Designing Service Delivery Systems

© AMD Publishing/Terry Hill 2005

T. Hill, Operations Management 2e. Palgrave Macmillan ISBN: 1403934665/ 140399112X

Chapter 5

DESIGNING SERVICEDELIVERY SYSTEMS

Terry Hill



OVERVIEW

DIMENSIONS that affect appropriate delivery systemDISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS of service operationsFACTORS involved in service deliveryService delivery system DESIGNService PROFILINGREFLECTIONS



DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICSOF SERVICE OPERATIONS

Service/product MIXINTANGIBLE nature of servicesSIMULTANEOUS provision/consumptionTIME DEPENDENT capacityCustomers as PARTICIPANTSCUSTOMER managementPEOPLE skillsEffective services are REPRODUCIBLESITE selectionNO PATENTS on services



Exhibit 5.3 from page 147

FACTORS INVOLVED IN SERVICE DELIVERY

(Categories of service) p 147



SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM DESIGN

The MARKET provides the external context for the service delivery systemThe service ENCOUNTER and EXPERIENCE are the essence of the delivery systemCustomer RETENTION is one of the key aims of the service delivery system

(Overall)

SOME KEY POINTS



BACK OFFICE or FRONT OFFICE

PHASE 1


(Detailed)



BACK OFFICE or FRONT OFFICE

The DELIVERY SYSTEM

PHASE 2

PHASE 1


(Detailed)




(Phase 1 - Back office or front office)

No customer contactEasier schedulingHigher processing volumes

BACK OFFICE

FRONT OFFICE

Facilities represent organisationManage queue lengthsEase of customer useWider staff roles

Line of

visibility




(Phase 2 - The delivery system) p 154

Exhibits 5.10 from page 154




Information technology e.g. ATMs and teleworking

E-commerce e.g. travel booking, call centres

and grocery shoppingAlternative approaches e.g. eye microsurgery

(IT-based and other designs)





(Alternative approach - eye microsurgery) p 161




(Other issues in system design)

ENHANCING servicesLevel of customer PARTICIPATIONMaximising use of SKILLED staffLevel of server DISCRETION




Profiling - p 169




SERVICE PROFILING p 170



SERVICE PROFILING




REFLECTIONS






REFLECTIONS



DIMENSIONS AFFECTINGAPPROPRIATE DELIVERY SYSTEMS

Service COMPLEXITY

The TECHNICAL dimension of what the service comprisesThe BUSINESS dimension in terms of volume and the market order-winners and qualifiers to be supported

THE MARKET



The technology/people MIXThe NATURE of the servicesCATEGORIES of servicesCOMPLEXITY of the serviceVOLUMESMARKET order-winners and qualifiers





(The technology/people mix)





(The nature of the service being processed)



OVERALL




DETAILED

OVERALL




IT-based and OTHER designs

DETAILED

OVERALL





(Overall)



Exhibits 5.5 and 5.6 from page 149


(The importance of customer retention)



Exhibits 5.7 and 5.8 from page 150


(The importance of customer retention)




(Phase 1 - Back office or front office)











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Designing Service Delivery Systems