Familiarization with Exl-Plan

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Very Quick Start > Familiarization with Exl-Plan

Here are some suggestions for becoming familiar with Exl-Plan:

1.	To see the basics and geography of Exl-Plan, take the Quik-Tour (*Exl-Plan Help > Quik-Tour) from within the previously created TESTPLAN.XLS file.

2.	Run the cursor across the menu bar - File, Edit etc. and note that Exl-Plan has added several new menus (Assumptions, Protection etc.). They are preceded by an asterisk ( * ) for easy identification.

3.	Have a look at Quik-Start in the Start worksheet (*Exl-Plan Help > Quik-Start).

Click the Sales worksheet tab (or the "MA" toolbar button) to go to the assumptions report for sales forecasts etc. Note that assumption values (displayed in blue) should always be entered or altered only within the rectangular, cream, boxed-in areas opposite the green ->> or <<->> arrows. Values shown in black contain formulae and are normally locked (protected).

Try adding or changing some of the supplied assumption values for sales and recalculate (use *Tools/Setup > Calculate All & Check or press the "C" toolbar button) to update all the output reports (and check the model's integrity). Note that Exl-Plan always uses manual calculation instead of Excel's automatic calculation default setting. For more about this see Manual Recalculation.

6.	Periodically, view the Dashboard at the Dash worksheet to see a summary of the latest projections (*Output > Dashboard or "bullseye" toolbar button).

7.	Click worksheet tabs to view the other assumption reports (DirCosts, Oheads etc.) and change/add assumption values as desired.

8.	Use Exl-Plan’s menus, worksheet tabs and buttons (especially "<-" and "->") to view the remaining assumption and output reports and charts.

9.	Explore Exl-Plan's help facilities within the *Exl-Plan Help menu.

10.	View the Online Tutorials.