0% found this document useful (0 votes)
62 views7 pages

WEEK 5 - LFS Inclass Exercise - Simulation

This document provides instructions for modeling hourly customer arrivals and customer reneging behavior at Lion Financial Services' call center using iGrafx simulation software. It describes how to: 1) Create a new scenario and set up a timetable to simulate hourly arrival volumes based on historical data 2) Define a scenario attribute to set the maximum wait time before customers renege 3) Add exception paths from service activities to model reneging 4) Run the simulation and observe the impact of reneging on wait times and number of customers who reneged 5) Vary arrival volumes and maximum wait times to understand their impacts on the model

Uploaded by

hakuna
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
62 views7 pages

WEEK 5 - LFS Inclass Exercise - Simulation

This document provides instructions for modeling hourly customer arrivals and customer reneging behavior at Lion Financial Services' call center using iGrafx simulation software. It describes how to: 1) Create a new scenario and set up a timetable to simulate hourly arrival volumes based on historical data 2) Define a scenario attribute to set the maximum wait time before customers renege 3) Add exception paths from service activities to model reneging 4) Run the simulation and observe the impact of reneging on wait times and number of customers who reneged 5) Vary arrival volumes and maximum wait times to understand their impacts on the model

Uploaded by

hakuna
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 7

Lion Financial Services

Analysis of the To-Be Process (Simulation)


OBJECTIVE 1 OF 2: Modeling hourly arrivals at LFS

Open to igrafx file posted on this weeks blackboard page.

STEP 0: Create a new scenario from an existing one

To begin creating a new scenario from an existing one, remember that scenarios can be accessed from inside the
Explorer window in iGrafx. Click View >> Explorer Bar.

From the Explorer window within iGrafx, select a scenario, right click and choose “Copy.” Right click and “Paste.”

Now, right click on the pasted scenario, and select “Rename.” Give an appropriate name for the scenario –, “Hourly
Change in Arrival.”

Verify that that the “Hourly Change in Arrival” scenario is selected (Bolded).

STEP 1: Select the Generator

 Either double-click on the Generators area in the main window or on the Generator icon (lightning bolt).

The next few steps will help you setup the model to simulate the hourly arrivals as observed at LFS on a regular basis.

STEP 3: Enter Generator settings

 Change the Spread to Random


 Change the “Stop After” option to 5 Days. If the elapsed time (Days) isn’t set to 5 you will need to restart the
simulation.

You should be able to see a window similar to the one below.

1
STEP 3: Enter the timetable information. (You should be a pro at this after watching the instructions video).

 In the Generator window, Select “Timetable” in the Generator Type choice box.
 Select “Modify Timetable”. You using the Table 1 Hourly Arrivals at LFS data below to setup the timetable.

Time No. of Arrivals


8:00 150
9:00 800
10:00 400
11:00 550
12:00 700
1:00 600
2:00 500
3:00 600
4:00 700
5:00 350

There are two ways to enter the numbers – in Table format or Bar Chart format. Combining both formats is easier. Start
with the Bar Chart and click on the dotted line for each hour at different heights to create 10 bars of different values
through random clicks on each hour. Don’t worry about the values until you get 10 distinct bars created. Note that the
side arrow will extend or shorten the hour. Once you have created 10 distinct bars, then it is easy to go into the Table
tab and insert No. of Arrivals on Table 1 into the #/1hr column. See the example below.

Since we start the call center at 8am, start at the 8h Marker. You will have a total of 10 non-zero bars.

The end result on the window would be similar to the one below depending upon the ‘Bar Chart’ or ‘Table’ tab view.

2
STEP 4: Verify settings from instructions (including total span), then select OK

STEP 5: Run the Simulation

Selecting “Start/Resume” (sideways triangle) to determine results. View the Report and see the various tabs to
determine the answers.

