Decision Analysis Tools in Excel Technology Plug-In: T3

Learning Outcomes Describe the use of a PivotTable Summarize the tools used when building a PivotTable Compare the functions of Goal Seek and Solver List the advantages of using the Scenario Manager

Introduction The PivotTable function is an organization and analysis tool that displays fields and records The Goal Seek function is used to find an unknown value that produces a desired result The Solver function is used to calculate an optimum solution based on several variables and constraints The Scenario Manager function is used to create and evaluate a collection of “what-if” scenarios containing multiple input values

PivotTables A PivotTable analyzes, summarizes, and manipulates data in large lists, databases, worksheets, or other collections PivotTables offer flexible and intuitive analysis of data The data in the data area of the PivotTable cannot be directly entered or changed

PivotTable Terminology Row field - a row orientation in a PivotTable report and are displayed as row labels Column field - a column orientation in a PivotTable report and are displayed as column labels Data field - list or table contain summary data in a PivotTable, such as numeric data Page field - filter out the data for other items and display one page at a time in a PivotTable report

Build a PivotTable with the Data, PivotTable, and PivotChart Report option, which displays a series of PivotTable Wizard dialog boxes The wizard steps through the process of creating a PivotTable

Using the PivotTable Feature Select the PivotTable Data worksheet from the Analysis Data.xls workbook Click any cell in the list Excel knows to use the data in the Excel list to create a PivotTable Choose Data, PivotTable and PivotChart Report The PivotTable and PivotChart Wizard — Step 1 of 3 dialog box opens

In the “Where Is the Data That You Want to Analyze In the “Where Is the Data That You Want to Analyze?” area, choose Microsoft Excel List or Database In the “What Kind of Report Do You Want to Create?” area, choose PivotTable Click the Next button

The PivotTable and PivotChart Wizard — Step 2 of 3 dialog box opens In the Range box, the range should be $A$1:$E$49 Click the Next button

The “PivotTable and PivotChart Wizard — Step 3 of 3” dialog box opens The “PivotTable and PivotChart Wizard — Step 3 of 3” dialog box opens. This is used to tell Excel whether to place the PivotTable on an existing or new worksheet Select New Worksheet Click the Layout button

Excel opens the “PivotTable and PivotChart Wizard – Layout” dialog box Excel opens the “PivotTable and PivotChart Wizard – Layout” dialog box. The fields appear on buttons to the right in the dialog box. The four areas you can define to create your PivotTable are ROW, COLUMN, DATA, and PAGE.

Drag the Region button to the COLUMN area Drag the field buttons to the areas to define the layout of the PivotTable Drag the Region button to the COLUMN area Drag the Magazine button to the ROW area Drag the Month button to the PAGE area Drag the Sale button to the DATA area Click OK to return to the “PivotTable and PivotChart Wizard — Step 3 of 3” dialog box Click the Finish button

After a PivotTable is built, modifications can be done at any time Drag the buttons off the diagram, and arrange the fields like this: Magazine in the PAGE area Month in the COLUMN area Sale in the DATA area Sales Rep in the ROW area

PivotTable Tools PivotTable - A menu that contains commands for working with a PivotTable Format Report - Enables the user to format the PivotTable report Chart Wizard - Enables the user to create a chart using the data in the PivotTable Hide Detail - Hides the detail information in a PivotTable and shows only the totals Show Detail - Shows the detail information in a PivotTable

PivotTable Tools Refresh External Data refresh the data in the PivotTable after changes to data are made in the data source Include Hidden Items in Totals Always Display Items - Always shows the field item buttons with drop-down arrows in the PivotTable Field Settings - Displays the PivotTable Field dialog box so that the user can change computations and their number format Hide Field List - Hides and shows the PivotTable Field List window

Building PivotChart PivotChart - a column chart (by default) that is based on the data in a PivotTable Click the Chart Wizard on the PivotTable toolbar Excel will automatically create a new worksheet, labeled Chart 1, and display the current PivotTable information in chart form

