Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a popular technique used in measuring the performance of an industry. DEA has wide applications in agriculture, manufacturing, health care, transportation, education, energy and environment, as well as banking and finance. However, many students and academicians are in dilemma in finding the appropriate software to execute a particular DEA model. In recent years, different DEA software packages have been developed by some universities and companies for both academic and commercial purposes. The software packages offered wide varieties of most recent DEA models that could be used in science and technology. Some of these software packages are free for academic users while others are commercialised. In this study, nine different DEA software packages were reviewed. Among them, only three are free for academic purposes while four have been commercialized. One of the former is still in the development stage, but expected to be available soon

Iliyasu, Abdullahi

Mohamed, Zainal Abidin

Terano, Rika

English

Pertanika Journal of Scholarly Research Reviews (PJSRR - Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM)

PJSRR (2015) 1(1): 27-32 
© School of Graduate Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia 
27 
 
 
 
 
 
Pertanika Journal of Scholarly Research Reviews 
http://www.pjsrr.upm.edu.my/ 
 
 
 Data Envelopment Analysis Models and Software Packages  
for Academic Purposes 
 
Abdullahi ILIYASU, *
a
 Zainal Abidin MOHAMED,
a
 & Rika TERANO 
a
Department of Agribusiness and Information System, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra 
Malaysia, Selangor Malaysia.  
*
manawaci@yahoo.co.uk 
 
Abstract – Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a popular technique used in measuring the 
performance of an industry. DEA has wide applications in agriculture, manufacturing, health care, 
transportation, education, energy and environment, as well as banking and finance. However, many 
students and academicians are in dilemma in finding the appropriate software to execute a particular 
DEA model.  In recent years, different DEA software packages have been developed by some 
universities and companies for both academic and commercial purposes. The software packages 
offered wide varieties of most recent DEA models that could be used in science and technology. Some 
of these software packages are free for academic users while others are commercialised. In this study, 
nine different DEA software packages were reviewed. Among them, only three are free for academic 
purposes while four have been commercialized. One of the former is still in the development stage, 
but expected to be available soon.  
 
Keywords: Academic, commercial, data envelopment analysis, review models, software packages   
 
 
Introduction 
Data envelopment analysis (DEA) involves the application of linear programming technique to 
estimate the performance of an industry such as agriculture, health care, transportation, education, 
manufacturing, power, energy and environment, communication, banking, and finance (Liu et al., 
2013). Table 1 shows the number of articles published in various industries that employed DEA 
models in their data analysis. In addition, many empirical research studies that employed DEA models 
as tools of analysis have been published in ISI or Scopus journals (see Table 2).  
 
Since the novel works by Charnes et al. (1978), many software packages have been developed to 
applied DEA models in various industries. Barr (2004), Hollingsworth (2002), and Herrero and 
Pascoe (1997) did a good review of these software packages. However, some of these software 
packages are no longer available for empirical analyses while new ones have emerged. Furthermore, 
many models that are previously undiscovered are now available. The recent DEA models include 
dynamic DEA with network such as a slack-based measure approach (Tone & Tsutsui, 2014), an 
alternative approach of a slack-based measure of super-efficiency in DEA,  (Fang et al., 2013), a 
modified super-efficiency measure based on simultaneous input–output projection in data 
envelopment analysis (Chen et al., 2011), super-efficiency in DEA by effectiveness of each unit in 
society (Nuara et al., 2011), a slack-based measure of super-efficiency in DEA (Du et al., 2010), an 
epsilon-based measure of efficiency in DEA (Tone & Tsutsui, 2010), and variations on the theme of 
slacks-based measure of efficiency in DEA (Tone, 2010). Other models include network DEA such as 
a slacks-based measure approach (Tone & Tsutsui 2009), models for performance benchmarking 
(Cook et al., 2004), Undesirable Measure (Seiford & Zhu, 2002), a slack-based measure of super-
efficiency in DEA (Tone, 2002), a slack-based measure of efficiency in DEA (Tone, 2001), Network 
DEA (Färe & Grosskopf, 2000), and bootstrapping DEA (Simar & Wilson 1998).  
             