Average Wait Time: ______________

Max and Avg Wait Time for Quickline Service: ___________________ ______________________

Max and Avg Wait Time for Non-Quickline Customer Service: ___________________ ______________________

Max and Avg Wait Time for Non-Quickline Broker Service: ___________________ ______________________

3
Under Queue Tab in Report:

Average Non-zero Wait Time: _____________________ Total # Waiting: ___________________

PART 2

OBJECTIVE 2 OF 2: Modeling customer reneging behavior


In a call-center, customers commonly hang up after waiting a few minutes. This behavior is called “reneging.” It is
important for process designers to know how many customers actually renege. In iGrafx, we can model and estimate the
reneging behavior.

Continue with the same scenario for “Hourly Change in Arrival” (it should be bolded in explorer window)

STEP 1: Define a Scenario Attribute.

 Click through - Model >>Attributes. You will see the following Window.
 Select the Scenario Option.
 If a Scenario attribute “Max_Wait_Time” is already defined, select it by double clicking on it. If it is not already
defined, define the attribute “Max_Wait_Time”, by clicking on the Add button in this window. Leave the
attribute type as Value; and initialize the variable to the value 5 (in the initialization part of the window). Select
OK.

The end result would be as shown below (in the window to the right).

STEP 2. Define exception paths

As described below, define exception paths from each of the three activity boxes (Complete quickline service; complete
non-quickline customer call; and complete non-quickline broker call).

 Under Process Diagrams in the explorer window, double-click “LFS To-Be process”.
 Within each activity, double-click or right-click and select ‘Properties’.
 Delete all existing output paths from the three activities just before the “END” Block (listed below).
4
o Complete quickline service
o Complete non-quickline customer call
o Complete non-quickline broker call
 Open the properties dialog box for each activity. Select “Outputs” >> and select the “Exceptions” Tab.
 In the Exceptions tab, choose “Timer” from the choice box; and name the exception “Timer.”
 Click on the “Maximum Time” button. Click on the expression button (just to the right of “S.Max_Wait_Time”
text field entry in the screen image below); and then click on the “x=” button.
 Select the Max_Wait_Time attribute (QUICK WAY is to type directly – S.Max_Wait_Time in the text field).
 Select “Minutes” in the field to the right
 In the box next to the label, Disable – select “After Resource.”

The end result should be as shown in the screen shot on the next page. Select OK

STEP 3: Repeat Step 2 for the remaining two activities.

STEP 4: Create separate paths for output.

 You need to now create separate paths for normal output and exception output to explicitly record the number
of reneging entities.
 Create a new ‘Alternate Process’ activity (with rounded edge). Name this activity “Renege”: Renege
 The first arrow you connect will be the Exception path. Therefore, connect the “Exception” output (i.e., the
clock) to the “Renege” box.
 Now create another connecting path from the call handling activity to the “End” box.

STEP 5: Repeat the step for the other two activities.

At the end, your model would look similar to the Figure below. Notice the Clock icon (the Exception output) goes to the
“Renege” Activity.

5
STEP 6: Re-run the simulation and verify that you have reneging customers.

Fill in the following numbers:

Average Wait Time: ______________

Max and Avg Wait Time for Quickline Service: ___________________ ______________________

Max and Avg Wait Time for Non-Quickline Customer Service: ___________________ ______________________

Max and Avg Wait Time for Non-Quickline Broker Service: ___________________ ______________________

Under Queue Tab in Report:

Average Non-zero Wait Time: _____________________ Total # Waiting: ___________________

How many customers reneged? _________________

What if customers renege after a wait of 3 minutes? _____________ ; what happens to the wait times above?

6
Now, you can experiment with increasing or decreasing the number of customer arrivals or by decreasing the initial
value of the “Max_Wait_Time” to check the impact on the model.

Based on the simulations, how many call center agents will you need to meet the service level objective (customers to
wait no more than 20 seconds for their service to begin) stated in the case study?

Given the number of call center agents you have estimated and the hourly rate for an average call center agent
(approximately $37.00) can Lion Financial Services save $1.5 Million (per Andy’s estimate) with the redesigned call
center process.

You might also like