A literature survey of spreadsheet based MS/OR applications: 1985–1999

We performed a literature analysis to track the evolution of the use of spreadsheets as a modeling environment for management science/operational research (MS/OR) problems. Two groups of papers were identified. One group describes spreadsheet implementations of MS/OR tools in practice and the other one describes spreadsheet implementation of MS/OR tools for pedagogic purposes. Analysis of the papers shows that practitioners as well as academics have bought into the benefits of spreadsheets and a steady stream of spreadsheet models are being developed using several MS/OR tools across various functional areas. Use of the spreadsheet for MS/OR applications has gained steady popularity and has entered the mainstream.