Analysis Sensitivities Baseline Values?

@bo3b The cells in which you noted the N/As are associated with parameters whose values can vary over time and, hence, cannot be represented by a single value. These are the general inflation rate and the Rates of Return. That's why the pop-up comments for these sensitivities fields refer to "delta" amounts being applied to the baseline amounts as defined by the normal input pages. With that said, I'll add some clarifying words to the user manual.

Stuart

@smatthews51 OK, Thanks. Seems a little inconsistent, and why I was confused, as Health Care inflation can also vary over time but is for some reason handled differently. In any case, UM clarification is probably worthwhile.

A thought - Rather than display "N/A", show whatever "actual calculation value" (in Red or Italic?) is used for each variable (General Inflation, et al) to determine the Sensitivity changes, with related appropriate Footnote below the change table.

@bo3b It actually isn't inconsistent because the notes associated with the General Inflation and Healthcare Inflation specifically state that the delta is relative to the values specified on the Home page, and the Healthcare Inflation (specified on the Home page) does not vary over time. The clarifications in the UM have been made.

I really don't understand your suggestion about showing the "actual calculation value" used for each variable. Are you suggesting a table showing the base value over the whole modeling period rather than a single cell? Thanks.

Stuart

@smatthews51 OK, Thanks, I'll read the latest UM.

Unless I'm misunderstanding PRC again - Every time the User clicks the Sensitivities "What-If -> Up | Down" arrows PRC calculates either a Plus | Minus adjustment to Baseline "Final Balance" value based on "SOME" discrete number for each (GI, RORs, etc) associated variable. Would seem helpful to User for PRC to uniquely (Italic or otherwise) display those values in relative cell with footnote. (Also, display the initial, or Reset, "Final Savings Balance of What-If..." in <Black>, Green when positive, Red for negative)

And probably another cockpit error but after "Run Analysis; Historical; Expenses w/Smoothing", the "Sensitivities; Consumption - Smoothed Expenses" cell remains <empty>. This appears consistent for every exported file but contrary to the initial PRC loaded "Dick & Jane" Scenario behavior.

As an aside, mistakenly tried to Import a non-PRC worksheet - Resulted in Microsoft Visual Basic "Run time error 9; Subscript out of range" Might be better if PRC could more elegantly catch this User error...

@bo3b For starters let me say that I totally agree with you that PRC should do a more graceful job of dealing with the import of files that aren't legitimate PRC export files. I've already got a fix for that in place but will bundle that with future changes that are, for now, undefined.

Regarding your other comments, I think I understand you BUT the table row labeled "What If Parameters" does identify the what-if setting for the associated parameters. Admittedly, the parameters in question are disparate, so the value of the up/down adjustment amount varies from parameter to parameter; nevertheless, I don't think there's any mystery as to what the adjustment is from click to click of the up/down arrows. Are you thinking it would be useful to know the adjustment granularity of each up/down click without having to figure it out on the fly?

Finally, regarding the Consumption-Smoothed Expenses, I ran a test and didn't see any issues. I did an historical analysis using a CSS value of about 57,000. I then went over to the Sensitivities page and that same value was pre-populated in both the baseline and what-if row of the sensitivities parameter table. I was then able to vary it up and down with the arrows, as expected. If this is NOT consistent with what you're seeing, then please elaborate. Thanks!

Stuart

@smatthews51 Sorry to take your time with this, especially with PRC Excel sunsetting.

And I must somehow be badly misunderstanding how Sensitivities works. One last try - When User clicks Down Arrow for General Inflation, PRC must use some discrete Baseline GI number, for instance 4.0%, to calculate What-If change. Simply thought it might be useful for PRC to show the 4.0% in place of N/A. See attached screenshot. (Footnote: Red Italic values blah, blah, blah...)

If still not clear, no worries just a thought and not worth spending more time...

Thanks for listening!
Bob

@bo3b Yes, PRC does use some discrete number to calculate the what-if projection. In every case, it's the value on the what-if row of the table on the Sensitivities page and in the case of General Inflation, it's a delta value to the baseline general inflation profile as indicated in the comment for that cell. In other words, PRC doesn't use a single constant value for inflation when doing the what-if projection; rather, it adds a small delta to the baseline general inflation profile and uses that. I've added a screenshot that illustrates a 0.2% delta added to the baseline inflation level which is shown as N/A because it's a profile (with inflation that varies over time) rather than a single constant value.

Stuart

@smatthews51 OK