. During the last decade, a beautiful many-server asymptotic theory has been developed to so...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Operations research 2012-03, Vol.60 (2), p.461-474
Main Authors: Zhang, Bo, van Leeuwaarden, Johan S. H., Zwart, Bert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Approximation
Asymptotic methods
Call centers
Customers
Erlang A queueing model
Exact sciences and technology
Firm modelling
impatient customers
Inverse problems
METHODS
Minimization of cost
Objective functions
Operational research and scientific management
Operational research. Management science
Parametric models
Performance metrics
Power series
quality-and-efficiency-driven regime
Queuing theory
Queuing theory. Traffic theory
Random walk
square-root staffing
Staffing
Studies
Workforce planning
Workloads
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Summary:In call centers it is crucial to staff the right number of agents so that the targeted service levels are met. These staffing problems typically lead to constraint satisfaction problems that are hard to solve. During the last decade, a beautiful many-server asymptotic theory has been developed to solve such problems for large call centers, and optimal staffing rules are known to obey the square-root staffing principle. This paper presents refinements to many-server asymptotics and this staffing principle for a Markovian queueing model with impatient customers.
ISSN:0030-364X
1526-5463
DOI:10.1287/opre.1110.1016