Integrating Excel, Access, and Visual Basic to Deploy Performance Measurement and Evaluation at the American Red Cross

Abstract

The American Red Cross (ARC) is one of the world's largest nonprofit social service organizations. ARC has a network of approximately 1,000 chapters in the United States and its territories; each is responsible for a specific geographic jurisdiction in which ARC provides an array of social services. ARC is under pressure to demonstrate to the public how it is responsible and accountable for the resources it uses to deliver these services and the outcomes it achieves. Its decision makers are challenged to make accurate decisions to improve resource utilization and service-delivery processes. We designed and developed a system that uses data envelopment analysis to make resource-allocation recommendations that help ARC managers evaluate the performance of chapters at various levels. We used Microsoft Excel for the model formulation and reporting. This paper describes its use, in conjunction with Premium Solver, Visual Basic for Applications, and Microsoft Access, to formulate 4,000 linear-programming models. The system performs the analysis and uses Excel to display the results visually. We also discuss the benefits to ARC, lessons learned, and potential future improvements.