After completing a simulation with multiple related forecasts, you can create an overlay chart to view the relative characteristics of those forecasts on one chart. You can compare differences or similarities that otherwise might not be apparent. There is no limit to the number of forecasts you can view at one time on an overlay chart.
For example, if a model has several forecasts based on slightly different interest rate assumptions, an overlay chart can be used to show how these slight differences manifest themselves in the variability of the forecasts. You can customize the overlay chart to accentuate these differences or similarities.
The following overlay chart (Figure 36, An Overlay Chart with 3D Formatting) shows the relative reliabilities of three manufacturing materials.
Note: | The default overlay chart is two-dimensional, not rotated, and displays the legend below the chart. This and other illustrations may differ from the default view. |
After the simulation stops, you can also use the overlay chart to fit probability distributions to the forecasts. This process is similar to the distribution fitting feature described in Fitting a Distribution to a Forecast, except that the fit is applied to forecast data, not historical data.
The following sections describe how to create and use overlay charts: