In Excel, a scenario can be described as a set of cell values, that is saved, and substituted into your worksheet as required. If you have multiple scenarios saved, you can load different scenarios into your worksheet, and compare and contrast them to see which one gives the best results. This is a great way to evaluate options or potential decisions, because the worksheet will be fully calculated according to the specific set of scenario data being used. You can easily switch between sets of scenario data to explore What if? situations.

 

You might use scenarios to represent different budget options, evaluate different financial forecasts, or to compare different data projections based on any number of factors. The data that makes up your scenario is saved with your workbook, but remains hidden until you use the scenario manager to load the scenario data into your worksheet. All of the scenarios you create are just versions of the same worksheet layout, with each different scenario having different values for certain cells.