Staff View: European Journal of Operational Research

European Journal of Operational Research

We study a solution approach for a staffing problem in multi-skill call centers. The objective is to find a minimal-cost staffing solution while meeting a target level for the quality of service to customers. We consider a common situation in which the arrival rates are unobserved random variables f...

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Main Authors:	Thuy Anh Ta, Wyean Chan, Fabian Bastin, Pierre L’Ecuyer
Format:	Bài trích
Language:	eng
Published:	European Journal of Operational Research 2021
Subjects:	Stochastic programming Simulation Stochastic optimization
Online Access:	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S037722172031095X?via%3Dihub https://dlib.phenikaa-uni.edu.vn/handle/PNK/2856 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.12.049
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spelling	oai:localhost:PNK-28562022-08-17T05:54:48Z European Journal of Operational Research Thuy Anh Ta Wyean Chan Fabian Bastin Pierre L’Ecuyer Stochastic programming Simulation Stochastic optimization We study a solution approach for a staffing problem in multi-skill call centers. The objective is to find a minimal-cost staffing solution while meeting a target level for the quality of service to customers. We consider a common situation in which the arrival rates are unobserved random variables for which preliminary forecasts are available in a first stage when making the initial staffing decision. In a second stage, more accurate forecasts are obtained and the staffing may have to be modified at a cost, to meet the constraints. This leads to a challenging two-stage stochastic optimization problem in which the quantities involved in the (nonlinear) constraints can only be estimated via simulation, so several independent simulations are required for each first-level scenario. We propose a solution approach that combines sample average approximation with a decomposition method. We provide numerical illustrations to show the practical efficiency of our approach. The proposed method could be adapted to several other staffing problems with uncertain demand, e.g., in retail stores, restaurants, healthcare facilities, and other types of service systems. 2021-09-14T07:14:54Z 2021-09-14T07:14:54Z 2021 Bài trích https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S037722172031095X?via%3Dihub https://dlib.phenikaa-uni.edu.vn/handle/PNK/2856 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.12.049 eng European Journal of Operational Research
institution	Digital Phenikaa
collection	Digital Phenikaa
language	eng
topic	Stochastic programming Simulation Stochastic optimization
spellingShingle	Stochastic programming Simulation Stochastic optimization Thuy Anh Ta Wyean Chan Fabian Bastin Pierre L’Ecuyer European Journal of Operational Research
description	We study a solution approach for a staffing problem in multi-skill call centers. The objective is to find a minimal-cost staffing solution while meeting a target level for the quality of service to customers. We consider a common situation in which the arrival rates are unobserved random variables for which preliminary forecasts are available in a first stage when making the initial staffing decision. In a second stage, more accurate forecasts are obtained and the staffing may have to be modified at a cost, to meet the constraints. This leads to a challenging two-stage stochastic optimization problem in which the quantities involved in the (nonlinear) constraints can only be estimated via simulation, so several independent simulations are required for each first-level scenario. We propose a solution approach that combines sample average approximation with a decomposition method. We provide numerical illustrations to show the practical efficiency of our approach. The proposed method could be adapted to several other staffing problems with uncertain demand, e.g., in retail stores, restaurants, healthcare facilities, and other types of service systems.
format	Bài trích
author	Thuy Anh Ta Wyean Chan Fabian Bastin Pierre L’Ecuyer
author_facet	Thuy Anh Ta Wyean Chan Fabian Bastin Pierre L’Ecuyer
author_sort	Thuy Anh Ta
title	European Journal of Operational Research
title_short	European Journal of Operational Research
title_full	European Journal of Operational Research
title_fullStr	European Journal of Operational Research
title_full_unstemmed	European Journal of Operational Research
title_sort	european journal of operational research
publisher	European Journal of Operational Research
publishDate	2021
url	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S037722172031095X?via%3Dihub https://dlib.phenikaa-uni.edu.vn/handle/PNK/2856 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.12.049
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score	8.891145

European Journal of Operational Research

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