Data Envelopment Analysis

The basic original version of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method

DEA is a nonparametric technique for the estimation of productivity frontiers. It is used to empirically measure productive efficiency of decision making units (DMUs) when the production/operation process presents a structure of multiple inputs and outputs. The methodology is based on linear programming. The model measures the efficiency of either multiple DMUs at a point in time, one DMU over time, or multiple DMUs over time (panel calibration). The tool gives the to option to visualise the efficiency measurement results.
DEA finds use in production theory, as well as for benchmarking in operations management, where a set of measures is selected to benchmark the performance of manufacturing and service operations.