Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in
Menu
Find a journal Publish with us
Search
Cart
Book cover

International Conference on Service-Oriented Computing

ICSOC 2012: Service-Oriented Computing pp 79–95Cite as

  1. Home
  2. Service-Oriented Computing
  3. Conference paper
Scheduling Service Tickets in Shared Delivery

Scheduling Service Tickets in Shared Delivery

  • Hari S. Gupta20 &
  • Bikram Sengupta20 
  • Conference paper
  • 2308 Accesses

  • 2 Citations

Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNPSE,volume 7636)

Abstract

We study the problem of optimally scheduling tickets in shared delivery of IT services. Such delivery models are characterized by a common pool of skilled agents who collectively support the service needs of several customers at a time. The ticket scheduling problem becomes interesting in this scenario due to the need to provide satisfactory experience to multiple customers with different Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in a cost-efficient and optimal way, by intelligently leveraging the available skill set and balancing workload across agents. We present a detailed description of the problem domain and introduce a novel metric for estimating the relative criticality of tickets from different customers at any point in time, taking into account several factors such as the distance from SLA breach, the SLA penalty and the expected volume of tickets during the rest of the service time window. This criticality measure is used within a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) based solution approach to the ticket scheduling problem, where we consider the objectives of SLA penalty minimization, balancing breaches across customers, load balancing across agents, and maximizing skill match. Due to the complexity of the problem, optimization engines may not always return feasible or efficient solutions within reasonable time limits. Hence, we also develop a custom heuristic algorithm that returns acceptable solutions very fast. Detailed simulation experiments are used to compare these approaches and to demonstrate their efficiency in meeting the scheduling objectives of shared delivery.

Keywords

  • Mixed Integer Programming
  • Service Level Agreement
  • Mixed Integer Programming Model
  • Mixed Integer Programming Formulation
  • Total Penalty

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Download conference paper PDF

References

  1. Application assembly optimization: a distinct approach to global delivery. White Paper, IBM GBS (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Deshpande, P.M., Garg, D., Rama Suri, N.: Auction based models for ticket allocation problem in it service delivery industry. In: IEEE Intl. Conf. on Ser. Comp., SCC (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Gans, N., et al.: Telephone call centers: Tutorial, review, and research prospects. Manf. & Ser. Op. Mgmt. 5 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Gupta, P., Parija, G.R.: Efficient seat utilization in global it delivery service systems. In: IEEE SCC, pp. 97–103 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Kakal, C.S.: Global shared support service: Leveraging expertise, sharing costs, and deriving value. White Paper, Infosys (May 2005)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Karger, D., Stein, C., Wein, J.: Scheduling algorithms. In: Algorithms and Theory of Computation Handbook (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Khan, A., et al.: Aim-hi: a framework for request routing in large-scale it global service delivery. IBM J. Res. Dev. 53 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Lawler, E.L., et al.: Sequencing and scheduling: Algorithms and complexity. In: Logistics of Production and Inventory, vol. 4, pp. 445–522. Elsevier (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Shao, Q., Chen, Y., Tao, S., Yan, X., Anerousis, N.: Efficient ticket routing by resolution sequence mining. In: KDD (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Subbian, K., et al.: Incentive compatible mechanisms for group ticket allocation in software maintenance services. In: APSEC (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Wallace, R.B., Whitt, W.: A staffing algorithm for call centers with skill-based routing. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 7 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Zhou, N., Ma, Q., Ratakonda, K.: Quantitative modeling of communication cost for global service delivery. In: IEEE SCC, pp. 388–395 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IBM Research, Bangalore, India

    Hari S. Gupta & Bikram Sengupta

Authors
  1. Hari S. Gupta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bikram Sengupta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of ICT, Swinburne University of Technology, John Street, 3122, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia

    Chengfei Liu

  2. IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, 95120, San Jose, CA, USA

    Heiko Ludwig

  3. LIMOS - UMR 6158, Blaise Pascal University, Complexe scientifique des Cézeaux, 63177, Aubiere, France

    Farouk Toumani

  4. College of Computing and Information Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology, 1 Lomb Memorial Drive, 14623, Rochester, NY, USA

    Qi Yu

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Gupta, H.S., Sengupta, B. (2012). Scheduling Service Tickets in Shared Delivery. In: Liu, C., Ludwig, H., Toumani, F., Yu, Q. (eds) Service-Oriented Computing. ICSOC 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7636. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-34321-6_6

Download citation

  • .RIS
  • .ENW
  • .BIB
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-34321-6_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-34320-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-34321-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Share this paper

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Search

Navigation

  • Find a journal
  • Publish with us

Discover content

  • Journals A-Z
  • Books A-Z

Publish with us

  • Publish your research
  • Open access publishing

Products and services

  • Our products
  • Librarians
  • Societies
  • Partners and advertisers

Our imprints

  • Springer
  • Nature Portfolio
  • BMC
  • Palgrave Macmillan
  • Apress
  • Your US state privacy rights
  • Accessibility statement
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Help and support

167.114.118.210

Not affiliated

Springer Nature

© 2023 Springer Nature