Staffing multiskill call centers via linear programming and simulation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cezik, Mehmet Tolga; L'Ecuyer, Pierre
• 署名单位: Universite de Montreal; Universite de Montreal
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1070.0824
• 发表日期: 2008
• 页码: 310-323
• 关键词: call centers; staffing; optimization by simulation; integer programming; cutting planes; skill-based routing; subgradient cuts

摘要

We study an iterative cutting-plane algorithm on an integer program for minimizing the staffing costs of a multiskill call center subject to service-level requirements that are estimated by simulation. We solve a sample average version of the problem, where the service levels are expressed as functions of the staffing for a fixed sequence of random numbers driving the simulation. An optimal solution of this sample problem is also an optimal solution to the original problem when the sample size is large enough, Several difficulties are encountered when solving the sample problem, especially for large problem instances, and we propose practical heuristics to deal with these difficulties. We report numerical experiments with examples of different sizes. The largest example corresponds to a real-life call center with 65 types of calls and 89 types of agents (skill groups).