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Scenarios

Scenarios overview

One of the frequent tasks by financial and other types of modeling is to test scenarios. Testing scenarios involves recalculating the same algorithm or expression using a different set of data. In such a case the typical spreadsheet-like software has a limitation: one cell can not contain several versions of data. Hence the user has not only to create new cells/rows/columns or even a copy of a whole spreadsheet but define new links for these data. The last is the most time-consuming and frequently requires for users to switch between sheets keeping in mind locations of linked data. Many users not only become overloaded by such work relatively easily but lose a lot of their valuable time for such a task.

AIMES offers an option to have several versions of each table. These versions have the same structure as the original table but are filled with different data. The same connections for further calculations are valid for all versions of data. When the user needs to test the model with different data he/she creates several scenarios. Then he/she only needs to select which version of the table of interest will be used in this particular scenario. And there is no need to redefine connections of the data anew. Selecting the version is as easy as pressing the radio button.

For example of data node versions see: Pending link to “versions of data node”.

Create scenario

To create a scenario you need at least one calculation node.

  • Open the desired sheet and select Scenarios view on the toolbar.
  • By default the first scenario with the name My first scenario is created automatically. You can find it on the left in the scenarios menu. You can rename it by right clicking on it.
  • To the right of the scenarios menu you will find the data nodes and their versions menu. To the left of each node name there is an icon allowing to open a drop-down list of this data node versions. Each version has a radio button. To use a particular version in the scenario click on the radio button corresponding to that version. After that the notice Use in scenario will appear under the version name.
  • Go to the scenario in the scenarios menu and click on the white triangle icon to the right of the scenario name.The pop up menu will give an option to calculate the scenario. After the click on Calculate the scenario you either get the Calculation succeeded message or an error message. In case of success the graphical results are available under the Reports tab.

Please note the difference between clicking on the radio button and on the version name.

  • Click on radio button performs two actions:

    • This version is selected (background of the version name will become light gray) and the content of this version is shown in the main field.
    • This version will be used for the currently selected scenario.

  • Click on the version name only selects its content to be shown in the main field but not to be used in scenario calculation. You may need it to compare the version's content or to make quick changes in the version's content.

Edit scenario

To edit the scenario name right click on it and change the name in the pop-up menu.

To edit the versions of the data nodes used in the scenario, turn on or off the radio buttons against the names of those versions.

To edit content of the data node version select that version (click on its name) and after its content appears on the right make direct changes in the table.

Run scenario and view report

Delete scenario

To delete a scenario right click on it and then click on the Delete scenario option in the pop up menu. At least one scenario has to be present in the scenarios menu. This means you can not delete a scenario if it is the only existing one. If you right click on it there will be an option to rename it but there will be no option to delete it. As soon as another scenario is created the option to be deleted appears in the right click pop up menu by all available scenarios. When you delete scenarios no matter which one will stay the last it could not be deleted.