34
Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston University, Birmingham, UK

Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University AdministrationByEmmanuel Thanassoulis,Professor in Management Sciences Aston University,Birmingham, [email protected]

Page 2: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Outline

Introduction to DEA: a graphical example

DEA models: mathematical generalisation

An Application of DEA to University Administration

Page 3: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

DEA: a method for comparing homogeneous operating units such as schools, hospitals, police forces, individuals etc on efficiency.

• DMU• Decision

Making Unit

• Inputs • The

operating units typically use resources

• Outputs• The operating units

typically produce or otherwise enable some useful outcomes (e.g. goods or services such as education or health outcomes)

•DEA makes it possible to compare the operating units on the levels of outputs they secure relative to their input levels.

•DMUs Inputs and Outputs

Page 4: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Graphical Example on DEA

What is the efficiency of Hospital HO1 in terms of scope to reduce doctor andnurse numbers?

DMU Doctors NursesOutpatients(

000)

H01 25 60 1

H02 10 50 1

H03 28 16 1

H04 30 40 1

H05 40 70 1

H06 30 50 1

DMU Doctors Nurses Outpatients

H01 30 72 1200H02 10 50 1000H03 35 20 1250H04 33 44 1100H05 52 91 1300H06 24 40 800

• Normalise inputs

per 1000 outpatients

Page 5: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

We assume that interpolation of hospitals yields input output levels which are feasible in principle.

Example: take 0.5 of the input-output levels of hospital 2 and 0.5 of the input-output levels of hospital 3 and combine:

Deploy the Interpolation Principle to Create a set of Feasible ‘hospitals’

DMU Doctors NursesOutpatients

(000)

H01 25 60 1

H02 10 50 1

H03 28 16 1

H04 30 40 1

H05 40 70 1

H06 30 50 1

1000

33

19

1000

16

28

5.0

1000

50

10

5.0 • 0.5 HO2 +0.5HO3 =

Page 6: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Feasible units (hospitals)

1000

33

19

1000

16

28

5.0

1000

50

10

5.03 Hospital 0.5 2 Hospital 0.5

DMU Doctor Nurse Outpatient

H01 25 60 1000

H02 10 50 1000

H03 28 16 1000

H04 30 40 1000

H05 40 70 1000

H06 30 50 1000

Page 7: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Feasible units (Hospitals) The interpolation assumption means that 19 doctors and 33

nurses, though observed at no hospital, are capable of handling 1000 outpatients.

• number of doctors 19.• number of nurses 33

• andoutpatients 1000.

• Further, any hospital is also feasible if its input -output levels satisfy

Page 8: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

A linear programming approach

• H02 and H03 are efficient peers to H01.

• Efficient Doctor-Nurse levels for H01 are (16.1, 38.5)

Hos D’trs N’rsesOutpati

ents

H01 25 60 1000

H02 10 50 1000

H03 28 16 1000

H04 30 40 1000

H05 40 70 1000

H06 30 50 1000

• doctors: 25 l1 + 10 l2 + 28 l3 + 30 l4 + 40 l5 + 30 l6 • nurses : 60 l1 + 50 l2 + 16 l3 + 40 l4 + 70 l5 + 50 l6 • outpatients : 1000 l1 + 1000 l2 + 1000 l3 + 1000 l4 + 1000 l5 + 1000 l6 • l1, l2, l3 ,l4 ,l5, l6>= 0 .

≤ 25 θ ≤ 60 θ ≥1000

• Min θ• Such that:

%6464.060

5.38

25

5.16

nurse Actual

nurses ofTarget doctors Actual

doctors ofTarget

H01 of efficiency relative The

Page 9: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

SAMPLE AREAS WHERE DEA HAS BEEN USED

Banking

Education

Regulation of ‘natural’ monopolies (e.g. water distribution, electricity, gas)

Tax collection

Courts

Sales forces (e.g. insurance sales teams)

Page 10: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

TYPES OF ANALYSIS

Relative efficiency measure; Identification of efficient exemplar units; Target setting. decomposing efficiency in layered data (pupil, school, type of school etc);Decomposing productivity changes over time into those attributable to the unit and those to technology shift (Malmquist Indices) Identifying the increasing/decreasing returns to scale;Measuring scale elasticity; Identifying most productive scale size;

Page 11: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

ASSESSING EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY IN UK UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION1999/00 TO 2004/05.

Prof. Emmanuel [email protected]

Page 12: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Aim of this project

To identify units with cost-efficient good quality administrative services and disseminate good practice;

To assess changes in the productivity of UK university administration over time (1999/00 to 2004/5).

