Scheduling of Multi‐skilled Staff Across Multiple Locations

Abstract

We address the problem of assigning airline customer service agents (CSAs) to tasks related to departing flights, such as selling tickets and collecting boarding cards, at an international terminal of a large airport. The airline specifies minimum and target levels of staff and required (or desired) types and levels of skills for each location in each time period. The assignment problem is complicated by staff heterogeneity, time required for moves between locations, and lunch and rest‐break requirements. We present a mixed‐integer formulation that considers both staffing shortages and skills mismatches and show that the problem is NP‐hard. We derive valid inequalities that tighten the bounds within a branch‐and‐cut procedure, enabling us to obtain near‐optimal solutions for problems of realistic size very quickly. We also present a generalization to simultaneously optimize shift starting times and task assignments, which can aid in longer term workforce planning. Finally, we utilize our procedure to obtain managerial insights regarding the benefits of flexibility derived from more highly skilled staff, allowing more frequent moves, and choices of shift starting times. We also demonstrate the benefits of our procedure vs. a heuristic that mimics what an experienced scheduler might choose.

Sourcing and Procurement Cost Allocation in Multi‐Division Firms

“…, Kuo et al. ). Following in this vein, this section aims to identify problem structure and develop valid inequalities tailored for the [SPC‐U] and [SPC‐P] models.…”

“…A strong LP relaxation that stems from a tighter formulation that includes additional valid inequalities as constraints can hasten the branch-andbound process. General-purpose inequalities based on rounding and based on well-known classes of inequalities are usually quite inefficient in this regard, and hence researchers have typically examined the structure of the problem (and the related polyhedron) to identify strong valid inequalities and have applied them fruitfully in a wide array of applications (e.g., Jiang et al 2017, Kuo et al 2013. Following in this vein, this section aims to identify problem structure and develop valid inequalities tailored for the [SPC-U] and [SPC-P] models.…”

Enhancement method for assignments of staff in multiple events

“…In this formulation, it is assumed the constraints (4) should be binding. The last constraint (5) assures the decision variables take binary value. The problem presented in (1) -(5) above can be categorized as a special case to a Multi-Period Assignment Problem.…”

“…Multi-period assignment problems arise in many instances, which include organizational training programs [1], doctor assignment ( [2] and [3]), in scheduling law enforcement agency to elections [4], and in assigning airline customer service agent [5]. Such problems have attracted many researchers for years in which it is formulated as a multi-dimensional assignment problem [6].…”

Modeling of a Scheduling Method for Organizing Training Assignments

“…For the problem addressed here, it is formulated as a multidimensional assignment problem as stated in [1] or it can also be formulated as a multiperiod assignment problem [3] and [4]. The application of this problem category spans many areas of staff assignments, such as in medical staffing [4] and [5], in scheduling law enforcement agency to elections [6], and in assigning airline customer service agent [7].…”