Goal Seek Goal Seek - an analytical function, which allows a value in a formula to be adjusted in order to reach a desired result or answer The Goal Seek feature can eliminate unnecessary calculations Goal Seek repeatedly tries new values in the variable cell to find a solution to the problem

Using the Goal Seek Command Choose Tools, Goal Seek Specify the cell that contains the desired value in the Set cell text box Enter the desired value or answer in the To value text box Enter the cell whose value will be changed in the By changing cell text box Choose OK If a solution is found, the Goal Seek Status dialog box appears Select OK

Solver Solver - part of a suite of functions sometimes called what-if analysis tools Solver is used when forecasting a problem contains more than one variable Solver uses multiple changing variables and constraints to find the optimal solution to solve a problem If Solver has not already been installed, do the following: Open Excel and go to Tools, Add-Ins After clicking Add-Ins, scroll down to Solver Add-in and click the box

Build a worksheet, set up the table similar to Figure T3.10: To reach the specified amount of total revenue (G4) by determining regular coffee cups needed to sell (D5) premium latte cups needed to sell (D9) premium mocha cups needed to sell (D13) subjected to three constraints (G11, G12, G13) =D4*D5 =D8*D9 =D12*D13 =D9+D13 =G6+G7 =D5

Setting Up the Problem Choose Tools, Solver Select $G$4 into the “Set Target Cell:” text box In the “By Changing Cells:” text box, select each of the variable cells by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking D5, D9, and D13

Setting Up the Problem Add three constraints to the “Subject to the Constraints:” text box in the Solver Parameters dialog Click Solve to calculate the result

Setting Up the Problem Solver displays a dialog box describing the results of the optimization analysis To display the new solution in the worksheet, click the Keep Solver Solution option button, and then click OK

Editing A Solver Forecast Choose Tools, Solver Click the Value Of option button and type 800 in the text box to the right The Value Of option button sets the target cell to a particular goal to determine the variable mix needed to reach the milestone

Editing A Solver Forecast Click Solve and then OK butoon to find a solution to the problem

Scenario Manager Scenario - a set of input values and corresponding results from calculations that Excel can save and report as needed A worksheet can be used to conduct a “what-if” analysis on a particular set of data Excel’s Scenario Manager allows 32 different scenarios or groups of values to be defined

Setting Up Scenarios Each group of input values or scenario must be named and stored before it can be used Open the worksheet Scenario Data.xls Select the cells containing the first set of values to store in a scenario On the toolbar, select Tools, Scenarios Click Add to display the Add Scenario dialog box Enter Original for the Scenario name In the Changing Cells text box, use the Collapse Dialog button to manually select the cells that hold the Number of Technicians, Regular Hours, and Over Time Hours values (D9:D11) Choose OK

Setting Up Scenarios The Scenario Values dialog box will display the values for cells D9, D10, and D11 as 1, 300, and 0 Click OK

Setting Up Scenarios Click Add In the Add Scenario dialog box, type Single Contractor Overtime Click OK In the Scenario Values dialog box for cell D10, type 300, for cell D11 enter 40, and the value in D9 remains at 1 Ensure that the Single Contractor Overtime scenario is selected, and click Show

Single Contractor Overtime

Setting Up Scenarios Click Add In the Add Scenario dialog box, type Two Contractors No Overtime Click OK In the Scenario Values dialog box Enter 2 in the text box for cell D9 and 0 in the text box for cell D11 In cell D10’s text box, type =300/2 Click OK, a message box says that Excel converted the formula into a value Click OK to dismiss the message Click Show

Modifying A Scenario Once scenarios have been defined, the data values can be modified To modify a Scenario: Choose Tools, Scenarios Select the desired Scenario name Choose Edit Modify the Scenario information, as desired Close the Scenario Manager dialog box Compare the Scenarios

Creating a Scenario Summary Report Choose Tools, Scenarios Choose Summary Choose Scenario summary in the Report type group box In the Result cells text box, type in D7, D12, D15, D16, D17 Result cells are the cells affected by the specified scenario Choose OK