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Excel -- Scenarios -- Create and Show
Download the zipped sample file
Set up the Worksheet
Create the first Scenario
Create the second Scenario
Show a Scenario
You can use Scenarios to store several versions of the data in a worksheet. For example, when preparing a budget, the Marketing and Finance departments may have different forecasts for sales. You can store each forecast as a Scenario, print them separately, or compare them side-by-side.
Although scenarios can be complex, a simple example is used here.
- Delete all sheets except Sheet1
- Rename Sheet1 as Budget
- On the Budget sheet, enter the Finance budget, as shown at right
- Name the following cells (there are Naming instructions here: Name a Range). Naming the cells is not required, but will make it easier to manage the scenarios, and read the reports:
- Name cell B1 as Dept
- Name cell B3 as Sales
- Name cell B4 as Expenses
- Name cell B6 as Profit
- In cell B6, enter the following formula:
=Sales - Expenses
A B 1Budget 2006 Finance 2 3Sales $ 3,500,000 4Expenses $ 2,750,000 5 6Profit =Sales - Expenses
- From the Tools menu, choose Scenarios.
- In the Scenario Manager, click the Add button
- Type name for the Scenario. For this example, use Finance.
- Press the Tab key, to move to the Changing cells box
- On the worksheet, select cells B1
- Hold the Ctrl key, and select cells B3:B4
Note: There is a limit of 32 changing cells- Press the Tab key, to move to the Comment box
- (optional) Enter a comment that describes the scenario.
- Click the OK button
Once you have created Scenarios, you can show them. In this example, the Marketing scenario is currently visible. To change to a different scenario:
1. Scenarios -- Create and Show
2. Scenarios -- Scenario Summaries
3. Scenarios -- Automatically Show Scenarios
4. Scenarios -- Programming
Last updated: July 18, 2008 11:56 PM