A computational study of DEA with massive data sets

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is computationally intensive. This work answers conclusively questions about computational performance and scale limits of the standard LP-based procedures currently used. Examples of DEA problems with up to 15K entities are documented and it is not hard to imagine problem size increasing as new more sophisticated applications are found for DEA. This work reports on a comprehensive computational study involving DEA problems with up to 100K DMUs. We explore the impact of different LP algorithms including interior point methods as well as accelerators such as advanced basis starts and DEA specific enhancements such as “restricted basis entry” (RBE). Our results demonstrate that solution times behave close to quadratically and that massive problems can be solved efficiently. We propose ideas for extending DEA into a data mining tool. Scope and purpose This is a comprehensive and definitive study of computations in DEA using current practices and massive data sets. The purpose is to make determinations about computational requirements for DEA analyses now and in the future. We introduce the concept of DEA as a data mining tool.