Scaling and modeling of call center arrivals

Xiaowei Zhang; L. Jeff Hong; Jiheng Zhang

doi:10.1109/WSC.2014.7019913

Scaling and modeling of call center arrivals

Xiaowei Zhang, L. Jeff Hong, Jiheng Zhang

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Poisson process has been an integral part of many models for the arrival process to a telephone call centers. However, several publications in recent years suggest the presence of a significant “overdisperson” relative to the Poisson process in real-life call center arrival data. In this paper, we study the overdispersion in the context of “heavy traffic” and identify a critical factor that characterizes the stochastic variability of the arrivals to their averages. We refer to such a factor as the scaling parameter and it potentially has a profound impact on the design of staffing rules. We propose an new model to capture the scaling parameter in this paper.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 2014 Winter Simulation Conference
Publisher	IEEE
Pages	476-485
ISBN (Electronic)	9781479974863
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/WSC.2014.7019913
Publication status	Published - Dec 2014
Externally published	Yes
Event	2014 Winter Simulation Conference, WSC 2014 - Savannah, United States Duration: 7 Dec 2014 → 10 Dec 2014 http://www.wintersim.org/2014/

Publication series

Name	Simulation Winter Conference
Publisher	IEEE
ISSN (Print)	0891-7736
ISSN (Electronic)	1558-4305

Conference

Conference	2014 Winter Simulation Conference, WSC 2014
Country/Territory	United States
City	Savannah
Period	7/12/14 → 10/12/14
Internet address	http://www.wintersim.org/2014/

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10.1109/WSC.2014.7019913

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title = "Scaling and modeling of call center arrivals",

abstract = "The Poisson process has been an integral part of many models for the arrival process to a telephone call centers. However, several publications in recent years suggest the presence of a significant “overdisperson” relative to the Poisson process in real-life call center arrival data. In this paper, we study the overdispersion in the context of “heavy traffic” and identify a critical factor that characterizes the stochastic variability of the arrivals to their averages. We refer to such a factor as the scaling parameter and it potentially has a profound impact on the design of staffing rules. We propose an new model to capture the scaling parameter in this paper.",

author = "Xiaowei Zhang and Hong, {L. Jeff} and Jiheng Zhang",

year = "2014",

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language = "English",

series = "Simulation Winter Conference",

publisher = "IEEE",

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booktitle = "Proceedings of the 2014 Winter Simulation Conference",

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AB - The Poisson process has been an integral part of many models for the arrival process to a telephone call centers. However, several publications in recent years suggest the presence of a significant “overdisperson” relative to the Poisson process in real-life call center arrival data. In this paper, we study the overdispersion in the context of “heavy traffic” and identify a critical factor that characterizes the stochastic variability of the arrivals to their averages. We refer to such a factor as the scaling parameter and it potentially has a profound impact on the design of staffing rules. We propose an new model to capture the scaling parameter in this paper.

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DO - 10.1109/WSC.2014.7019913

M3 - RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication)

T3 - Simulation Winter Conference

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EP - 485

BT - Proceedings of the 2014 Winter Simulation Conference

PB - IEEE

T2 - 2014 Winter Simulation Conference, WSC 2014

Y2 - 7 December 2014 through 10 December 2014

ER -

Scaling and modeling of call center arrivals

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