Service Engineering: Data-Based Course Development and Teaching
Avishai Mandelbaum
Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion, 32000 Haifa, Israel, avim@tx.technion.ac.il
Sergey Zeltyn
IBM Research Lab, 31905 Haifa, Israel, sergeyz@il.ibm.com
Abstract
In this exposition, we discuss empirically based teaching in the newly emerging field of "service engineering." Specifically, we survey a service engineering course, taught at the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology. The course was "born" about 15 years ago as a graduate seminar and ultimately took itspresent form as a core course for the undergraduate program in industrial engineering and management. The role of measurements anddata as teaching-enhancers and research-drivers is underscored. In addition, we emphasize that data granularity must reach the individual-transaction level. We describe customized databases and software tools that facilitate operational and statistical analysis of services; this includes the use of SEEStat, a data-user interface that was developed at the Technion's SEE Laboratory, for research and educational purposes. Some unique aspects of the course are the incorporation of state-of-the-art research and real-world data in lectures, recitations, and home assignments, as amply presented throughout this work. The application focus of the surveyed course has been telephone call centers, which constitute an explosively growing branch of the service industry. The course is now expanding to also cover healthcare, especially hospitals; some examples from other service areas (e.g., the justice system) are described as well.
Key words
teaching engineering; teaching queueing; teaching service operations management; interdisciplinary teaching; service science
History
Received: August 2009; accepted: July 2010
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Citation Information
Mandelbaum, A., S. Zeltyn. 2010. Service engineering: Data-based course development and teaching. INFORMS Trans. Ed. 11(1) 3-19. Available online at http://ite.pubs.informs.org/.