Building financial models based on estimates

To build a model, you must enter estimated values for costs and benefits for the life of the project. You can use the Investment Analysis interface to edit these values with ease.

Procedure

  1. In a Display view, click the element and then click the link to the sheet.
  2. Click Menu > Investment Analysis. The attribute is displayed in graphical format. In Investment Analysis, change the data estimates for a cost or a benefit at a time.
  3. Below the graph grid, click the drop-down list and select a cost or benefit, such as Revenue or Development Cost.
  4. Specify the discount rates over the life of the project. The default is a yearly discount rate of 0%. By default, in investment analysis, only the currently selected cost or revenue curve is displayed.
  5. To display all of the cost and revenue curves on the grid at the same time, select Show all curves.
    Note: You can adjust the values for the currently selected cost or revenue curve, but the other cost and revenue curves are also visible on the grid.
    Estimates

Results

When you select a cost or benefit, you can enter data estimates. You can enter the estimates in a model graphically or by using a spreadsheet or calculator.

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