Page 13: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Motivation for the Study

Expenditure on Administration and Central Services is about 20% of total HEI expenditure in the UK

Hence expenditure on administration is substantial and competing with direct expenditure on academic activities.

Page 14: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Questions to be addressed:

Are efficiency savings possible?

Is there a trade-off between expenditure and quality of service in administration ?

Has there been any change over time in productivity of administrative services in UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)?

Page 15: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

The Assessment MethodWe opted for Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA).

This is a linear programming based benchmarking method.

It identifies cost-efficient benchmark units and then assesses the scope for savings at the rest of the units relative to the benchmarks.

Page 16: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

CAS 14

CAS 2

CAS 8

CAS 5

CAS 12

CAS 6

CAS 11

CAS 10CAS 9

CAS 13

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

0 2 4 6 8

Students per £CAS spend

Res.

Gra

nts

per

£C

AS

spend

The virtual benchmark VBM6 offers the top levels of research grants and students when keeping to the mix of research grants to students of CAS6.

VBM6

The distance from CAS6 to VBM6 reflects the scope for savings at CAS 6.

DEA is illustrated in the graph below. An ‘efficient boundary’ is created from benchmark units (CAS12 and CAS2).

Page 17: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Unit of Assessment

The unit of assessment includes core CAS and administration devolved away from the centre;

It excludes Estates, Libraries, Residences and catering.

Page 18: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

The Unit of Assessment

Initial consultations with senior administrators and academics suggested the following conceptual framework for the unit of assessment:

Support for research

Support for non admin staff

Support for students

Page 19: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Assessments were carried out by setting the Admin costs against the Measures of Admin Volume shown (at university level).

INPUT – OUTPUT SET

ADMIN COST MEASURE(S) (INPUTS):

ACTIVITY VOLUME MEASURES (OUTPUTS):

Admin staff costsStudentsMeasure used: Total income from Students

Staff Measure used: Non-administrative staff cost

OPEX on administrationResearch grants and other services rendered: Measure used: Income from these sources

Research volume and quality Measure used: QR component of HEFCE income

Input – Output Set

Page 20: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Model Specification

VRS model – Input oriented

Outliers have been re-scaled to be on the boundary formed by the non-outlier units;

A balanced panel between the first (1999/00) and the last (2004/5) year is reported upon here.

100 universities are therefore included in the assessment reported here.

Page 21: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Findings at University Level - illustration

The efficiency here is a percentage. It means the observed admin staff costs can be reduced each year to the percentage indicated above (e.g. 57.57% in 1999/00).

So relative to benchmark institutions for student income, non admin staff expenditure and research income, administrative staff costs could be about half.

The scope for efficiency savings on Operating Expenditure is less than for administrative staff, at about 25% - 30%.

If we assume Staff and OPEX can substitute for each other then the scope for efficiency savings is 30% or so on each one of administrative staff and OPEX.

1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05

StaffModel

57.57 51.53 49.99 43.06 41.14 45.72

OPEXModel

72.44 71.2 69.73 72.59 74.57 75.1

JointModel

77.81 65.4 61.69 69.65 65.31 65.6

Efficiency Scores at a sample admin unit

Page 22: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Comparing the sample university with its benchmark units on Administrative Staff Costs

Data is indexed so that sample university of the previous slide = 1 on each variable.

Index PeerAdmin StaffCost

OPEXStudentIncome

NonAdminStaff

ResearchGrants

QR

2004/05

Benchmark A

0.47 0.67 1.57 1.19 0.42 0.11

Benchmark B

0.92 2.46 1.39 2.76 4.08 3.23

              

             

1999/00Benchmark B

1.00 2.51 1.46 2.35 3.99 3.28

Page 23: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Sector Findings on Efficiency

There are some 20 units with good benchmark performance without any scope for further efficiency savings. About half of these benchmark units are found to be consistently cost-efficient in all six years of our analysis. These units could prove examples of good operating practices in administration.

On the other hand some of the units with large scope for efficiency savings are so on all the six years suggesting persistent issues of expenditure control.

Visits to specific institutions did not support the notion that factors outside the model such as quality of service could explain differences in efficiency.

When we take administrative staff and OPEX as substitutable we find that the scope for efficiency savings is about 15% per annum in each.

Page 24: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

TEACH/ £000

RES/ £000

A.

. B

.C

.D

*G

F .

2003/ 04 Data

2004/ 05 Data

2003/ 04 Boundary

.

*

*

.

.

. .

H

E I

2004/ 05 Boundary

.

.

* *

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

5.0

//

OB

OF

OE

OG

OH

OF

OI

OG

]

Productivity is defined as the ratio of output to resource used.

