Showing papers on "Service system published in 1981"

The Customer Contact Approach to Services: Theoretical Bases and Practical Extensions

Abstract: This paper reviews the underlying theory of the customer contact approach to services and suggests specific ways in which this approach can be applied to a wide range of service systems The approach holds that the potential efficiency of a service system is a function of the degree of customer contact entailed in the creation of the service product Based upon this conceptualization, a number of propositions about high contact systems are identified and some simple heuristics for service system design and operation are proposed Other approaches to operations management in services are reviewed and suggestions for further development of the contact approach are offered

Multiple Unit Dispatches in Emergency Services: Models to Estimate System Performance

Abstract: One emergency service system model that has undergone extensive development and testing is the hypercube queuing model and its approximate analog, which were developed by Larson. The model estimates key system performance measures, such as individual unit workloads and travel times. One limitation of this model, as well as other probabilistic deployment models, is that they assume only a single unit is dispatched to each call. In the police environment, if two officers are assigned to each unit, this assumption is generally valid. However, most fire services dispatch multiple vehicles to a serious fire, and in police departments with one-officer units, a second unit will be sent to all potentially dangerous calls. The need for a new model goes beyond an interest in more accurately estimating standard performance measures when multiple units are dispatched. New models are required to predict new performance measures that are relevant only when multiple units are dispatched. For example, what are the paired travel times of the first-and second-arriving units at an emergency? How long will the first unit be exposed at a potentially dangerous situation until a backup unit arrives? Which unit most frequently arrives first at calls requiring multiple units? In this paper we build on Larson's work and present two models, one exact, the other, approximate, which can capture the simultaneous response of two identical units dispatched to a single call. We present an example from the police context to illustrate both models and compare the speed and accuracy of the approximate model to the exact one. The workload and travel time estimates of both models differ on the average by only two percent. We conclude our presentation with a brief discussion of model extensions with a focus on the analysis of a merger of police, fire and emergency medical services into a public safety service.

Management systems for field service productivity improvement

Abstract: The effectiveness of field services provided for the maintenance of crucial equipment is shown to have a significant impact on market share. Identification of the service level required by customers is essential. Programmes are described for the design of optimal services and for the optimisation of service levels by way of an investment evaluation procedure.

The Balanced Service System of JCAH--how balanced is it?

Abstract: The "Balanced Service System" is the basic conceptual model set forth by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals as a standard for community mental health centers. The author cites deficiencies in the model--namely, that it is based on a simplistic notion of social functioning--and suggests that a truly balanced system would integrate a medical model with a sophisticated interpretation of the social sciences.

Optimal tandem queue with no waiting room

Abstract: This paper studies certain practically important problems of optimal allocation of service rates for two-stage tandem service system without possibility of queueing These problems have been solved by geometric programming

Toward the evaluation of mental hospitals: A study of child and adolescent services from a system management perspective

Abstract: Feasible quantitative data, which is uniform across mental health service units, is necessary for a service system management's efforts to direct the improvement of the system. A procedure for starting with available data and progressively evolving evaluative data and the service system cost/effectiveness is introduced in the context of one state's intramural mental hospital system. Ten years of data on pristine admissions to one state's hospitals of child and adolescent patients and on these patients' subsequent state hospitalization are used to illustrate the beginning of the procedure.

Expansion and merger of home care agencies: optimizing existing resources through organizational redesign.

Abstract: This article analyzes the extent to which expansion and the merger of existing home care agencies is an effective strategy for improving in-home services for persons who require long-term care. Information obtained from nine comprehensive home care providers suggests that movement to a new service structure is impeded by (1) limitations and fragmentation of existing funding sources; (2) the traditional separation between agencies that deliver medical care and those that provide health-supportive "social" services; and (3) staff's concern about the impact that organizational changes may have on established roles, functions, relationships, and work conditions. The analysis and supporting evidence show, however, that care providers are more effective and efficient following expansion or merger. After reorganization, agencies appear to be more successful in reaching greater numbers of potential clients, in providing appropriate, well-coordinated services, and in making more effective use of existing resources. Unfortunately, inadequate funding has so constrained the development of in-home services, that expansion or merger of existing providers is, at best, an interim solution. Reorganization of the service system, under existing limitations, will achieve only marginal improvements in services and in the population "at risk." Home care will emerge as a viable resource only when there is a significant expansion in funding, service benefits, and the numbers of persons eligible for a funded program of in-home assistance.

Use of services for the mentally retarded in the African-American community.

Abstract: Mentally retarded individuals, their families, and professionals in the service delivery system in the African-American community were interviewed concerning the use of services for the mentally retarded. It was found that African-Americans underutilized available services. Reasons for this included aspects of the service delivery system and features of African-American Culture. Recommendations were made for increasing the use of services.

Cost effective lab service system: better quality medicine at lowered costs.

Abstract: In this article, the authors describe the Cost Effective Laboratory Service System, a new concept which they explain can reduce hospitalization costs while maintaining or enhancing the quality of medical care. Discussed are the operational features of the system, the development of subsets, prototype trials, and the advantages of and objections to the system.

Evaluating the Distributional Consequences of Local Service Delivery Systems: An Alternative Perspective

Abstract: Local governments directly or indirectly provide a menu of services to achieve desirable social or environmental conditions. Local service delivery systems are complex because they involved embedded processes. The complexity of the service delivery system has fostered confusion among interested economists, policy analysists, and political scientists about what should be done when evaluating the equity of service delivery. This paper discusses and develops the rationale and alternative empirical basis for evaluating equity of service delivery in terms of service outcome, using an ex ante equity norm based on citizen evaluations.

Pilot number service system for automatic switchboard

Abstract: PURPOSE:To ensure a uniform distribution of the incoming calls to the extensions belonging to the same extension pilot number service group, by storing the storage position information of the extension selected precedently in accordance with the pilot number service group and at the same time controlling the storage information. CONSTITUTION:With an incoming call, the pilot number service memory reading circuit 2 delivers the extension storage position information to the pilot number service group information memory 3. And the memory 3 stores the pilot number service group information into the circuit 2. Then this information is delivered to the temporary memory 5 and the pilot number service memory 4. The memory 5 delivers the information of the memory 12 which stores the storage position information of the extension given precedently and in correspondence to the pilot number service information to the collating circuit 6. On the other hand, the memory 4 reads out one of the extension storage position information within the pilot number service group to then deliver it to the circuit 6. The circuit 6 has a collation between the information delivered from the memory 5 and the memory 4 each, and then delivers the position information of the next extension if no coincidence is obtained. And if a coincidence is obtained, the new extension storage position infor mation is read out of the memory 4 to be used for the position information of the extension to receive an incoming this time.

Need for Telecommunication Standards for Interconnection with the U.S. Postal Service EMSS

Abstract: This report describes the effort which will be undertaken to determine telecommunication standards necessary for interconnection to the United States Postal Service (USPS) planned long-range Electronic Mail Service System (EMSS). This work is in compliance with an Administration Policy Statement which requires that organizations desiring to input messages into a future USPS EMSS via telecommunications means can do so if the interconnection standards are satisfied.