FSDA – Free Software for Decision Analysis (SLAD – Software Livre de Apoio a Decisão): A Software Package for Data Envelopment Analysis Models

Data Envelopment Analysis models are based on linear programming problems (LPP) to determine the efficiency of Decision-Making Units (DMUs). This process can be computationally intense, as a LPP has to be run for each unit. Besides, a typical DEA LPP has a large number of redundant constraints concerning the inefficient DMUs. That results in degenerate LPPs and in some cases multiple efficient solutions. The developed work intends to fill out a gap in current DEA software packages, i.e., the lack of a software capable of producing full results in classic DEA models, as well as the capability of using more advanced DEA models. Basic and advanced DEA models are allowed in the package. The developed software was named as ISYDS – Integrated System for Decision Support – and has been useful in several theoretical and applied papers. Further developments would include multicriteria models, which justifies the package name.