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The research related to check processing in large commercial banks is always aimed at reducing the float incurred by the processing banks. A major check processing area that can contribute significantly to the reduction of bank float, but which lacks systematic research, is the scheduling of jobs on computerized document (check) processors.
Since, at any given time, there are more endpoints or destination-banks by which the checks need to be sorted than there are pockets in a sorter, a substantial portion of the checks arriving at the check processing facility of a processing bank require more than one pass on the sorter before they are ready to be dispatched to the banks on which they are drawn. The checks that are sorted ("killed") in the first pass (prime pass) and the checks requiring additional passes (rehandles) compete for the same scarce resource--the sorters' capacity. The problem of sequencing jobs on sorters and determining the job size (i.e., the number of checks to be processed on sorters in a given time period) during the peak hour operations of the busiest weekday can be a nightmare for bank management.
This research has led to the development of a linear programming model of the scheduling problem that can be used for determining schedules and job sizes for both prime pass and rehandle jobs. This linear model when solved provides the optimum schedule for a given sort pattern, which when implemented, would maximize the total number of checks "killed" by their dispatch deadlines.
Two heuristics (Heuristic A and Heuristic B) have been developed and used to create a number of sort patterns. Each heuristic is tested and compared with the other heuristic using a number of performance measures that are important to check processing operations in banks. Additionally, sort patterns used by the bank under study are compared with sort patterns developed using Heuristic A and the results have been discussed. Sort patterns developed using Heuristic A are found to perform better than those developed using Heuristic B as well as those used by the bank under study.