About assumption models
Assumptions are baseline data that applies throughout a business or to a financial model. Assumptions are often the business drivers in a financial model. For example, in a corporate costs model, you can include assumption data such as payroll costs, price lists, and exchange rates. Typically, assumption data is organized into logical groups and is used as an assumption model, such as an Exchange Rate model. This not only makes it possible to update the assumption data more efficiently, it makes it possible for other models to use the assumption data easily. For example, to use exchange rate data, you just link the Exchange Rate assumption model to the financial model that needs the data.
Assumption models can be global. For example, to use Microsoft Office Excel for tracking costs in a building project, your workbook might contain one worksheet for build-to-own costs and another for build-to-lease costs. A global assumption worksheet might contain costs that are common to both build scenarios, such as the cost of construction.
Planning Business Modeler uses a model site framework that corresponds to the Excel workbook scenario described here. In a Planning Business Modeler model site, you can store assumptions in global assumption models and then share the assumption models with financial models. Global assumption models include predefined dimensions.
In Planning Business Modeler, global assumptions must be shared, and are available for use to the currently active model site and to child sites of the current model. In addition, you can add multiple assumption models to a single model. However, assumption models can be edited only at the model sites where they were created.
By default, Planning Business Modeler includes an Exchange Rate assumption model type for tracking foreign exchange values. An exchange rate model is global in scope and includes predefined dimensions. An operational model can contain only one Exchange Rate model.
See Also
Tasks
Add or remove an assumption
Create a model