User manual PALISADE TOPRANK 5.5

[. . . ] Guide to Using TopRank What-If Analysis Add-In for Microsoft Excel Version 5. 5 February, 2009 Palisade Corporation 798 Cascadilla St Ithaca, NY 14850 (607) 277-8000 http://www. palisade. com Copyright Notice Copyright © 2008, Palisade Corporation Trademark Acknowledgments TopRank, BestFit, RISKview and Palisade are registered trademarks of Palisade Corporation RISK is a trademark of Parker Brothers, Division of Tonka Corporation, and is used under license. Microsoft, Excel and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft, Inc. Welcome Welcome to TopRank, the ultimate What-If tool for spreadsheets from Palisade Corporation. TopRank greatly enhances the standard WhatIf and data table capabilities found in your spreadsheet. In addition, you can easily step up to powerful risk analysis with its companion package, @RISK. [. . . ] If you select a reference for a name, the name from the referenced cell(s) will be shown in italics in the Model Window table. If desired, you may edit the function directly in this cell or press <F2> to edit the function directly in Excel. · Some of the entries in the list may be editied, as follows: · · 82 Model Menu · Min, Base and Max. These cells allow you to quickly edit the parameters of a Vary function. Select the desired Min-Max range using the drop down lists, or type a Min or Max value in. Optionally, you can click the Reference entry button to select cell(s) in your spreadsheet with the min or max value. How Are Default Names Created? When an Input is added, TopRank automatically tries to create a name for the input or output it displays in the Model Window table. These names are created by scanning the spreadsheet around the cell where the input or output is located. To identify names, TopRank moves from the input or output cell across the row of the spreadsheet to the left and up the column towards the top. It moves across these ranges of the spreadsheet until it finds 1) a label cell, or a cell without a formula in it, or 2) a recognizable sequence of values, such as years. It then takes these row and column headings and combines them to create a possible name for the input or output. Many times, in standard spreadsheets with row labels down the left and column labels across the top, this process results in accurate names. However, in some spreadsheets, automatic naming creates nonsensical labels. In these cases you must edit the names displayed in the Model Window table in order to enter more meaningful names. Any names you define are entered as a RiskName property function which is used as an argument to the function in Excel. Properties can also be specified or changed by adding property functions directly to the function. For more information on property functions, see Property Functions in the Reference: TopRank Functions section of this chapter. Reference: TopRank Add-In Commands 83 Model Window Right-Click Menu The right-click menu in the Model Window can be used to access addional options for the selected items in the table. Commands available on the right-click menu in the Model Window include: · Arrange. The Arrange menu commands allow you to arrange inputs by categories and copy the variation in value for on input across all inputs in a category. For outputs, the Arrange commands allow you to arrange outputs by output range. The Arrange icon at the bottom of the window can also be used to access the Arrange menu commands. For more information on Arrange commands, see The Arrange Menu in this section. The Lock Input command specifies whether or not the Vary function or @RISK distribution will be "stepped across" during a what-if analysis. If Lock is selected, the Vary function or distribution will return its expected value during analysis. This allows you to remove a Vary function or distribution from a what-if analysis without deleting it from your model . [. . . ] The range is the absolute difference between the maximum and minimum values in a set of values. The range is the simplest measure of dispersion or risk of a distribution. Range Appendix C: Glossary of Terms 163 Risk Uncertainty or variability in the outcome of some event or decision. In many cases the range of possible outcomes can include some that are perceived of as undesirable along with others that are perceived as desirable. The range of outcomes is often associated with levels of probability of occurrence. [. . . ]