- Do you need to decide on price increases, how much to charge, profit analysis? Normally when you set up a spreadsheet you can have one value per cell. If that cell has several calculations that use it, when it is changed the entire spreadsheet will update.
If you are playing around with the value to see how it affects all other cells, it would be useful if you could save several values for one cell, then select which one to view. When you have compiled several values that you would like to keep, being able to create a report would be extremely useful.
There is a feature, it is called scenarios. You can save several values for several cells. Each set of values has a name that you can use to remind yourself what they are. For example if you have a spreadsheet that is sales analysis with current sales, to get the projections there is a cell for increase which will calculate to increase current sales to give the projected sales figures. Something like this:
If you want to see how the projected value changes as you change the percent, you could just change the figure in cell E2. But that will not save the values and you may not remember what you have done. Scenarios allow you to save several values and give them all name with note in a comment field. When you want to view the value, you show the scenario manager, select the saved scenario and click on the button show.
There is also a report feature that will allow you to see all the variations in one chart. This is extremely useful when showing other people all the possibilities. When you add or delete more scenarios you can create a new summary report. This tool can save time and give professional results with very little effort.
A cheat sheet is available for download at http://www.katherinedavison.co.uk/products-page/microsoft-excel-2003/excel-2003-scenarios-cheat-sheet/ for £2.00.
