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Microsoft Excel 11 minute read How to Use Excel SolverClaudia Buckley Join the Excel conversation on SlackAsk a question or join the conversation for all things Excel on our Slack channel. Join Slack channel Solver is an Excel solution used for What-if analysis. Excel Solver is similar to Goal Seek in that it works backward to achieve a numeric objective by changing variables. Its capabilities exceed those of Goal Seek, however. Solver allows you to use up to 200 variable cells to find an optimal value for the objective cell, as opposed to Goal Seek’s one-variable-at-a-time limitation. Additionally, Solver’s “Constraints” parameter, adds to the tool’s sophistication, because you get to tell Excel what it is and is not allowed to do in solving for the optimal value. Solver is an add-in that needs to be enabled within the application before you can start working with it. How to add Solver in ExcelIf the Solver add-in is already activated, you’ll see it within the Analyze group of the Data tab. 1. On the File tab, click Options. 2. Under Add-ins, select Solver Add-in and click on the Go button. Download your free practice file! Use this free Excel Solver file to practice along with the tutorial. Enter your email address
How to add Solver in Excel (Mac)
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How to use Solver - a case studySolver works with variable cells to arrive at an objective, or target, subject to certain constraints. It uses the variable cells to produce the result you want in the objective cell. You can see from this that:
In our example, we run an outsourcing company that handles short-term projects for our clients. Clients give us their project objectives, scope, and deadlines and that helps us to know how many agent hours will be needed that week. The Workforce Management (Agent Scheduling) team can use Solver to create weekly employee schedules to satisfy these objectives within whatever constraints we may have. Some possible constraints are:
Before we can begin to think about the constraints, however, what is our objective? We want to dedicate our employee resources to a certain number of hours to work on our available projects for the upcoming week. Let’s assume that we have three weeks in which to complete these projects and 10 employees. All we need to do is spread the 1,065 hours across three weeks and distribute those hours to the 10 employees. Cell H21 is set to calculate the total number of hours for all agents. As the Workforce Manager, you may want to experiment with a few scenarios, such as:
To make the cell ranges easier to work with, we’ve created named ranges as follows:
Formulate the modelTo get started, click on the Solver command, which opens up the Solver Parameters dialog box. Set Objective: This field refers to the cell which will contain a single, quantifiable result. To Max/Min/Value of: Decide whether you want to solve for the minimum, maximum, or for an exact value. By Changing Variable Cells: These are cells that Excel can change to achieve the objective. Excel Solver allows specifying up to 200 variable cells. Now we can use the above fields to set up our problem and its solution. Our Set Objective: cell will be cell H21. Remember, this cell calculates the total number of scheduled working hours for all agents next week. Let’s consider spreading the 1,065 hours required across approximately three weeks. This would mean scheduling 355 hours each week. Select the Value of: radio button and enter 355. By Changing Variable cells: will be the range that we named Shifts. ConstraintsNow we can move on to the constraints — that is, what Excel is and isn’t allowed to do when trying to solve the problem. Constraints in Solver fall within the realm of: >= The value in this cell must be greater than or equal to …. <= The value in this cell must be less than or equal to …. = The value in this cell must be equal to …. int This variable must be an integer bin The value of this variable is binary (must be either 0 or 1) dif The variables in this range must be all different. No repetition is allowed. In our case study example, we want to achieve our 355 hours without anyone having to work overtime (more than 40 hours). This is achievable since we have 10 agents. Maybe there’s a union regulation that says all employees are guaranteed a minimum of 20 hours per week. We can add these constraints by clicking Add to the right of the Solver Parameters window. Click Add to add another constraint. Agt_Hrs<=40 Click OK to submit these constraints and return to the Solver Parameters dialog box.
Edit a constraintYou can edit a constraint by clicking on it, then selecting Change on the right of the Solver Parameters window. You can delete a constraint by clicking it, then selecting Delete on the right of the Solver Parameters window. Solving methods (Excel Solver algorithms)You’ll notice the following options for your solving methods:
This method is used for linear problems. A Solver model is considered linear when the Objective cell is computed by adding together the terms of the (variable cells)*(constant) form. In linear problems, each constraint is also evaluated by adding together the terms of the (variable cells)*(constant) form and comparing the sums to a constant. When the Simplex LP Solving Method is selected, there is no limit on the number of constraints.
The GRG Nonlinear method is used for smooth nonlinear problems. If your target cell, any of your constraints, or both, contain references to changing cells that are not of the (variable cells)*(constant) form, then you have a nonlinear model. When the GRG Nonlinear Evolutionary Solving Method is selected, there is a limit of 100 constraints, in addition to bounds and int, bin or dif restrictions on the variables.
The Evolutionary solving method is used for non-smooth problems. These are the most difficult types of optimization problems to solve because some of the functions are non-smooth or even discontinuous. We will choose the LP Simplex method for our model since this is a linear problem. If you are not sure of your problem type, you can leave it at GRG Nonlinear. Solve!Now we can set our Solver to work. Since we have a constraint that says that the objective cell should be equal to the value in cell B6, it will try to meet that goal whether we use the Min or Max radio button. The optimal solution is shown below. How to save an Excel Solver scenarioWhen Excel provides a solution, you may want to save your scenario and experiment with a few other options before deciding on which one to use.
How to load a saved modelTo restore a saved scenario, do the following:
Download the practice fileDownload your free practice file! Use this free Excel Solver file to practice along with the tutorial. Enter your email address
Still getting the hang of Solver? Practice makes perfect! Experiment with different scenarios, and save them if you like the results or want to return to them later.
Everyday usesSolver can be applied to workforce management, maximizing profitability, financial planning, and budgeting settings. Can you think of any other ways you can find optimal solutions for some of your problems using the Solver add-in? Explore other useful Excel tools with our Excel Basic and Advanced course today! Ready to become a certified Excel ninja? Start learning for free with GoSkills courses Start free trial
Loved this? Subscribe, and join 398,352 others. Get our latest content before everyone else. Unsubscribe whenever. Your email address Join the Excel conversation on SlackAsk a question or join the conversation for all things Excel on our Slack channel. Join Slack channel Claudia Buckley Claudia is a project manager and business skills instructor at GoSkills. In her spare time, she reads mystery novels and does genealogy research. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Pocket Email Recommended Excel Challenge 23Take this Excel challenge! How do you rank the top 5 agents when duplicate scores exist? Recommended Pivot Table Filter in ExcelSo you've entered all your data in Excel and you want to zero in on a special segment. Pivot Table filters help to display select portions of data at your discretion. Recommended Handling Lookups for Multiple Criteria in ExcelLearn how to lookup multiple criteria in Excel. Analyze the best options from the FILTER function to XLOOKUP. GoSkills courses
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Don’t miss out on our best deals! Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest news and specials delivered direct to your inbox. What is the purpose of constraints in Solver?Constraints are logical conditions that a solution to an optimization problem must satisfy. They reflect real-world limits on production capacity, market demand, available funds, and so on.
What is a constraint in Excel?The Excel Solver Constrains are restrictions or limits of the possible solutions to the problem. To put it differently, constraints are the conditions that must be met. To add a constraint(s), do the following: Click the Add button right to the "Subject to the Constraints" box.
What is an all different constraint in Excel Solver?The alldifferent constraint specifies that at the solution, each integer variable in the group must have a value that is different from all the others. Hence, the variables in the group form an ordering, or permuta- tion, of integers. All cells A1:An must be different (no pair of cells are allowed to be equal).
How many constraints are allowed in Excel Solver?You can specify up to 200 variable cells. In the Subject to the Constraints box, add any constraints that you want to apply.
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