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Thank you for downloading a trial (or fully operational) copy of Exl-Plan. This short, printer-friendly guide will take you through the various stages of installing, running and exploring Exl-Plan. Print it and refer to it as you progress through Exl-Plan.
Exl-Plan will help generate comprehensive financial projections for your business. It will save you having to build your own planning system or the expense of engaging outside help. You only need a very basic knowledge of Excel to prepare highly professional and presentable projections. If you are an advanced Excel user, you can utilize your expertise to enhance and expand Exl-Plan to meet particular needs. Exl-Plan requires Excel versions 5, 7, 8, 95, 97, 2000, XP, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 365 running on Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista/Win7,8,10.
Note that your downloaded trial version contains, in addition to online help, a 90-page manual (Word or PDF format) for all versions of Exl-Plan and a series of Flash-based tutorials (running for 19 minutes) covering setting up Excel, getting started, the basics and using Quik-Plan. They are accessible via the Start > Programs > Exl-Plan menu.
You have a choice of downloading Exl-Plan as either an EXE or ZIP file. If you do not have access to an unzipper on your PC, you should download the EXE file.
Once Exl-Plan has been downloaded (and unzipped if appropriate), run the EX*.EXE file to start installing Exl-Plan. Note that the * signifies a "wild card" which indicates that part of the file name will vary depending on the version you have downloaded. You will be guided through this procedure by on-screen prompts. Be sure to note of the name of the folder (it starts with "EX") where you install Exl-Plan. We recommend that Exl-Plan be installed within the C: drive. You will be informed in README.TXT on how to uninstall Exl-Plan.
After Exl-Plan has been installed onto your PC, do one of the following to run Exl-Plan:
Excel should open the EXLPLAN.XLS master file and automatically run its built-in macros. During setup, it will make a copy of this file called TESTPLAN.XLS. The latter should be used for experimentation and the former should be carefully retained as your master copy. If this does not happen, refer to the next section.
If Exl-Plan does not load smoothly or fully, please check the following. Also, see the tutorial Set Up Excel (2 min.) for guidance.
When loading Exl-Plan into Excel, you must enable macros so that Exl-Plan's menus, buttons, tools etc. can operate. The following instructions explain how to do this for different versions of Excel.
If using Excel 5, 7, 8, 95, 97, 2000, XP and 2003:
- If Excel displays a message about enabling macros while Exl-Plan is loading, you must select Enable Macros.
- If Excel displays a message like "The macros in this project are disabled ..... " you need to reduce the security level set within Excel from High to Medium via Tools | Macro | Security | Security Level (click thumbs below for guidance). You should then close and reopen Excel and then reload Exl-Plan. During reloading, you will be asked whether you want to enable macros. This is quite safe to do provided you secured Exl-Plan from our site or another reliable, trustworthy source.
- If Exl-Plan appears to load but only its FRONT worksheet is visible and its special menus do not appear in Excel's toolbar, you need to reduce the security level set within Excel from High to Medium via Tools | Macro | Security | Security Level (click thumbs below for guidance). Once done, you will be asked whether you want to enable macros whenever you try to load a workbook file (like Exl-Plan) that contains macros.
Load Excel, select Tools, Macro, Security ... ... click Medium security level and close Excel. Reload Excel, load Exl-Plan and, when prompted, enable macros.
- If Exl-Plan loads and all its worksheets are visible but its special menus (they all start with * to simplify identification) do not appear in Excel's toolbar, you will need to temporarily reduce the number of menus displayed by Excel by disabling any add-ins which create special menus. To do this, use Tools | Add-ins to open a list of available add-ins. Uncheck the relevant add-ins, press the OK button, close and reload Excel. This should allow Exl-Plan to load fully and display its menus. To restore the disabled add-ins, reverse the procedure described above.
- Occasionally, Exl-Plan will load satisfactorily but may not display its special menus starting with *Assumptions, *Protect and so on. This may be due to a conflict with some add-ins loaded automatically by Excel. The fix is to reload Excel, uncheck all add-ins via Tools | Add-Ins; reload Excel and then open the Exl-Plan file.
