Skip to main content

A Redesign Framework for Call Centers

  • Conference paper

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 4102))

Abstract

An important shortcoming in the Business Process Redesign (BPR) literature is the lack of concrete guidance on how to improve an existing business process. Our earlier work has aimed at filling this gap by identifying a set of BPR best practices. This paper takes a further step by showing how a set of best practices can be used to derive a redesign framework for a specific domain, in this case for call centers. Such a framework identifies the various available design options and specifies the relevant performance characteristics. To evaluate concrete design configurations (i.e., coherent combinations of design choices) we use a formal modelling approach based on Petri nets and the simulation tool CPN-Tools. An industrial case study is used to gather relevant context data. We expect that this work helps researchers and practitioners to optimize the performance of actual call centers and to set up similar frameworks for other domains.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. van der Aalst, W.M.P., ter Hofstede, A.H.M., Kiepuszewski, B., Barros, A.P.: Workflow Patterns. Distributed and Parallel Databases 14(3), 5–51 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., Silverstein, M.: A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, New York (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Brand, N., van der Kolk, H.: Workflow Analysis and Design. Kluwer Bedrijfswetenschappen, Deventer (1995) (in Dutch)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Davenport, T.H.: Process Innovation: Reengineering Work through Information Technology. Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Gamma, E., Helm, R., Johnson, R., Vlissides, J.: Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software. Addison-Wesley, Boston (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Gans, N., Koole, G., Mandelbaum, A.: Telephone Call Centers: Tutorial, Review and Research Prospects. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 5(2), 79–141 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Golovin, J.: Achieving stretch goals: best practices in manufacturing for the new millennium. Prentice-Hall Editions, New York (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Grimshaw, J.M., Russell, I.T.: Effect of clinical guidelines on medical practice: a systematic review of rigorous evaluations. Lancet 342(8883), 1317–1322 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hammer, M., Champy, J.: Reengineering the corporation:a manifesto for business revolution. Harper Business Editions, New York (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kristensen, L.M., Christensen, S., Jensen, K.: The Practicioner’s Guide to Colored Petri Nets. International Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer 2(2), 98–132 (1998)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  11. Mandelbaum, A.: Call Centers. Research Bibliography with Abstracts. Israel Institute of Technology (Technion), Haifa (2004) (most recent access March 25, 2006), Download from: http://iew3.technion.ac.il/serveng/References/references.html

  12. Limam Mansar, S., Reijers, H.A.: Best Practices in Business Process Redesign: Validation of a Redesign Framework. Computers in Industry 56(5), 457–471 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Martin, J.: The best practice of business. John Martin Publishing, London (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Mehrotra, V., Fama, J.: Call center simulation modelling: methods, challenges and opportunities. In: Chick, S., Sanchez, P.J., Ferrin, D., Morrice, D.J. (eds.) Proceedings of the 2003 Winter Simulation Conference, pp. 135–143 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Melao, N., Pidd, M.: Use of business process simulation: a survey of practitioners. Journal of the Operations Research Society 54(1), 2–10 (2003)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  16. Motwani, J., Kumar, A.A., Jiang, J.: Business process reengineering: a theoretical framework and an integrated model. International Journal of Operations & Production Management 18(9-10), 964–977 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Netjes, M., van der Aalst, W.M.P., Reijers, H.A.: Analysis of resource-constrained processes with Colored Petri Nets. In: Jensen, K. (ed.) Sixth Workshop and Tutorial on Practical Use of Coloured Petri Nets and the CPN Tools (CPN 2005), vol. 576. University of Arhus, Denmark (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Peppard, J., Rowland, P.: The essence of business process reengineering. Prentice-Hall Editions, New York (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Pitchitlamken, J., Deslauriers, A., l’Ecuyer, P., Avramidis, A.N.: Modelling and simulation of a telephone call center. In: Chick, S., Sanchez, P.J., Ferrin, D., Morrice, D.J. (eds.) Proceedings of the 2003 Winter Simulation Conference, pp. 1805–1812 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Reijers, H.A.: Design and Control of Workflow Processes. LNCS, vol. 2617. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  21. Reijers, H.A., Limam Mansar, S.: Best Practices in Business Process Redesign: An Overview and Qualitative Evaluation of Successful Redesign Heuristics. Omega: The International Journal of Management Science 33(4), 283–306 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Russell, N., ter Hofstede, A.H.M., Edmond, D., van der Aalst, W.M.P.: Workflow data patterns: Identification, Representation and Tool support. In: Delcambre, L.M.L., Kop, C., Mayr, H.C., Mylopoulos, J., Pastor, Ó. (eds.) ER 2005. LNCS, vol. 3716, pp. 217–221. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Seidmann, A., Sundararajan, A.: The effects of task and information asymmetry on business process redesign. International Journal of Production Economics 50(2-3), 117–128 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Sharp, A., McDermott, P.: Workflow modeling: tools for process improvement and application development. Artech Prentice-Hall Editions, Boston (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Hasija, S., Pinker, E.J., Shumsky, R.A.: Staffing and routing in a two-tier call center. International Journal of Operational Research 1(1-2), 8–29 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Shumsky, R.A., Pinker, E.J.: Gatekeepers and Referrals in Services. Management Science 49(7), 839–856 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Stegeman, M.J., Jansen-Vullers, M.H.: Determining optimal staffing levels in multiple skill inbound call centers: a literature survey. Beta Reports 160. Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Valiris, G., Glykas, M.: Critical review of existing BPR methodologies. Business Process Management Journal 5(1), 65–86 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Wells, L.: Performance Analysis using Coloured Petri Nets. In: Boukerche, A., Das, S.K., Majumdar, S. (eds.) Proceedings of the Tenth IEEE International Symposium on Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems (MASCOTS 2002), pp. 217–221. IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos (2002)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  30. Zapf, M.: From the customer to the firm: ealuating generic service process designs for incoming customer requests. Computers in Industry 55(1), 53–71 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Zapf, M., Heinzl, A.: Evaluation of generic Process Design Patterns: an Experimental Study. In: van der Aalst, W.M.P., Desel, J., Oberweis, A. (eds.) Business Process Management. LNCS, vol. 1806, pp. 83–98. Springer, Heidelberg (2000)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Jansen-Vullers, M.H., Netjes, M., Reijers, H.A., Stegeman, M.J. (2006). A Redesign Framework for Call Centers. In: Dustdar, S., Fiadeiro, J.L., Sheth, A.P. (eds) Business Process Management. BPM 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4102. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11841760_21

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11841760_21

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-38901-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-38903-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics