Sizing and performance analysis of a customer service desk by means of discrete event simulation.

The objective of the thesis is to develop a discrete event simulation model able to address the problem of sizing the customer service desk of Skylogic. Skylogic is the Italian subsidiary of Eutelsat, one of the most important satellite telecommunications companies worldwide. After the relocation of the first level service desk, the company needed to investigate the performance of different scenarios, to understand if the possible scheduling and sizing respect the objectives set by the Service Level Agreements. The thesis describes the creation of a model that can enable managers to make more accurate decisions and deliver better service to customers. The model has been developed in Flexsim, a discrete-event simulation software. Having no control over the arrival pattern of incoming tickets, the results showed that the company should focus on the TBS procedures and their possible reorganization; in fact, even a slight reduction in time could significantly improve the overall performance. Furthermore, the model highlighted the sensitivity of the performance on the hourly allocation of the various employees, since postponing an operator by only one hour, for example, can be quite significant. Therefore, the model of this thesis enables to assess the adequacy of strategic and organizational decisions before their implementation and to predict the service desk performance in cases such as increased workload.