DATA STRUCTURES
BATCH 7:
241FA06004 JAMPANI MYDHILI
241FA06045 SIBANDA PERSEVERANCE
241FA06052 THANK MUNASHE
251LA06003 SOMA DINESH KUMAR REDDY
QUESTION 1:
Problem Statement: Design and implement a customer
service ticketing system using a Queue data structure. The
system will manage customer service requests (tickets) in a
First-In-First-Out (FIFO) order, ensuring that the earliest
submitted requests are addressed first. This structure is ideal
for scenarios where fairness and order of processing are
crucial, such as in a customer support environment
Requirements:
Add Ticket: Customers should be able to submit new service
requests (tickets). Each ticket will contain relevant
information such as customer ID, issue description, and
Serve Ticket: Customer service representatives should be able to process the next ticket in the queue.
The ticket at the front of the queue should be removed and served, ensuring that the oldest request is
handled first.
Display Tickets: The system should allow customer service representatives to view all pending tickets
in the queue. The tickets should be displayed in the order they were submitted, from the oldest to the
most recent.
Remove Ticket: Customers should have the ability to cancel their submitted tickets if they no longer
need assistance. The system should search for the specific ticket in the queue, remove it, and
maintain the integrity of the queue.
PART QUESTIONS:
A) Why is the Queue data structure suitable for managing customer service tickets? How does the FIFO
property of a queue ensure fairness in processing?
B) How would you implement the function to add a new ticket to the queue? What considerations
should be made to ensure that the ticket is added correctly?
C) Analyze the impact of frequently canceling tickets on the performance of the system. How does the
removal of specific tickets affect the efficiency of the queue?
D) Design a method to handle urgent tickets in the queue. How would you modify the existing
structure to prioritize these tickets while still processing normal tickets fairly?
SOLUTION TO QUESTION 1:
A) Queue is suitable because it follows the first-in-first-out
(FIFO) principle . This means that the earliest request (ticket)
is always served first, just like people standing in a line . It
ensures fairness because no request is skipped or delayed
unnecessarily . Customers who submitted their issues earlier
will get service before later ones, maintaining order and
trust.
Beyond fairness, a queue provides a structured and
predictable workflow for customer service agents. They
simply need to process the ticket at the front of the queue,
eliminating any confusion over which request to handle next.
This logical progression streamlines the support process,
improves efficiency, and allows the team to handle a high
B) To add a ticket, we use the enqueue operation.
Steps:
1. [Link] a new ticket containing customer id, issue description, and submission time.
2. 2. insert the ticket at the rear (end) of the queue .
Important Considerations and Best Practices
Input Validation: Before a ticket is even created, the system should validate the user's input. For
example, it must check that the customer ID field isn't empty and that the issue description is not blank.
This simple step is crucial for maintaining data integrity and preventing "bad" or incomplete tickets from
entering the system.
Accurate Timestamping: The submission time must be recorded precisely at the moment the ticket is
created. This timestamp is the key to fairness; it is what the system uses to determine the true "oldest"
ticket. Using a reliable system clock ensures that the chronological order of requests is maintained.
Handling Queue Overflow: A production-level system must account for the possibility of a full queue. If
the queue has a maximum capacity and that limit is reached, the system should gracefully handle the
situation. This could involve returning an error message to the customer, logging the issue, or placing the
ticket in a temporary buffer to be processed later.
Data Persistence: While the queue structure itself is often a temporary, in-memory data store, a real-
world ticketing system must ensure the ticket data is persisted. This means the ticket's information
should also be stored in a permanent database (like SQL or NoSQL) to prevent data loss in the event of a
system crash. This ensures that the ticket can be retrieved and processed even if the application has to
C) IMPACT OF FREQUENT CANCELLATIONS:
1. Searching for a specific ticket inside the queue can take
extra time (o(n) in worst case).
2. It disrupts the natural FIFO order and may slow down
operations if cancellations are very common.
3. Efficiency issues : removing from the front of the queue
is efficient (o(1)), but removing from the middle requires
shifting elements (o(n)).more cancellations = more
overhead in searching and removing tickets.
4. Conclusion: too many cancellations reduce efficiency ,
so cancellations should be allowed but handled carefully (e
. g with a linked list)
D) Method: use a priority queue or two queues.
[Link] queue for normal tickets (fifo).
[Link] queue for urgent tickets.
Working:
Always checks the urgent queue first.
If urgent tickets exist, serve them immediately.
Otherwise, serve from the normal FIFO queue.
Fairness :
Urgent requests are prioritized without ignoring
normal tickets.
Normal tickets are still served in the order they were
THANK YOU