 
PJSRR (2015) 1(1): 27-32 
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Consequently, a need arises to review existing packages to help students and academicians to select 
the one that best fits the DEA model of interest. Information on the DEA software packages such as 
license price, developers, models, and website are, therefore, of paramount importance. It is against 
this backdrop that this review study is conducted. 
 
Table 1: DEA applications in industries 
  Industries   Total no. of papers  (%)  2005–2009  
Banking  323 17.8 147 
Health care  271 14.9 107 
Agriculture  258 14.2 140 
Transportation  249 13.7 131 
Education  184 10.1 75 
Power  156 8.6 87 
Manufacturing  146 8 75 
Energy   109 6 75 
Communication  70 3.9 28 
Finance  51 2.8 33 
Source: Liu et al. (2013) 
    
 
Commercial DEA software packages 
In this study, five commercialized DEA software packages are discussed in details. Three out of these 
five packages (DEA Solver, Frontier analyst, and MaxDEA) were developed by commercial 
companies. The other two (PIM-DEA and DEA Frontier) were developed by universities/polytechnics 
(see Table 3). 
 
Table 2: Commercial and academic DEA software 
Software Developer 
License price (single CPU) 
Academic Commercial 
DEA-Solver SAITECH, Inc, USA $800 $1,600 
Frontier Analyst Bonxia Software Ltd, Uk £395-£3995 £395-£3995 
PIM-DEA Emrouznejad A. and Thanassoulis E. £245-£966 £490-£1932 
DEAFrontier Joe Zhu $699 $2,889 
MaxDEA Beijing Res. & Con. Com. Ltd China $890 &2000 
FEAR Paul W. Wilson Free $180 
DEAP Tim Coelli Free Free 
EMS Holger Scheel Free Free 
 
 
DEA Solver Pro version  
The DEA Solver Pro version is developed by SAITECH Inc., New Jersey, USA and runs within 
Microsoft Excel. The latest release is Version 10.0, which has additional features not available in the 
previous versions. The lists of comprehensive models in this package are shown in Appendix A. The 
license price for single central processing unit (CPU) is $800 (academic purposes) and $1600 
(commercial purposes) as illustrated in Table 3. However, a temporary license is also available at a 
price of $200, $250 and $350 for classes comprising up to 20, 30, and 40 students, respectively. The 
software package can be purchased from the developer’s website (http://www.saitech-inc.com). 
Alternatively, a potential user may buy a textbook (Cooper et al., 2006) to use the student trial version 
packaged with the book. The student trial version is, however, limited to only 50 Decision Making 
Units (DMUs).  
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Frontier Analyst 
Frontier Analyst is developed by Bonxia Software Limited, UK. The strongest feature of this software 
is its ability to display a variety of results. These include graphs of technical efficiency scores, 
distribution of efficiency tables, frontier plots, pie charts, reference set frequency, X-Y plots, and 
efficiency plots. Appendix A displays different DEA models available in this software package. 
 
However, unlike most of the DEA software packages reviewed, there is no difference between the 
license prices for academic or commercial users for Frontier Analyst. The license price escalates as 
the number of DMUs increases from £395 (75 DMUs only) to about £3995 (20000 plus). Furthermore, 
the cost for a single CPU and a three-month trial version with a maximum of 500 DMUs is £295. The 
annual maintenance and upgrading of the software costs about £289 per CPU but it is optional. 
Therefore, Frontier Analysis is the most expensive among all the commercial DEA software packages 
based on this review. This software package can be bought online through the developer’s website 
(www.bonxia.com).  
 
Performance Improvement Management Software (PIM-DEA) 
PIM-DEA Version 3 is developed by A. Emrouznejad and E. Thanassoulis at Aston Business School, 
Aston University Birmingham, England. This software can handle large data sets, which can be 
directly imported from Microsoft Excel. Similarly, outputs can be easily exported to Microsoft Excel 
including different types of graphs for presenting results. Additionally, it allows computation of 
different DEA models as showed in Appendix A.   
 
