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1.     Define and solve a problem.  A list of reports appears in the Reports box of the Solver Results dialog box.  If the solving process stopped prematurely when you pressed ESC or selected Stop when a Solving limit was reached, no reports are available.

2.     Click to select one or more reports.  Select the Outline Reports check box if you would like Solver to use Excel’s outlining feature in the reports.  Outlining groups the variables and constraints in the reports into “blocks,” just as you entered them in the Solver Parameters dialog; you can expand or collapse the groups to see only the information you want.

3.     Select any other options you want in the Solver Results dialog box, and click OK.  The reports you selected appear as new worksheets, inserted into your Excel workbook just to the left of the worksheet containing the Solver model.

Reports available when Solver finds a solution

·          In almost all cases where Solver finds an optimal solution, Solver converges to the current solution, or Solver cannot improve the current solution, the Answer Report is available.  When the Evolutionary Solving method is used, its Population Report is also available.  If Solver finds a (locally or globally) optimal solution, and there are no integer constraints, two additional reports are available: the Sensitivity Report and the Limits Report.

Reports available when Solver encounters a problem

·          If you receive the message “The linearity conditions required by this LP Solver are not satisfied,” and the problem has no integer constraints, the Linearity Report is available.  This report can help you find cell formulas in your model that make the problem nonlinear (possibly by mistake).  If your model is intentionally nonlinear, you should select the GRG Nonlinear Solving method are re-solve the problem.

·          If you receive the message “Solver could not find a feasible solution,” and the problem has no integer constraints, two variants of a diagnostic report, the Feasibility Report and Feasibility-Bounds Report, are available.  One of these reports (there’s never a reason to select both of them) can help you find certain constraints that are impossible to satisfy – possibly because you mistakenly used >= instead of <=, for example. If the constraints are correct, and the business situation you are modeling has no feasible solution, these reports can help you understand why.