You can add a Scenario dialog to your toolbar by right-clicking a toolbar and choosing the Customize tab and then Commands. From the Tools category, locate and select the Scenario listbox and drag and drop it onto a toolbar, and then close the Customize dialog. You can now view a Scenario of your choice by selecting it in the Scenario list.
Edit a Scenario
To edit a scenario, choose Tools and then Scenario. Select the scenario to edit and click the Edit button and then OK. Change any values that require alteration and click OK to save the changes. To view the results, click the Scenario in the list and click Show to view it.
While the Scenario Manager makes it easy to view one scenario at a time, you may prefer to view the results side-by-side. To do this, create a Scenario Report by choosing Tools and then Scenarios and clicking the Summary button. Select the Scenario Summary option and click the Result Cells box.
Here you will enter the cells that you want to use as the basis for your comparison. In our situation we will choose the product name and supplier cells, as this provides identifying information about the scenario, the number of items that we will purchase, the box price, shipping price, and price per unit, which lets us compare how much we will spend per item and overall.
To select these cells, click the first cell and then hold down the Control key while you click on the others in turn. You will select cells C4, C5, C15, C16, C19, and C20. Click OK when you are done. This creates a new sheet that displays the cells you selected as well as the cells that contain the data on which the scenario is based.
The first set of data in the report displays the current values in the worksheet. If these are simply duplicates, you can hide this column. The worksheet itself is an outlined worksheet so you can expand or collapse various areas of the worksheet using the buttons on the far left of the worksheet.
Notice that the order in which you clicked the cells you wanted to show is the order in which the cells are displayed in the scenario summary. You can use this feature to select cells in the order that you want to see them in the resulting report. You will find the scenario summary is useful tool for comparing side-by-side results for different items you are considering purchasing.
You will need to delete the scenario summary worksheet and recreate the summary if the values in any of your scenarios change, since the summary report contains static figures and does not automatically update if you add new information.
Scenarios make a smart addition to your Excel toolkit and are a handy feature of the program that you can put to use when employing comparisons to aid in business decision-making.
Helen Bradley is a respected international journalist writing regularly for small business and computer publications in the USA, Canada, South Africa, UK and Australia. You can learn more about her at her Web site, HelenBradley.com