- If a blank screen appears while loading of Exl-Plan and the system hangs, there has probably been a memory leak, caused by another application, which has reduced the memory available to Excel and Exl-Plan. To resolve, use CTRL+ALT + DEL to close down Excel and Exl-Plan. Then, reboot the PC to wash out the leak.
If using Excel 2007:
If using Excel 2010, 2013, 2016, 365:
Problems
? if using Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, see the special Frequently Asked Questions about using Exl-Plan with Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 365. |
Important Note: By design, Excel's automatic calculation function does not work in Exl-Plan. To update projections, you must click the one of the "C" buttons within Exl-Plan's toolbar or use one of the two calculate options within Exl-Plan's *Tools/Setup menu. To restore autocalculate to Excel after using Exl-Plan, close and reload Excel. Alternatively, select Tools | Options and choose the Calculation tab and check the Automatic button.
If using Vista and if Exl-Plan's help files fail to load and/or Excel indicates "There was a problem running the macro (1037)." there are two solutions as follows:
This guidance assume that Exl-Plan is running with Excel 5, 7, 8, 95, 97, 2000, XP or 2003. If using Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, see also Frequently Asked Questions for Using Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 365.
The suggestions below mainly relate to trial copies of the Micro, Lite, Pro, Super, Super Plus, Ultra and Ultra Plus versions rather than to the Free or Basic versions. Trial copies of Exl-Plan contains restrictions which are automatically removed once upgraded to the fully-operational version.
For additional help, see the How to ... Tutorials covering the basics of setting up and using Exl-Plan.
This guidance assume that Exl-Plan is running with Excel 5, 7, 8, 95, 97, 2000, XP or 2003. If using Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, see also Frequently Asked Questions for Using Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 365. The suggestions below mainly relate to trial copies of the Micro, Lite, Pro, Super, Super Plus, Ultra and Ultra Plus versions rather than to the Free or Basic versions. Trial copies of Exl-Plan contains restrictions which are automatically removed once upgraded to the fully-operational version.
If you have found Exl-Plan to be too simple or complicated, you can download a different version from here. If you are preparing a business plan, you should also consider using Free-Plan. You'll find a copy of Free-Plan inside the EX* folder created during the installation of Exl-Plan. Free-Plan plus Exl-Plan offer a great business planning solution for users of Word and Excel. |
For additional help, see the How to ... Tutorials covering the basics of setting up and using Exl-Plan.
This guidance assume that Exl-Plan is running with Excel 5, 7, 8, 95, 97, 2000, XP or 2003. If using Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, see also Frequently Asked Questions for Using Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 365. The suggestions below mainly relate to trial copies of the Micro, Lite, Pro, Super, Super Plus, Ultra and Ultra Plus versions rather than to the Free or Basic versions.
Note that if you start using a trial version of Exl-Plan to develop financial projections, you can remotely upgrade the file being used to the commercial version - see the Upgrade worksheet and *Exl-Plan Help | Shareware Upgrade Information. This saves further downloading, reentry of assumptions etc. To upgrade online, click here.
To start constructing a new set of financial projections, reload TESTPLAN.XLS or EXLPLAN.XLS, or another copy of Exl-Plan's XLS file, and immediately save it with an appropriate new file name. Be sure to save your model at regular intervals as you work in case you make a mistake or change your mind about assumptions.
If you are using an upgraded or commercial version of Exl-Plan, perform the following preliminary tasks:
If you wish to use Quik-Plan to generate first-cut, high-level projections for 3/5 years, follow steps 1-3 above and then go to the Quik worksheet. Otherwise, go to the Monthly Assumptions Report for sales at M_S to start entering your assumptions. Note that virtually all your assumptions should be entered directly into Monthly and Quarterly Assumption Reports. The Output Reports contain extensive formulae which generate the projections based on your assumptions. The only exceptions are (a) the prior year P&L in the Monthly P&L or Income Statement (i.e. the M_PL or M_IS worksheet) and (b) the opening balance sheet in the Monthly Balance Sheet (the M_BS worksheet) which must be entered directly into these reports.
Refer to Exl-Plan's online help or downloadable manual for guidance - see the topics relating to Model-building Procedure and Entering Assumptions. See also Frequently Asked Questions and the How to ... Tutorials covering the basics of setting up and using Exl-Plan.
For further information about Exl-Plan, go here. To upgrade online, go here.
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