ServiceMaster will test the system in parts of Terminix and could use it in seven consumer-oriented businesses next year. It is a complex problem in combinatorial mathematics. Picture an office with ten technicians to make a hundred service calls on Tuesday. Without even debating what order a given technician ought to make his house calls in, you find that the number of combinations is rather large. All the PCs Dell ever made, put to work side by side, would have a tough time crunching so many combinations.
Some creativity is in order.
PointServe uses genetic algorithms to find optimal, or near-optimal, solutions to scheduling problems. Southern Union, a gas distributor in PointServe's hometown, aims to use the software to schedule visits by some of the 200 technicians who cover the western half of Missouri, serving 500,000 customers. Next year, he says, a customer will click on the company's Web page, call up its calendar and make an appointment. Two hours prior to the visit, the customer will receive an on-line notice, and a map will pop up so he can follow, on screen, the progress of the worker, complete with a photo and bio. It's hard enough getting this stuff to work, but Powell may have an even harder time selling it to the businesses that could use it the most.