Title: Practical insights on pitfalls in estimating queue performance

Authors: James M. Grayson; Todd A. Schultz

Addresses: Information & Decision Technologies, Hull College of Business Administration, Augusta State University, 2500 Walton Way, Augusta, 30904 GA, USA ' Information & Decision Technologies, Hull College of Business Administration, Augusta State University, 2500 Walton Way, Augusta, 30904 GA, USA

Abstract: Significant estimation errors, especially in high utilisation or low sample size situations, can occur when using sample data in standard queueing formulas to estimate queueing measures like time in queue. Perhaps surprisingly, these issues are rarely addressed, and especially in materials developed for students and practitioners. We establish error bounds in the case of exponential arrivals and Poisson service times for the single-server system when estimating average time in queue and also provide practical guidance for practitioners.

Keywords: queueing systems; waiting time estimation; errors; practitioners; operations management education; queue performance; error bounds; exponential arrivals; Poisson service times; single-server systems.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIOME.2011.042664

International Journal of Information and Operations Management Education, 2011 Vol.4 No.2, pp.122 - 133

Received: 19 Feb 2011
Accepted: 31 May 2011

Published online: 07 Feb 2015 *

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