Service level

About: Service level is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 7647 publications have been published within this topic receiving 126093 citations. The topic is also known as: service level.

On the (S-1, S) lost sales inventory model with priority demand classes

Abstract: In this paper an inventory model with several demand classes, prioritised according to importance, is analysed. We consider a lot-for-lot or (S - 1, S) inventory model with lost sales. For each demand class there is a critical stock level at and below which demand from that class is not satisfied from stock on hand. In this way stock is retained to meet demand from higher priority demand classes. A set of such critical levels determines the stocking policy. For Poisson demand and a generally distributed lead time, we derive expressions for the service levels for each demand class and the average total cost per unit time. Efficient solution methods for obtaining optimal policies, with and without service level constraints, are presented. Numerical experiments in which the solution methods are tested demonstrate that significant cost reductions can be achieved by distinguishing between demand classes.

Performance based quality contracts in bus service provision: the nucleus of reform

Abstract: Institutional reform of the bus sector is a topical discussion item in a number of countries at present. A specific focus is on ensuring a value for money regime to identify the benefits to society associated with each dollar of subsidy support from government. This paper argues that a Performance- Based Contracting regime offers the best prospects of achieving a system-wide value for money outcome. It proposes a reward system for bus operators that combines payment for delivering a minimum level of service , that meets government community service obligations, plus an incentive regime that rewards operators for patronage increases. The patronage incentive is based on expected user and external benefits deriving from service improvements and patronage increases. Cost benchmarking at relevant best practice levels is proposed to ensure remuneration is based on efficient cost levels. The paper argues that a PBC approach is consistent with maximising social surplus from public transport provision across a geographic area, for any given budget constraint and regulatory imposed minimum service levels. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E210620.

The structure and management of service level agreements in networks

Abstract: The paper proposes a structure for quality-of-service (QoS)-centered service level agreements (SLA), and a framework for their real-time management in multiservice packet networks The SLA is structured to be fair to both parties, the service provider and their customer The SLA considered here are for QoS assured delivery of aggregate bandwidth from ingress to egress nodes; however, the control and signaling is for the more granular flows or calls A SLA monitoring scheme is presented in which revenue is generated by the admission of flows into the network, and penalty incurred when flows are lost in periods when the service provider is not SLA compliant In the SLA management scheme proposed, the results of a prior off-line design are used, in conjunction with measurements taken locally at ingress nodes, to classify the loading status of routes The routing and resource management are based on virtual partitioning and its supporting mechanism of bandwidth protection The effectiveness of SLA management is measured by the robustness in performance in the presence of substantial diversity in actual traffic conditions A simulation testbed called D'ARTAGNAN has been built from which we report numerical results for a case study The results show that the SLA management scheme is robust, fair and efficient over a broad range of traffic conditions

Periodic review inventory-control for perishable products under service-level constraints

Abstract: Food retail inventory management faces major challenges by uncertain demand, perishability, and high customer service level requirements. In this paper, we present a method to determine dynamic order quantities for perishable products with limited shelf-life, positive lead time, FIFO or LIFO issuing policy, and multiple service level constraints. In a numerical study, we illustrate the superiority of the proposed method over commonly suggested order-up-to-policies. We show that a constant-order policy might provide good results under stationary demand, short shelf-life, and LIFO inventory depletion.

SelCSP: A Framework to Facilitate Selection of Cloud Service Providers

Abstract: With rapid technological advancements, cloud marketplace witnessed frequent emergence of new service providers with similar offerings. However, service level agreements (SLAs) , which document guaranteed quality of service levels, have not been found to be consistent among providers, even though they offer services with similar functionality. In service outsourcing environments, like cloud, the quality of service levels are of prime importance to customers, as they use third-party cloud services to store and process their clients’ data. If loss of data occurs due to an outage, the customer’s business gets affected. Therefore, the major challenge for a customer is to select an appropriate service provider to ensure guaranteed service quality. To support customers in reliably identifying ideal service provider, this work proposes a framework, SelCSP , which combines trustworthiness and competence to estimate risk of interaction. Trustworthiness is computed from personal experiences gained through direct interactions or from feedbacks related to reputations of vendors. Competence is assessed based on transparency in provider’s SLA guarantees. A case study has been presented to demonstrate the application of our approach. Experimental results validate the practicability of the proposed estimating mechanisms.