Research Article

A Simulation Approach to Decision Making in IT Service Strategy

Table 1

Patterns of behavior of customer’s orders.

Orders tendencyDescription

ConstAfter the launching of a special offer, the number of orders received experiments a rapid growth and it remains constant as its peak value.
Requests Received Rate = Initial Value + PulseHeight * Pulse (PulseTime, Sim Period)

RampThe increment of the number of orders is not step-shaped but gradual; hence, it has been modeled as ramp.
Requests Received Rate = Initial Value + Ramp (Ramp Slope, Ramp Time, Ramp Length)

PulseThe growth that the number of orders stays as its peak value for a certain amount of time and then descends gradually.
Requests Received Rate = Initial Value + PulseHeight * Pulse (PulseTime, PulseWidth)