Optimization Solutions with the Microsoft Excel Solver

Example Excel Worksheets

Using Microsoft Excel and Frontline Systems' Solvers, you can create solutions for a wide range of business problems.  These solutions show you the best way to allocate scarce resources.  The resources may be raw materials, machine time or people time, money, or anything else in limited supply.  By optimizing your model with the Solver, you can discover ways to reduce costs, increase profits, or improve quality or response time. 

This page is your gateway to over 40 example Excel worksheets that illustrate such solutions.

View examples by functional area

• Finance Examples
• Investment Examples
• Production Examples
• Distribution Examples
• Purchasing Examples
• Scheduling Examples

You can view the example worksheets on our Website, or you can download them to your own PC and actually find optimal solutions using the standard Solver that comes with Excel -- which Frontline Systems developed for Microsoft.  Just open the example and select Solver on the Data tab in Excel 2007, or Tools Solver... from the menu in Excel 2003.  When you see the Solver Parameters dialog box, click the Solve button to find the optimal solution.

If you don't find the Solver choice, in Excel 2007 select File, Excel Options, Add-Ins, Manage Excel Add-ins and click the Go button.  In Excel 2003 select Tools Add-ins...  Then check the box next to Solver in the list of add-ins, and click OK.  Or, you can download and install our enhanced Solvers, and solve any of these example problems.

You can use the worksheet that most closely models your situation as a starting point.  Solving your real problem may require "scaling up" the model to include more variables and constraints -- but rest assured that you can solve your full-size problem with the power of Risk Solver Platform, Premium Solver Platform, augmented by Solver Engines to handle problems of unlimited size! 

We're here to help -- contact us if you'd like more information or advice on your application.

Risk Solver Platform is an integrated superset of Premium Solver Platform and Risk Solver with best-of-breed simulation, best-of-breed optimization, and new stochastic programming and robust optimization capabilities you can't get anywhere else.

Premium Solver Platform, our premier tool for conventional optimization, uses new PSI Technology to automatically analyze and transform your Excel model. It solves every type and size of problem, using built-in and plug-in Solver Engines.

Premium Solver, our basic upgrade for the Excel Solver, solves up to 10X larger problems at much higher speed, and solves new kinds of problems with our Evolutionary Solver.

Risk Solver Platform is an integrated superset of Premium Solver Platform and Risk Solver with best-of-breed simulation, best-of-breed optimization, and new stochastic programming and robust optimization capabilities you can't get anywhere else.

Risk Solver Premium integrates all the features of Premium Solver and Risk Solver, with far superior optimization and higher performance, easier to use simulation, for about the same price as competitive products for Monte Carlo simulation.

Risk Solver is the easiest and fastest tool available for risk analysis of your Excel models, using Monte Carlo simulation. Evaluate thousands of scenarios in seconds, and see instantly updated charts and statistics, each time you ask "what if".

Software Developer Tools:

Solver Platform SDK makes it easy to solve any type or size of optimization problem in your Visual Basic, VB.NET, C/C++, C#, Java, or MATLAB program. And it's easy to deploy your application with our flexible licensing for software vendors and corporate developers.