How to Create Scenarios in Excel

Scenarios are part of Excel’s “What-If” Analysis tool set – aka Data Analysis. Use Scenarios when you need to know what the result will be when you change one or more variables in one or more situations (scenarios).

Frequently, I create Scenarios to define a “Good, Better, Best” or “Worst Case, Best Case, Case Most Likely” outcome.

In this short Excel Training Video, I demonstrate how to create, edit, and report four Scenarios for a Monthly Office Expense Budget.

These are the steps used in this Excel Video Lesson:

Create (or open) an Excel worksheet that contains a formula. Identify the formula and the precedent cells that feed into the formula.
Select the “target cell” – the cell that contains the formula whose result will change with each Scenario.
Choose TOOLS – SCENARIOS and follow the directions in the Create Scenario dialog box.
First, click ADD. Name the Scenario. Click OK. Confirm that you have selected the “Target Cell” and then click / type in the “Changing cells.” The Changing cells should be either direct or indirect precedents to the Target cell formula. Click Add. Add additional Scenarios as desired.
Click on the name of your Scenario and select SHOW to display the changing cell values and the new result in your target cell.
If you wish, choose SUMMARY to create a summary report in a separate worksheet.
I strongly recommend that you create named cells and use them in the formulas and changing cells of your Scenario.