This paper proposes practical modeling and analysis methods to facilitate d
ynamic staffing in a telephone call center with the objective of immediatel
y answering all calls. Because of this goal, it is natural to use infinite-
server queueing models. These models are very useful because they are so tr
actable. A key to the dynamic staffing is exploiting detailed knowledge of
system state in order to obtain good estimates of the mean and variance of
the demand in the near future. The near-term staffing needs, e.g., for the
next minute or the next 20 min., can often be predicted by exploiting infor
mation about recent demand and current calls in progress, as well as histor
ical data. The remaining holding times of calls in progress can be predicte
d by classifying and keeping track of call types, by measuring holding-time
distributions and by taking account of the elapsed holding times of calls
in progress. The number of new calls in service can be predicted by exploit
ing information about both historical and recent demand. (C) 1999 Elsevier
Science B.V. All rights reserved.