Page 25: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

TEACH/ £000

RES/ £000

A.

. B

.C

.D

*G

F .

2003/ 04 Data

2004/ 05 Data

2003/ 04 Boundary

.

*

*

.

.

. .

H

E I

2004/ 05 Boundary

.

.

* *

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

OI

OG

OB

OF /

]

Efficiency catch up

OE

OIOB

OH X{

Boundary shift

Productivity change = Efficiency catch up x Boundary shift.

• }0.5

Page 26: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Bottom two HEIs on productivity

Data for 2004/5 – constant prices, Normalised so that 1999/00 = 1

Prod IndexAdmin

staff cost OPEXStudent income

Non Admin staff

Res’arch grants QR

0.7 1.93 0.98 1.23 0.9 1.23 0.81

0.74 1.41 1.42 1.04 0.98 1.05 10.8

In both universities the normalised data show substantial rise in admin staff costs against modest rise or even drop in activities.

Page 27: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Top three HEIs on productivity

Data for 2004/5 – constant prices, Normalised so that 1999/00 = 1

Prod IndexAdmin

staff cost OPEXStudent income

Non Admin staff

Res’arch grants QR

1.59 0.82 0.62 1.07 1.30 1.59 1.14

1.35 0.89 0.92 1.26 1.28 0.9 0.41

1.34 0.98 0.94 1.23 1.30 1.96 1.12

In these three universities that gain the most in admin productivity, admin costs fall over time while outputs rise, with only two exceptions on research income.

Page 28: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Productivity Change 1999/00 to 2004/5 – Staff Costs Model

NB: An index of 1 means stable productivity between 1999/0 and 2004/5.

An index below 1 means productivity drop. Eg. a value of 0.9 means the same work load is costing in 2004/5 11% more than it did in 1999/0. An index above 1 means productivity improvement.

ImprovingDeteriorating

Page 29: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Productivity Change Decomposition – Staff Model

Efficiency Catch-up Boundary Shift

Scale Efficiency Catch-up

Benchmark performance tends to deteriorate over time.

HEIs with negative effects due to scale exceed those with positive effects

HEIs tend to catch up with the boundary over time.

Page 30: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Productivity Change 1999/00 to 2004/5 – Staff and OPEX Combined

ImprovingDeteriorating

We have a virtually symmetrical distribution with half the units improving and the rest deteriorating in productivity.

Page 31: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Productivity Change Decomposition – Joint Model

Efficiency Catch-up Boundary Shift

Scale Efficiency Catch-up

There is clear evidence that the boundary is improving in that best performance is more productive in 2004/5 than in 1999/0. Most units are falling behind the boundary.

The catch-up and boundary shift results are the reverse from when staff costs were the sole input. This suggests perhaps that non staff expenses were managed better than staff costs, over time.

Scale efficiency deteriorates over time.

Page 32: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Summary of Findings on Productivity at Sector Level

Between 1999/00 and 2004/5 we find a divergent picture between administrative staff cost on the one hand and OPEX or the two inputs taken jointly on the other. In the case of administrative staff taken as the sole input we find that there is on average a drop in productivity so that for given levels of the proxy output variables staff cost is about 95% in 1999/00 compared to what it is in 2004/5, at constant prices.

Looking deeper it is found that generally units do keep up with the benchmark units but it is the benchmark units that are performing less productively by almost 7% in 2004/5 compared to 1999/00. The situation is not helped by a slight loss of productivity through scale sizes becoming less productive, by about 1.5% in 2004/5 compared to 1999/00.

In contrast when we look at OPEX as a sole input or indeed at administrative staff and OPEX as joint resources we find that productivity is more or less stable between 1999/00 and 2004/5. There is a slight loss of about 2% but given the noise in the data this is not significant.

Page 33: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

What is significantly different between administrative staff on the one hand and OPEX or the two joint inputs on the other is that benchmark performance improves on average by about 8% between 1999/00 and 2004/5.

Unfortunately non benchmark units cannot quite keep up with this higher productivity. Also there is a slight deterioration again in scale size efficiency and the net effect is that despite the improved benchmark productivity, productivity on average is stable to slightly down between 1999/00 and 2004/5.

As with cost efficient practices here too our analysis has identified a small set of units which register significant productivity gains and others which register significant productivity losses between 1999/00 and 2004/5. An investigation of the causes in each case would be instrumental for offering advice to other units on how to gain in productivity over time and avoid losses.

Page 34: Data Envelopment Analysis: Introduction and an Application to University Administration By Emmanuel Thanassoulis, Professor in Management Sciences Aston

Thank you…