Overloaded Queuing Systems: Service Capacity Allocation and Incentive Issues

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Service capacity in units such as call centers or health clinics, typically cannot meet the demand. As a result, some customers end up abandoning queues intentionally or passively without being served. A queuing system with a demand that is larger than the service capacity is said to be overloaded. By acknowledging the fact that only a proportion of customers acquire service, the major decision facing an overworked service provider is to develop a system that assigns priority. Since the attributes of customers and servers, and their interactions may not be homogenous, the First-In-First-Out (FIFO) discipline may not suit every situation. For example, a gravely ill person will take precedence over someone else in a hospital waiting room. In such cases, service providers may compromise the FIFO rule in the interests of efficiency metrics, such as health and revenue.