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Distributionally robust workforce scheduling in call centres with uncertain arrival rates

Author

Listed:
  • S. Liao

    (Ecole Centrale Paris)

  • Christian van Delft

    (GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC - HEC Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • J.-P. Vial

    (Ordecsys - Ordecsys)

Abstract

Call centre scheduling aims to determine the workforce so as to meet target service levels. The service level depends on the mean rate of arrival calls, which fluctuates during the day, and from day to day. The staff schedule must adjust the workforce period per period during the day, but the flexibility in doing so is limited by the workforce organization by shifts. The challenge is to balance salary costs and possible failures to meet service levels. In this paper, we consider uncertain arrival rates, that vary according to an intra-day seasonality and a global busyness factor. Both factors seasonal and global are estimated from past data and are subject to errors. We propose an approach combining stochastic programming and distributionally robust optimization to minimize the total salary costs under service level constraints. The performance of the robust solution is simulated via Monte-Carlo techniques and compared to the solution based on pure stochastic programming.

Suggested Citation

  • S. Liao & Christian van Delft & J.-P. Vial, 2013. "Distributionally robust workforce scheduling in call centres with uncertain arrival rates," Post-Print hal-01069123, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01069123
    DOI: 10.1080/10556788.2012.694166
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Black, Ben & Ainslie, Russell & Dokka, Trivikram & Kirkbride, Christopher, 2023. "Distributionally robust resource planning under binomial demand intakes," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(1), pages 227-242.
    2. Rodrigo Andrade & Somayeh Moazeni & Jose Emmanuel Ramirez‐Marquez, 2020. "A systems perspective on contact centers and customer service reliability modeling," Systems Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(2), pages 221-236, March.
    3. Mattia, Sara & Rossi, Fabrizio & Servilio, Mara & Smriglio, Stefano, 2017. "Staffing and scheduling flexible call centers by two-stage robust optimization," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 25-37.
    4. Chang, Zhiqi & Ding, Jian-Ya & Song, Shiji, 2019. "Distributionally robust scheduling on parallel machines under moment uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 272(3), pages 832-846.
    5. Defraeye, Mieke & Van Nieuwenhuyse, Inneke, 2016. "Staffing and scheduling under nonstationary demand for service: A literature review," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 4-25.
    6. Ta, Thuy Anh & Chan, Wyean & Bastin, Fabian & L’Ecuyer, Pierre, 2021. "A simulation-based decomposition approach for two-stage staffing optimization in call centers under arrival rate uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(3), pages 966-979.
    7. Chang, Zhiqi & Song, Shiji & Zhang, Yuli & Ding, Jian-Ya & Zhang, Rui & Chiong, Raymond, 2017. "Distributionally robust single machine scheduling with risk aversion," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(1), pages 261-274.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Call centre; Arrival Rate;

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