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.

Method and apparatus for technology resource management

Abstract: Apparatus, and associated methods, manage technology resources in hosted applications including: demand, service level agreements, assets both hardware and software, projects, labor, knowledge and provisioning. The apparatus includes an asset manager configured to couple to host servers and a network, to manage the host servers and software deployed thereon. In embodiments of the invention the asset manager: determines demand for new assets and allocates available assets to meet the demand; determines assets not in compliance with existing software licenses; determines which host servers have actual service level metrics which are not compliant with the target service level metrics; and determines availability of a patch or upgrade for selected software and instances of the selected software among the assets. In an embodiment of the invention the asset manager couples to a contract manager with the asset manager determining the assets for which actual monitored service level metrics violate contract service level metrics. In an embodiment of the invention the asset manager couples to a product manager and scans the host severs to determine which have actual security metrics which are not compliant with the target security metrics managed by the product manager. In an embodiment of the invention the asset manager couples with a product manager, a work manager and an accounting manager to compare the actual costs of the new assets from the accounting manager and the work manager with the price of the assets from the product record.

COPS-SLS: a service level negotiation protocol for the Internet

Abstract: The deployment of QoS over the Internet may achieve protocols for the negotiation of service levels, as well as mechanisms for the end-to-end realization of service level agreements. Such general-purpose protocols include Common Open Policy Service (COPS) for policy specification within a domain. This article proposes an extension of the COPS protocol for intra- and interdomain service level negotiation. The proposed protocol is known as COPS-SLS. This allows the configuration of domain policies regarding service levels, and the automatic negotiation of service levels within the domain policies.

Multi-objective inventory routing problem: A stochastic model to consider profit, service level and green criteria

Abstract: The Inventory Routing Problem has been mainly studied in recent decades under an economic performance perspective. In this paper, we develop a multi-objective mathematical framework for the IRP to link: (i) the economic performance, (ii) the achieved server level in terms of shortage and delivery delays and (iii) the environmental footprint. The framework developed addresses the uncertainty by considering fuzzy distributions for certain problem inputs, such as the demand and the transportation costs. We show the negative impact on the economic performance when service level targets are exogenously chosen without coordination with the logistics components (inventory and distribution).

Analysis and Optimization of a Multistage Inventory-Queue System

Abstract: An important issue in the management of supply chains and manufacturing systems is to control inventory costs at different locations throughout the system while satisfying an end-customer service-level requirement. The challenge involved is to solve a nonlinear constrained optimization problem that captures the key dynamics of a complex production-inventory system. In this paper, we first develop a multistage inventory-queue model and a job-queue decomposition approach that evaluates the performance of serial manufacturing and supply systems with inventory control at every stage. We then present an efficient procedure to minimize the overall inventory in the system while meeting the required service level. Our technique is relatively simple and delivers accurate performance estimates. Furthermore, numerical studies generate certain managerial insights into related design and control issues.

Labor Staffing and Scheduling Models for Controlling Service Levels

Abstract: The problems of labor staffing and scheduling have received substantial attention in the literature. We introduce two new models of the labor staffing and scheduling problems that avoid the limitations of existing models. Collectively, the models have five important attributes. First, both models ensure the delivery of a minimally acceptable level of service in all periods. Second, one model can identify the least expensive way of delivering a specified aggregate level of customer service (the labor staffing problem and a form of labor scheduling problem). Third, the other model can identify the highest level of service attainable with a fixed amount of labor (the other form of the labor scheduling problem). Fourth, the models enable managers to identify the pareto relationship between labor costs and customer service. Fifth, the models allow a degree of control over service levels that is unattainable with existing models. Because of these attributes, which existing models largely do not possess, we expect these models to have broad applicability in a wide range of organizations operating in both competitive and noncompetitive environments. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 44: 719–740, 1997