Staffing and routing in a two-tier call centre
by Sameer Hasija, Edieal J. Pinker, Robert A. Shumsky
International Journal of Operational Research (IJOR), Vol. 1, No. 1/2, 2005

Abstract: This paper studies service systems with gatekeepers who diagnose a customer problem and then either refer the customer to an expert or attempt treatment. We determine the staffing levels and referral rates that minimise the sum of staffing, customer waiting, and mistreatment costs. We also compare the optimal gatekeeper system (a two-tier system) with a system staffed with only experts (a direct-access system). When waiting costs are high, a direct-access system is preferred unless the gatekeepers have a high skill level. We also show that an easily computed referral rate from a deterministic system closely approximates the optimal referral rate.

Online publication date: Wed, 20-Jul-2005

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Operational Research (IJOR):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com