Abstract
Field services receive calls from people in a region for some sort of help. A service unit is sent to the location of the call where some time is spent with the person requiring assistance. Typically the service units work within predefined territories. An important question is whether the region should be divided into such territories and, if so, how should the region be partitioned into territories. This paper addresses those issues. It shows that an appropriate partitioning can be critical to the efficient operation of a service and explores ways in which the partitioning may be optimised. (a).