PIM-DEA, same as Frontier Analyst, has a variety of prices depending on the license type (academic 
or commercial), validity type (permanent or temporally), number of DMUs, additional packages, 
maintenance duration and postal methods. For instance, the permanent license price for academic 
purposes is £245 (100 DMUs) to £966 (5000 DMUs) whereas £490 (100 DMUs) to £1932 (5000 
DMUs) for commercial users. PIM-DEA is the second most expensive DEA software package based 
on this review. For further information on PIM-DEA, visit the developer’s website 
(www.deasoftware.co.uk).  
 
DEA Frontier 
DEA Frontier is written by Joe Zhu of Operations and Industrial Engineering, School of Business, 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA. The software solves different DEA models (Appendix A) using 
Microsoft Excel solver and with no limitation in the number of DMUs, inputs or outputs. However, 
unlike most DEA software, well-illustrated tutorials are available online on how to use the software to 
solve various DEA models. Although the software is commercialized, it has a free download trial 
version, but the trial version can only handle 20 DMUs and has very limited DEA models. The 
developer advised potential users to try the trial version before purchasing the licensed version. The 
license prices for single CPUs are $699 and $2889 for academic and commercial purposes, 
respectively. This license includes one month free technical support for using the software package 
only. The pricing and order information is available on the developer’s website (www.deafronier.net). 
 
MaxDEA 
MaxDEA is developed by Beijing Real World Research and Consultation Company Limited. This 
software is easy to use because it comes in a folder and as such requires no installation. Multiple DEA 
models can be run at the same time and results can be displayed in Microsoft Excel. The software is 
of two types, basic and professional. The former allows free download, but it also has a limited 
number of DEA models that can be executed. On the other hand, the latter is strictly commercialized 
but deals with comprehensive DEA models as shown in Appendix A. The license price varies 
depending on the validity type (permanent or temporal) and usage purpose (commercial or academic). 
The one year license price per single CPU is $360 and $800 for academic and commercial purposes, 
respectively. On the other hand, the perpetual license price for a single user is $890 and $2000 for 
academic and commercial users. However, the prices of the license escalate as the number of DMUs 
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increases. Further information on the software can be obtained from the developer’s website 
(www.maxdea.cn).  
 
Free DEA software packages (academic purposes only) 
Unlike commercial DEA software, the free downloadable packages are developed by universities. 
Although Frontier Efficiency Analysis in R (FEAR) is free for academic purposes, a license fee needs 
to be paid for commercial usages.  
 
Frontier Efficiency Analysis in R (FEAR) 
FEAR is developed by Paul W. Wilson of Department of Economics and School of Computing, 
Clemson University, USA. Unlike most DEA software, FEAR works in General Purpose Statistical  
Package called R, which can be freely downloaded from the website. However, in order to use FEAR, 
R needs to be downloaded first in the CPU. The FEAR library is then linked to R for various DEA 
computations. The FEAR package is free for academic purposes, but users must cite Wilson (2008) in 
all reports, papers, and publications. On the other hand, the FEAR package is not free for commercial 
users, but costs only $180 (single CPU license). The user guide and FEAR packages are available at 
the following website: www.clemson.edu/economics/faculty/Wilson/software/FEAR. 
 
Data Envelopment Analysis Program (DEAP) 
DEAP is a DOS programme developed by Tim Coelli of Centre for Efficiency and Productivity 
Analysis (CEPA), School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia. This software can be 
downloaded freely from the website (www.uq.au/economics/cepa/deap.php) in zip form, which 
contains user guide (Coelli, 1996), read me, and many short examples. Three text files are normally 
used when conducting an analysis using DEAP. These include data file, instruction file and output file, 
and all can be edited according to the user analysis. Three analysis options are available in DEAP, 
standard CRS and VRS DEA models, cost and allocative efficiencies, and Malmquist DEA approach 
(Appendix A). DEAP is the most popular DEA software package especially among students and 
academicians perhaps because it is user friendly. 
 
Efficiency Measurement System (EMS) 
EMS Version 1.3 is developed by Holger Scheel at University of Dortmund, Germany. The software 
is free for download for academic purposes. EMS accepts data files from Microsoft Excel or text 
format, and it operates in Window 9x/NT. There is no limitation in the number of inputs, outputs, and 
DMUs in using the software. The EMS is distributed in zip file together with the user guide from the 
website (www.holger-scheel.de/ems/).    
 
