CALL CENTERS (CENTRES) - Faculty of Industrial Engineering and ...

and knowledge flow in such an organization, and show how the staffers of a help desk cooperate
to solve a particular problem. We present the current state of help desks, and describe the
dimensions and opportunities for cooperation among the staffers of help desks. Our hypothesis
is that high degrees of cooperation are possible between the staffers of help desks, and that this
cooperation can be facilitated through the use of DAI frameworks.
4. Andrews, Bruce and Henry Parsons. Establishing telephone-agent staffing levels through economic
optimization, Interfaces, 23 (2), 1993, 14–20.
Abstract. We developed and implemented an economic-optimization model for telephone-agent
staffing at L.L. Bean, a large tele-marketer and mail-order catalog house for quality outdoor
sporting goods and apparel. The staffing levels we obtained with economic optimization were
very different from those used by the company in the past, when staff size was determined by
service-level criteria. For L.L. Bean, the resultant savings were estimated to amount to more
than $500,000 per year. In the model, we used queuing theory, devised an expected total-cost
objective function, and accounted for retrials and potential caller abandonments through a regression
model that related the abandonment rates to the telephone-service factor (percentage
of calls answered within a predetermined time interval).
Keywords: Telephone agent staffing levels, Economic optimization, L.L. Bean, Telemarketer,
Mail-order catalog house, Outdoor sporting goods, Apparel, Queuing theory, Expected total
cost objective function, Retrials, Potential caller abandonments, Regression model
(Appears also in Section I.)
5. Brigandi, Anthony J., Dennis R. Dargon, Michael J. Sheehan and Thomas Spencer III. AT&T’s
call processing simulator (CAPS) operational design for inbound call centers, Interfaces, 24 (1),
1994, 6–28.
Abstract. Since 1978, AT&T has been developing the call processing simulator (CAPS) to
design and evaluate inbound call centers. The current version of CAPS is a user-friendly PCbased
system employing a discrete event simulation model with animation and queuing models
of both the telecommunications network and AT&T’s business customer’s call center environment.
Using CAPS, AT&T can model a network of call centers utilizing advanced 800 network
features before its customers make capital investments to start or change their call centers. In
1992, AT&T completed about 2,000 CAPS studies for its business customers, helping it increase,
protect, and regain more than $1 billion in an $8-billion 800-network market. The CAPS tool
is also the turnkey for more than $750 million in annual profit for AT&T’s business customers
who received CAPS studies.
Keywords: AT&T, Call processing simulator, CAPS, Inbound call centers, User-friendly PCbased
system, Animation, Queuing models, Telecommunications network, Advanced 800 network
features
(Appears also in Section IX.)
6. Apte, U.M. and R.O. Mason. Global disaggregation of information-intensive services, Management
Science, 41 (7), 1995, 1250–1262.
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