In pretty much any financial model, you want the ability to run several scenarios and compare results. Openbox gives you a scenario manager for free on the InpC sheet, which works for inputs or assumptions that are constants. But what if you want to have scenarios for inputs that change over time? 

Suppose for example your model depends heavily on interest rates. So you want to have interest rate scenarios – let’s say high, medium and low. Interest rates change over time, so you need to have three rows on your input sheet and get your model to pick the right one.

The attached example shows how you can do this sort of thing using arrays. You create an array called something like “interest scenarios”, and put the names of the scenarios in the array. Then make the interest rate input vary by array. Finally, add a calculation that picks the desired interest scenario, based on a new constant input on the InpC sheet. 

example with InpS scenarios