A Generator for Volatile Demand Profiles. A Brief Description of a Tool

Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Computer Science - Commercial Information Technology, grade: 0,0, Technical University of Ilmenau, language: English, abstract: To test, compare and improve algorithms and new approaches for staff scheduling, planning problems are needed. Such problems are often not available in literature. Therefore, the Demand Generator was developed to create own problems for staff scheduling. The actual parameters of this tool are based on real data of a call center, which were only slightly modified for the purpose of data protection of the call center. Nevertheless, the tool can also be used for other industries like retail sector or logistics.

The described tool creates for a whole year in hourly resolution values for the staffing demand of a specific workstation or a specific function. Opening hours, holidays, weekdays, min/max staffing levels, stochastic elements, events and weather effects are taken into account by the Demand Generator.