Seat Plan

[natski]

Hi,

I work in a call center and I wanted to tackle our persistent
problem of running out of work stations.

I was given the task of providing a seating arrangement for the
whole center (imagine 900 agents and 205 different start times and days
off).

They gave me a floor plan in excel.

My question is can I automate plotting agents on work stations by
teams with different start times and different days off AND sharing of
work stations.

Data available is individual schedules of agents, team groupings,
floor plan all in excel.

Thanks in advance!

 

[pdberger]

Natski --

The optimization problem you face can be solved using the Excel Solver tool.
It's too complex to explain in this setting. Maybe some of the gurus have a
link. If not, you might do a web search on Excel optimization or linear
programming techniques. One book that handles it well, in short order and
pretty directly, is "Excel Data Analysis & Business Modeling" by Wayne
Winston.

Once you read about the technique, try with a small problem (say, 10
stations) and work out your calculations at that level. Then go for the
whole enchilada.

Good luck, and HTH