This paper develops a common framework for benchmarking and ranking units with DEA. In many DEA
applications, decision making units (DMUs) experience similar circumstances, so benchmarking analyses
in those situations should identify common best practices in their management plans. We propose a
DEA-based approach for the benchmarking to be used when there is no need (nor wish) to allow for
individual circumstances of the DMUs. This approach identifies a common best practice frontier as the
facet of the DEA efficient frontier spanned by the technically efficient DMUs in a common reference
group. The common reference group is selected as that which provides the closest targets. A model is
developed which allows us to deal not only with the setting of targets but also with the measurement of
efficiency, because we can define efficiency scores of the DMUs by using the common set of weights
(CSW) it provides. Since these weights are common to all the DMUs, the resulting efficiency scores can be
used to derive a ranking of units. We discuss the existence of alternative optimal solutions for the CSW
and find the range of possible rankings for each DMU which would result from considering all these
alternate optima. These ranking ranges allow us to gain insight into the robustness of the rankings