Data Envelopment Analysis using Stata (DEAS) 
DEAS is not yet available for academic and commercial purposes because it is still in the developing 
stage. According to the developers, the package was registered with Source Forge.net on January 3, 
2013. However, the main aim of developing DEAS is to replace the existing DEASTATA that was 
proposed for management performance analysis. According to the developers, DEAS models will 
include CCR, BCC, slack-based measure of efficiency, super-efficiency, allocative efficiency, 
revenue efficiency, profit efficiency, cost efficiency, free disposal efficiency, additive model, virtual 
price model, and Malmquist productivity index among others. 
 
Conclusion  
The study reviewed nine different DEA software packages for executing various analysis models. 
Three of these software packages are free for academic purposes while the remaining five need to be 
purchased accordingly. The other one is still in the developing stage, and expected to be available 
soon. The major shortcoming of all these software packages reviewed is that none of them performs 
all the DEA analysis. In addition, the free software packages have limited number of DEA models 
when compared with the commercial versions. The licensed software is very expensive and hence not 
affordable by many students and academicians especially in developing countries. Effort should be 
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geared towards producing a single software that computes all the DEA models and at a cheaper price 
or free of charge to enable wider applications.   
 
 
References 
Barr, R. S. (2004). DEA software tools and technology. Handbook on Data Envelopment Analysis, 
Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.  
Charnes, A., Cooper, W. W., & Rhodes, E. (1978). Measuring the efficiency of decision making units. 
European Journal of Operational Research, 2(6), 429-444.  
Chen, J.-X., Deng, M., & Gingras, S. (2011). A modified super-efficiency measure based on 
simultaneous input–output projection in data envelopment analysis. Computers & Operations 
Research, 38(2), 496-504.  
Coelli, T. J. (1996). A guide to FRONTIER version 4.1: A computer program for stochastic frontier 
production and cost function estimation: CEPA Working papers. 
Cook, W. D., Seiford, L. M., & Zhu, J. (2004). Models for performance benchmarking: measuring the 
effect of e-business activities on banking performance. Omega, 32(4), 313-322.  
Cooper, W. W., Lawrence M. S., &  Kaoru Tone  (2006). Data Envelopment Analysis: A            
comprehensive text with models, applications, references and DEA-Solver Software.               
Second Edition.  New York: Springer.  
Du, J., Liang, L., & Zhu, J. (2010). A slacks-based measure of super-efficiency in data envelopment 
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efficiency in data envelopment analysis: An alternative approach. Omega - The International 
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Appendix A: DEA Software 
Models 
       
Models  
DEA- 
Solver  
Frontie
r 
Analyst 
DEA 
Frontie
r 
MaxDE
A Pro 
PIM
-
DEA  
FEA
R 
DEA
P 
EM
S 
CCR/CRS y Y y y y y y y 
 BCC/VRS y Y y y y y y y 
 NIRS,NDRS,GRS y N y y y y n y 
 Additive/Slack-Based 
Method y N y y n n n y 
Malmquist y y y y y y y y 
Non-convex y n y n n n n y 
Non-radial y n y y n n n n 
Preference-structure n n y y n n n n 
Undesirable-measure n n y y n n n n 
Context-dependent n n y y n n n n 
Free-disposal hull (FDH) y n y y n y n y 
Order m efficiency n n n n n y n n 
Allocative efficiency n n n n y n n n 
Cost efficiency y n y y y y y n 
Revenue efficiency y n y y n y n n 
Profit, revenue/cost 
efficiency y n y y n y n n 
Variable-benchmark n n y y n n n n 
Fixed-benchmark n n y y n n n n 
Minimum-efficiency n n y y n n n n 
Weak disposability n n y y n n n n 
Congestion y n y n n n n n 
Super Efficiency n n y y n n n n 
Scale elasticity y n n n y n y n 
Slack-Based Super 
Efficiency n n y n n n n n 
Bootstrapping n n y y y y n n 
Network n n n y n n n n 
Dynamic n n n y n n n n 
Cross Efficiency n n y y n n n n 
Epsilon-Based Measure 
(EBM) n n n y n n n n 
Restricted multiplier n n y y n n n n 
y = available; n = not available 
 


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