Abstract
In this paper, we analyze the performance of call centers of financial service providers with two levels of support and a time-dependent overflow mechanism. Waiting calls from the front-office queue flow over to the back office if a waiting-time limit is reached and at least one back-office agent is available. The analysis of such a system with time-dependent overflow is reduced to the analysis of a continuous-time Markov chain with state-dependent overflow probabilities. To approximate the system with time-dependent overflow, some waiting-based performance measures are modified. Numerical results demonstrate the reliability of this Markovian performance approximation for different parameter settings. A sensitivity analysis shows the impact of the waiting-time limit and the dependence of the performance measures on the arrival rate.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Production and Operations Management |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 6 |
Pages (from-to) | 757-768 |
ISSN | 1059-1478 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2010 |
Keywords
- queueing models of call centers
- financial service operations
- time-dependent overflow
- performance evaluation