Dynamic Call Center Routing Policies Using Call Waiting and Agent Idle Times

Abstract

International audienceWe study call routing policies for call centers with multiple call types and multiple agent groups. We introduce new weight-based routing policies where each pair (call type, agent group) is given a matching priority defined as an affine combination of the longest waiting time for that call type and the longest idle time or the number of idle agents in that agent group. The coefficients in this combination are parameters to be optimized. This type of policy is more flexible than traditional ones found in practice, and it performs better in many situations. We consider objective functions that account for the service levels, the abandonment ratios, and the fairness of occupancy across agent groups. We select the parameters of all considered policies via simulation-based optimization heuristics. This requires only the availability of a simulation model of the call center, which can be much more detailed and realistic than the models used elsewhere in the literature to study the optimality of certain types of routing rules. We offer a first numerical study of realistic routing rules that takes into account the complexity of real-life call centers

Optimasi Tingkat Layanan Call Center Jasa Teleponi Dasar: Kajian Regulasi

“…Fungsi obyektif yang dipertimbangkan adalah didefinisikan dalam hal ukuran kinerja berikut: service level, rasio abandonment dan agent occupancy. Ukuran kinerja ini dapat diukur per periode waktu, per jenis panggilan, per grup operator (agent group), atau dalam bentuk gabungan (misal: secara global untuk semua jenis panggilan) [14]. Agent occupancy akan sangat bergantung pada kepadatan trafik panggilan.…”

Creating Work Breaks from Available Idleness

“…Recent research by Chan et al (2014) and Mandelbaum et al (2012) has responded to the concern that server assignment rules should be fair to service representatives as well as customers. This includes a recognition that the service-time distributions of different representatives might not be identical; see Armony and Ward (2010), Atar (2008), Atar et al (2011).…”

Waiting time predictors for multi-skill call centers

“…All service times and patience times are exponential and independent. We use a priority routing policy (Chan, Koole, and L'Ecuyer 2014) that works as follows. For a call of type 1, the router will first try to match it with an idle agent of group 1.…”