Frontier Analyst® and DEA: A manager’s introduction to DEA

Contact us at info@banxia.com for details and booking form. Dates are by arrangement. Click here to download a booking form (in PDF format).

Workshop description

Frontier Analyst® uses a technique called data envelopment analysis (DEA) to examine and evaluate the performance (relative efficiency) of comparable organisational/ business division. In DEA literature the business divisions or organisational units are usually referred to as “DMUs” – decision-making units. For a retail business the DMUs would be the individual outlets, for a bank, it would be the individual branches, for a hospital – wards and so on. The idea is to use a range of measures (variables) to compare the relative efficiency of units performing similar tasks. In some quarters this process is referred to as peer group analysis or peer group comparison. Frontier Analyst® Professional has been designed to present the outputs from the analysis in a form which is easy to interpret and easy to communicate to others.

The workshop is intended primarily for practitioners with a non-mathematical background, although academic researchers (from a non-mathematical background) may also be interested in attending. The workshop will not present DEA from a highly theoretical stand-point but aims to equip managers with the tools needed to perform DEA within their own organisation. This form of performance measurement is particularly suited to organisations which are made up of many “units” which perform a similar function e.g. retail outlets, bank branches, franchises, health care services, manufacturing and so on. Any manager or management consultant who works with this kind of multi-unit organisation could benefit from attending this workshop.

The workshop will cover the following material:
the theory behind data envelopment analysis (DEA); illustrations/ discussion of practical applications of DEA; hands-on sessions with Frontier Analyst®

Tutor

We have experience of working with many customers using Frontier Analyst®, in very different settings, with a particular focus on helping managers (who are not using linear programming) to understand how Frontier Analyst and DEA might be used in their particular organisation. The ability of the DEA approach to clearly identify evolving improvement opportunities, coupled with the powerful, yet easy to use, features of Frontier Analyst®, mean that any organisation can have access to the type of consultancy that was previously reserved for large or multinational enterprises.

You do not need to have had experience of the software to be able to attend this workshop, but you do need to be familiar and comfortable with the use of MS Windows® packages. We will take you through the basics of DEA and using Frontier Analyst® Professional and get you off to a flying start! If you already perform peer group analysis within your organisation you can still benefit from attending this workshop, you can see how the implementation of DEA within Frontier Analyst® could make your job easier!

Venue and fees

Our workshops are held at different venues in either London or Kendal, Cumbria. The cost for the day, per delegate, is £395 plus VAT for academic delegates and £495 plus VAT for non-academic delegates. (Full conditions are given on the booking form). The course fee includes course notes, morning and afternoon refreshments, lunch and a 3-month time-limited license for Frontier Analyst® Professional.

Please use a booking form and send it to us, with payment, to secure your booking. To make a provisional booking or if you have any questions about these workshops please contact Banxia Software on 01539 815 660, by fax on 01539 815 661 or by email to info@banxia.com. We look forward to welcoming you to one of our workshops.