Question: A call center is open 7 days per week from 8:00am to 7:00pm and uses hourly planning intervals. The minimum number of call center agents
A call center is open 7 days per week from 8:00am to 7:00pm and uses hourly planning intervals. The minimum number of call center agents required in each hour of each day is shown in the table below. The call center will be staffed using only full-time agents who will work five consecutive days-off per week. All seven possible patterns of five consecutive workdays are permissible. Each agent will begin their shift at the same time on each day of their work week. Full-time shifts span nine hours with a one-hour break. The placement of breaks can be after either the fourth hour (i.e., 4 hours of work, a 1-hour break, then 4 more hours of work) or after the fifth hour (i.e., 5 hours of work, a 1-hour break, then 3 more hours of work). The call center would like to construct a weekly work schedule that will minimize the total number of full-time agents necessary to assure that there are a sufficient number of agents present to meet the minimum requirements in each hour of each day of the week. Build an integer linear programming model in Excel to solve this problem. Use the Excel Solver to solve the formulation [Provide two screenshots, one showing a portion of the schedule assignments and one showing a portion of the demand values and coverages]. Report the total number of agents needed, as well as the assignment of agent to combinations of weekly workdays and daily shifts. Comment on any major problems that you see with the schedule and how they might be fixed (or at least mitigated).
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