Fair Scheduling of Heterogeneous Customer Populations
33 Pages Posted: 15 Mar 2021 Last revised: 10 Apr 2021
Date Written: March 12, 2021
Abstract
When managing congested service systems, it is common to use priority rules based on some operational criteria. In this paper, we consider the societal implications of such individual-focused priority policies, when individuals are considered as members of broader population groups. We find that optimal resource allocation policies such as the cμ-rule in scheduling can lead to significant inequity across different population groups. We propose policies that can mitigate this inequity and can even generate completely equitable outcomes across populations with little, or at times, even no additional system cost. Thus, we find that it can be possible to achieve more equitable outcomes while ensuring operational efficiency.
Keywords: fairness, queueing, scheduling, priority
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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