Goal Seek

Goal Seek feature is applicable when you want to update a node value that is derived using a complex formula, or has dependents/node references that use a complex formula. Such nodes can be updated only by changing one of its key drivers/input nodes.

The Goal Seek button in the Action menu bar gets enabled automatically when you are trying to update a node that has a reference to a complex formula.

Goal Seek

In the above image, clicking on the Clothing node has enabled Goal Seek, despite its formula being Sum of Visible Children because one or more of its child nodes contain complex formulas(e.g. division, sum of products, etc.).

This option is presented to the user automatically, in cases when you are forecasting for the nodes that involve complex formulas. In the below image, forecasting is done for the Total Net Profit node. Since it involves a complex formula, the user is prompted with the below pop-up window to choose the input node/changing node through goal seek.

Changing Key Driver for Forecasting

Forecasting is explained in the section: Time Series Forecasting.

Steps for Goal Seek

Step 1: Select the node you want to change and click Goal Seek from the Action Menu Bar. A pop-up window opens below the screen.

Revenue node of January is selected in the example below and Goal Seek is chosen.

Goal Seek for Revenue Node

Step 2: By default, Goal Value, Target Node, and Period fields are pre-filled based on the node selected. The user can change these values if required.

Allocate by Goal Seek

Step 3: Enter the target value to be achieved in Goal Value. Here the Goal Value is set as 50000.

Enter Goal Value

Note: By clicking on the Target Node text box, 'Select a node' pop-up opens in which you can select a different input node other than what you had chosen previously (for example, in this case Revenue node can be changed to a different node)

Step 4: From the Period dropdown list, choose Total if you want to change and distribute the total value. Distribute option is displayed if you select Total.

Distribute the Total after changing the Input Node

(or) choose any month (Jan) if you want to copy to the remaining periods. Copy to Periods option gets displayed if you choose a specific period.

Copy to Periods after changing the Input Node

Step 5: Select the Input Variable from the list that appears on clicking it, whose change will result in achieving the goal value. The input variable selected in the example below is Units Sold node. The changed value of January is copied in an increasing trend of 10% to the remaining periods.

Copy to Periods after changing the Units Sold Node

Note: To preview your change, click on View Goal Values.

Preview Goal Values

Step 6: Click Run to see the results and then Click Apply or continue performing goal seek until you get the desired result.

Run, Preview and Apply

Finally, the new series is created as shown below for the desired target node, by changing the input variable. All the changed cells are highlighted in yellow in the table grid.

Updated Results with Goal Seek