Grouping Assumptions

Subtopics

You can group assumptions in a sensitivity chart to combine similar assumptions, such as grouping Monthly assumptions into a single Year assumption group.

To group assumptions and modify groups, see Creating and Modifying Assumption Groups.

Display criteria and other sensitivity chart features apply to assumption groups as well as individual assumptions. For a summary of rules that apply to assumption groups, see Rules for Grouped Assumptions.

Creating and Modifying Assumption Groups

  To group assumptions:

  1. In the Sensitivity Chart window, select Sensitivity, and then Group Assumptions.

  2. In the Group Assumptions dialog, click New group.

  3. Enter the name of the group, and then click OK.

  4. In the Ungrouped assumption list, select assumptions to add to the group, and then click the Move Right button (>>).

  5. When all members of the group are displayed in the Current group column, click OK˙.

    The new group is displayed in the sensitivity chart with a symbol in front of it.

Note:

For information about how contribution to variance is calculated for grouped assumptions and the rules that apply to grouped assumptions, see Rules for Grouped Assumptions.

  To modify members of a group:

  1. In the Sensitivity Chart window, select Sensitivity, and then Group Assumptions.

  2. In the Group Assumptions dialog, select the group to modify in the Current group list.

  3. Use the directional buttons between the lists to move assumptions into or out of the group.

  4. When all members of the group are displayed in the Current group column, click OK˙.

  To rename a group:

  1. In the Sensitivity Chart window, select Sensitivity, and then Group Assumptions.

  2. In the Group Assumptions dialog, select the group to rename in the Current group list.

  3. Click Rename group.

  4. Enter the name of the group, and then click OK.

  To remove a group and ungroup its members::

  1. In the Sensitivity Chart window, select Sensitivity, and then Group Assumptions.

  2. In the Group Assumptions dialog, select the group to remove in the Current group list.

  3. Click Remove group, and then click OK.

Rules for Grouped Assumptions

The following rules apply to grouped assumptions in sensitivity charts:

  • Assumptions can only be included in one group at a time.

  • Assumption groups are global; once a group is created, it will affect the grouping of assumptions for all other sensitivity charts.

  • If two workbooks have the same group name, the assumptions from both workbooks will be combined into one big group.

  • If assumption display criteria are set in the Criteria tab of the Sensitivity Preferences dialog, these criteria apply to assumption groups as if they were single assumptions. If an entire group is excluded using these criteria, it becomes part of the Others group for display purposes.

  • If assumptions are excluded from the sensitivity chart using the Choose Assumptions command, they are not available in the Ungrouped assumptions list to include in a group. If an assumption is included in a group and later excluded with Choose Assumptions, its sensitivity value is not used in calculating the value for its group.

  • If the sensitivity chart has a chart type of Bar (directional), assumptions in a group can have positive or negative sensitivities; the charted direction of an assumption group will be the sign that results when the overall sensitivity for the group is calculated.

Note:

To work with grouped assumptions in sensitivity charts, see Creating and Modifying Assumption Groups.