Round 2

Case Study

in association with
 ShipTask Logistics Pvt. Ltd
You are the Service Manager of Transaction Processing (TP) Division at ShipTask Logistics Pvt
Ltd. You joined the firm eight months back and was responsible for all the freight billing unit's
back-office operations. ShipTask is a Logistics firm headquartered in Bangalore and well-known
for its quick turnaround times.
It is the sixth-largest logistics firm in India in terms of couriers delivered, with a 12.4% market
share. The USP of ShipTask is the ability to deliver the shipments much ahead of the promised
time, thus, leading to customer delight. This is achieved by accurate demand forecasting and
efficient use of available resources to meet timelines.
Today is November 28, 2020. The TP unit of ShipTask is expecting an increased volume of
customer orders in December 2020. This is primarily due to the special deals in the festive
season and the launch of a new booking app by ShipTask. The below tables show the number
of transactions processed in the last three years by the TP division:
2018
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
362400 385900 340100 432700 382100 409200 378300 498100 473500 513400 467100 592600

2019
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
546000 582900 557300 623700 601900 663400 593800 701800 617400 695800 635500 784900

2020
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
731700 771200 728400 829000 807900 866500 804300 912300 892300 925800 894700 (so far) -

Last year, ShipTask encountered a similar peak season in December, and they used the
weighted moving average forecasting method to estimate the demand. However, the actual
number of orders received did not match the forecasted demand as the previous Manager
failed to capture the trend and seasonality in data, resulting in a breach of contractual SLA.
The workflow involved in processing a transaction consists of monotonous activities, and the
efficiencies of experienced operators (> 1-year tenure) are observed to be 20% higher on
average compared to that of contract staff who all have a tenure of less than one year. The
ratio of experienced to inexperienced operators in the entire TP division is currently 5:2. The
average time taken to process a transaction by an experienced person is 15 minutes. The
Quality Check process takes an additional two minutes per transaction, but it is usually not
performed during peak months. The Service Level Agreement with respect to On-Time Delivery
is 99%.
Apart from the Transaction Processing division, there are Call Center and Research & Analytics
divisions in the back-office operations. The below monthly report shows the headcount and
utilization details of people working in these three divisions for the month of November:
 Transaction Processing Division
Total permanent staff 1200
Contract staff 200
Utilization (so far) 85%
SLA adherence (so far) 99%

Call Center Division

Total permanent staff 600
Contract staff 50
Utilization (so far) 88%
SLA adherence (so far) 97.2%

Research & Analytics Division

Total permanent staff 750
Contract staff 40
Utilization (so far) 73%
SLA adherence (so far) 100%

All the teams work five days a week, from 10:00 AM to 07:00 PM, with a 1-hour break. The
utilization of 85% is considered healthy, and if people are utilized more, it may lead to burnout,
thus, reducing their productivity as well as the quality of their work. Absenteeism in the TP
division is around 5% per month on an average.
Cross-utilization of resources from other divisions is feasible. However, training the people on
the process takes 40 hours per person. People in any division may be asked to do over-time,
but it comes with an additional cost of Rs 500 per hour for a resource. The inflow of jobs in the
other two divisions is expected to remain stable in December. New contract staff can be
recruited and trained, which takes 60 hours of effort per person and a monthly payment of Rs
35000 per contractor. Any sort of training will be provided by the experienced permanent
employees, and they do not contribute to the service delivery while training. In order for the
training program to be effective, one trainer shouldn’t train more than ten people at a time.
As the current Manager of the TP division, you need to ensure the following for the next month
(December 2020):

• Forecast the demand accurately and provide peak support to manage the surge in
customer orders by making optimal usage of various resources
• SLA adherence by processing the transactions on time
You have a meeting tomorrow morning with the Regional Operations Manager of ShipTask
Logistics. You are expected to make a detailed presentation to him on how you are going to
manage the peak volume and the approvals you need from him (in terms of additional costs
that might be incurred).
Consider having a detailed analysis of the past trends, recommendations for handling the peak
volume, revised staffing plan, training plan, and any other recommendations to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of operations so that the approval comes immediately. Also
consider providing more than one possible option with a mix of alternatives, accounting for
the effort (man-hours) and cost involved.
 Rules
▪ The submission should be a presentation of maximum 10 slides (including cover)
▪ Slides must include proposed plans supported by analysis and rationale
▪ Calculations can be attached as an excel file within the submission if required
▪ Assumptions if any have to be clearly explained
▪ Maximum permissible file size will be 10 MB
▪ All submission should be done on the link mentioned below
▪ Late submissions through email will not be evaluated
▪ Naming format: <Team Name>_<Institute>
▪ Submission format: .ppt or .pptx
▪ In case of any issues/disputes, the decision taken by OPEX, IIM Nagpur will be final

All the best!

Contact Details:
club-operations@iimnagpur.ac.in
Aswin – 8281427192
Dhanashree – 7208671502
Varun – 9629772133

Submission Link: https://forms.gle/YSXozD7pdKHhe8hD8