Exact and approximated calculation of the cycle service level in a continuous review policy

The paper proposes a method to compute the exact cycle service level for (s, Q) continuous review policy in the presence of undershoots and discrete demand in the discrete time domain. Prior to this, it is necessary to review the definition of the cycle service level in order to avoid the problems that can be found when applied it to the periodic review policy. Therefore, the aim of this paper is: (a) to review the definitions of the cycle service level when applied to continuous review policies; (b) to develop an exact calculation method of the CSL for a continuous review policy when undershoots are allowed and demand is discrete; and (c) to examine some common believes about the cycle service properties. Finally, the bias obtained when the service cycle level is estimated applying the common assumption of neglecting undershoots at the order point is illustrated with some numerical examples which show that it may lead to significant deviations to be ignored.