Mitigating Delays and Unfairness in Appointment Systems

We consider an appointment system where heterogeneous participants are sequenced and scheduled for service. As service times are uncertain, the aim is to mitigate the unpleasantness experienced by the participants in the system when their waiting times or delays exceed acceptable thresholds, and address fairness concerning balance of service levels among participants. In evaluating uncertain delays, we propose the Delay Unpleasantness Measure (DUM), which takes into account both the frequency and intensity of delays above a threshold. We also introduce the concept of lexicographic min-max fairness to design appointment systems from the perspective of the worst-off participants. The model can be adapted in the robust setting when the underlying probability distribution of service time is not fully available. We derive the optimal sequencing and scheduling decisions by solving a series of mixedinteger programming problems and report the insights from our computational studies. The model is applicable in outpatient clinics to design consultation slots and operating theatres to deliver an efficient and smooth schedule. About the Speaker Jin QI is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Decision Sciences, NUS Business School at National University of Singapore. She holds a Master’s degree in Management Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tsinghua University. Jin QI is broadly interested in the analytics of services systems, with the goals of eliciting operational insights and providing solutions for supporting decision-making in practice. She is currently focusing on healthcare operations, and has collaborated with several hospitals in Singapore. Enquiry: 3442 8408 All are Welcome! SEEM Seminar 2013-2014/020