SAP Labs: Staff Requirements
by Ajith J. Kumar, Amit Kumar Pansari
The associate project manager for the Indian branch of SAP Labs, a multinational enterprise that provides software and software-related services, has been meeting with his manager to discuss ways to estimate staff requirements across shifts for the company’s provisioning team. The team works three shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and services multiple types of requests in the form of tasks, which have one of seven priorities assigned to them. Service level agreements with customers require that the initial reaction time of the team meet specific requirements, which differ across priorities. Employing service agents involves costs for the organization. The project managers must identify a shift schedule that minimizes the number of staff used in a service setting while meeting the service level agreement expectations.
Learning Objectives:
This case can be used in a simulation modeling and analysis course, as well as courses on operations research, operations management and process analysis to understand and appreciate the following:
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The inherent trade-offs between efficiency and responsiveness in a service setting.
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The use of discrete-event simulation modeling in addressing real-life scheduling problems.
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How to conduct what-if analyses in a systematic manner using simulation software.
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