Excel s macro programming language (Visual Basic for Applications, VBA) can be used to automate tasks such as replication of simulations and repeated optimisation. Levine at al, 1999) and OR techniques, for example linear programming (LP) (including Andersen et al, 2000 and Pidd, 1996). Some teaching texts are taking this approach to statistics (e.g. By making use of features such as the Solver and the Data Analysis tools, many of the statistical analysis, optimisation and simulation tasks involved in OR education and practice can now be tackled using a spreadsheet. At the same time, the capabilities of spreadsheet packages such as Microsoft Excel have been growing rapidly. Thanassoulis et al, 1996 and Banxia Software, 1998). Applying DEA to problems of realistic size requires a very large amount of computation, and so specialist software packages have been developed (e.g.
Andersen et al, 2000 and Winston, 1994) as well as in those concentrating on mathematical programming (e.g. DEA is starting to appear as a topic in recent editions of general OR teaching texts (e.g. Interest in applying the technique has been growing rapidly, and many papers have been published on public and 1Ģ private sector applications, often leading to technical developments. Introduction Since Charnes et al s (1978) description of the use of ratios of weighted inputs and outputs to measure efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has developed into a successful OR tool. It is argued that making use of the developing power of spreadsheets to implement OR techniques such as DEA can help make OR more accessible to practitioners and students. Since the macro language for Excel (Visual Basic for Applications) can control the Solver, a macro can be written to automate the process of calculating the efficiency of each unit. Excel s Solver can perform the optimisation required, whether nonlinear or linear programming formulations are used. 2007, ISBN Using Excel for Basic Data Envelopment Analysis Manchester School of Management, UMIST Abstract This paper describes the use of Excel to implement the basic Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) algorithms. (2000), Using Excel for Data Envelopment Analysis, Manchester School of Management Working Paper No.
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