Recommending a Low-Cost Customer Service Employee Daily Assignment Schedule
University of Maryland University College

Executive Summary
Acme De Mexico’s Manager has requested assistance in developing a minimum cost daily assignment schedule for the customer service employees in their newly built store. Specifically, he wants to know the minimum total cost per day, which is the decision variable. He also wants to know the exact amount of part time and full time employees which will determine the total cost. The objective function is to minimize costs.
Acme specified a minimum number of employees required for each shift, a maximum number of employees per shift, specific shifts for full time and part time workers, and a …show more content…

Assumptions
According to Knode, a few key assumptions are made when using linear programming: “The assumption of a linear relationship (between the objectives, the constraints, etc.), the assumption of continuous relationships, and the assumption of non-negative relationships” (2011). Additionally, the assumption was made that the solution and variables would be integers, that is, not a fraction of an employee. It is also assumed that variables and solutions will be non-negative numbers. It can be assumed that there are enough employees to cover for employees who call in sick.
Non-Typical Days
Non-typical days may affect the schedule. For example, employees may call in sick. Employees who are off may have to come in to cover these shifts, or employees may have to work overtime to cover for the sick employee. This could increase the daily cost if the overtime rate is more than the hourly rate. Overtime may also come into play during holidays or busy times of the year. Acme may decide to open earlier and/or stay open later during these times. Acme would need to hire more employees to cover the extra shifts, or employees would have to work overtime.
Sensitivity Analysis
Sensitivity Analysis allows us to look at “variations in key aspects of the problem that could change the baseline answer” (Knode, 2011). One such key aspect is the constraint that hours worked by part time employees cannot