Overview
You've just been promoted to be the performance engineering manager of the end user support organization for your company. Your company has employees working from home with laptop computers and some still in the office using laptop and desktop computers. End user requests come in around the clock, at various rates, and via calls, online requests, or walk-ins.
Requirements
Write a 3–5-page paper in which you:
· Describe a method you would use for each of the following:
- To identify limits on system capacity and define service and interarrival time variability.
- To create scheduling rules.
- To perform what-if analysis.
· Discuss the types of metrics you would implement to optimize the performance of your organization from both a user experience and a resource utilization perspective.
· Explain how you would differentiate the objectives of your performance metrics between phone call, online, and walk-in requests.
Full Answer Section
Once the limits on system capacity have been identified, the next step is to define the variability of service and interarrival times. Service variability is the variation in the amount of time it takes to resolve a request. Interarrival time variability is the variation in the time between when requests are received.
The variability of service and interarrival times can be affected by a number of factors, such as the complexity of the request, the skill level of the support technician, and the time of day. It is important to understand the variability of service and interarrival times in order to create accurate scheduling rules.
Creating Scheduling Rules
Scheduling rules are used to determine how requests are assigned to resources. There are a number of different scheduling rules that can be used, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
Some common scheduling rules include:
- First-come, first-served: This is the simplest scheduling rule. Requests are simply assigned to the next available resource.
- Shortest job first: This rule assigns requests to the resource that has the shortest estimated time to completion.
- Round robin: This rule assigns requests to resources in a rotating order.
- Priority-based: This rule assigns requests to resources based on their priority.
The best scheduling rule to use will depend on the specific needs of the end user support organization.
Performing What-If Analysis
What-if analysis is a technique that can be used to evaluate the impact of changes to the system. This can be helpful in identifying potential bottlenecks and in making decisions about how to allocate resources.
To perform what-if analysis, the performance engineer would need to create a model of the system. This model would include the limits on system capacity, the variability of service and interarrival times, and the scheduling rules.
The performance engineer could then use the model to simulate the impact of different changes to the system. For example, the performance engineer could simulate the impact of adding more resources or of changing the scheduling rules.
Implementing Metrics to Optimize Performance
There are a number of different metrics that can be used to measure the performance of an end user support organization. Some common metrics include:
- Average wait time: This is the average amount of time it takes for a request to be resolved.
- First-contact resolution rate: This is the percentage of requests that are resolved on the first contact.
- Customer satisfaction: This is a measure of how satisfied customers are with the support they receive.
The specific metrics that are used will depend on the specific needs of the end user support organization.
Differentiating the Objectives of Performance Metrics Between Phone Call, Online, and Walk-In Requests
The objectives of performance metrics will differ between phone call, online, and walk-in requests. For example, the objective for phone call requests might be to minimize the average wait time, while the objective for online requests might be to maximize the number of requests that can be handled per day.
The performance engineer will need to take these different objectives into account when choosing which metrics to use.
Conclusion
Optimizing the performance of an end user support organization is a complex task. However, by following the steps outlined in this paper, the performance engineer can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization.
Sample Answer
here is a 3-5 page paper on how to identify limits on system capacity and define service and interarrival time variability, create scheduling rules, perform what-if analysis, implement metrics to optimize the performance of an end user support organization, and differentiate the objectives of performance metrics between phone call, online, and walk-in requests.
Identifying Limits on System Capacity and Defining Service and Interarrival Time Variability
The first step in optimizing the performance of an end user support organization is to identify the limits on system capacity. This can be done by understanding the average number of requests that come in per day, the average time it takes to resolve a request, and the number of resources available to handle requests.