Introduction

Like Crystal Ball 7.3 and 7.3.1, the current version of Crystal Ball supports Microsoft Excel 2007 as well as Excel 2000, 2002 (XP), and 2003. Where versions of Crystal Ball 7.0 through 7.2.2 ran on Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1, this version of Crystal Ball has been developed to run on the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5, technology from Microsoft for developing secure and advanced Windows applications. This version of Crystal Ball is also supported on Microsoft Windows Vista. For more information about using Crystal Ball with these versions of Microsoft .NET Framework, see the Crystal Ball Installation and Licensing Guide.

This version of Crystal Ball runs on non-English as well as English versions of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. For more information on required software and hardware, see Crystal Ball System Requirements.(PDF)

Note: Translated versions of Crystal Ball 11. x are not currently available. Those who wish to use Crystal Ball with Windows Vista and/or Excel 2007 must download and install the current English version of Crystal Ball.

If you install this version of Crystal Ball over a non-English version of Crystal Ball 7.2. x, Crystal Ball will appear in English. You must uninstall this version of Crystal Ball and re-install the earlier translated version to restore the non-English version of Crystal Ball.

New Features

Crystal Ball 7.2 introduced process capability features for support of Six Sigma and other quality programs. Other new features included support for circular references and multiple workbooks with Crystal Ball data in Extreme Speed, defect fixes, and many performance enhancements. Additional calls were also added to the Crystal Ball Developer Kit in Crystal Ball 7.2. x. Crystal Ball 7.3. x added additional Developer Kit calls along with support for Microsoft Excel 2007.

Crystal Ball 11.1. x includes a rewrite of OptQuest, now an optional product, and some of the Crystal Ball tools. Crystal Ball EPM with appropriate licensing, also an optional product, includes integration with Oracle Hyperion Smart View for Office and compatible products. Crystal Ball EPM version 11.1.1.1.00 also includes integration with Oracle Hyperion Strategic Finance. For more information on new features added in this version of Crystal Ball, see http://www.oracle.com/crystalball.

Data Conversion from Crystal Ball 2000. x (5. x)

If you load a model from Crystal Ball 2000. x (5. x), every effort is made to convert data into the current form if conversion is necessary. Where this is not possible, an error message appears stating that data in the specified worksheet could not be converted. An error log is written to the same folder where the model is stored. The log is named  worksheet name.xls.CB.txt. For example, if a conversion error occurs in Model2.xls, the log file is named Model2.xls.CB.txt and can be opened in a text editor for review.

Starting Crystal Ball Automatically

To set automatic startup for Crystal Ball 7.2. x and earlier versions of Crystal Ball 7. x, users were required to choose Start > Programs > Crystal Ball 7 > Application Manager and check the checkbox that indicates you want to automatically launch Crystal Ball with Excel. Using Tools > Add-Ins no longer worked for those versions.

You can use the Application Manager with this version of Crystal Ball. However, this version also supports the use of Excel commands to load and unload Crystal Ball into Excel.

To do this in Excel 2007, click the Office button. Then, click Excel Options and choose Add-ins. Next, open the Manage drop-down list, choose Manage COM Add-ins, and click Go. In the COM Add-ins dialog, check Crystal Ball. This loads Crystal Ball into the current instance of Excel 2007. If you uncheck Crystal Ball, Crystal Ball is immediately unloaded from the current instance of Excel 2007.

To load and unload Crystal Ball into other supported versions of Excel, see the Crystal Ball Installation and Licensing Guide.

Starting with Crystal Ball 7.3, users of Crystal Ball can also use Crystal Ball Developer Kit calls to load and unload Crystal Ball. For instructions, see the Crystal Ball Installation and Licensing Guide and the current version of the Crystal Ball Developer Kit User Manual.

Crystal Ball Excel Functions

To view Crystal Ball distributions and macros implemented as Excel functions in this version of Crystal Ball, choose Insert > Functions. Then, open the Crystal Ball function category. The currently-implemented functions appear there, starting with CB.

The probability distribution functions are discribed in Appendix A of the Crystal Ball User Manual and the Crystal Ball online help. The remaining functions, beginning with CB. and ending in FN, such as CB.GetAssumPercentFN, are described in the current Crystal Ball Developer Kit User Manual.

Converting Models with CB.Get... Functions Defined as Forecasts

User-Defined Macros

Global settings to identify user-defined macros no longer exist in Crystal Ball 7. x or 11. x . If users want to run certain macros for all simulations, they need to make sure that the workbook containing those macros is open in Excel. This change means that users can run specific macros only for certain models and are no longer required to turn the macros on and off depending on the model that is being run. For details, see the section on user-defined macros at the end of Chapter 5 of the current Crystal Ball User Manual.

Developer Kit Issues

Some models created in versions of Crystal Ball earlier than 7.0 might not run because they reference CB.xla instead of cbdevkit.xla in VBA. To fix this, in the VBA editor, set the reference to cbdevkit.xla (in the main Crystal Ball installation folder -- by default, C:\Program Files\Oracle\Crystal Ball) and uncheck the reference to CB.xla. For CB Predictor, now shipping as part of Crystal Ball 11. x, the new .xla to reference is cbpreddevkit.xla and the object name is CBP.Main.7. Code must now use the new object name, as in Set CBP = CreateObject("CBP.Main.7") For other Developer Kit issues, see the “For Users of Previous Versions” appendix in the Crystal Ball Developer Kit User Manual.

Backward Compatibility in Excel 2003 and Earlier Versions of Excel

If a file supports features that are not available in previous versions of Crystal Ball 7. x or 11. x, those features will be ignored in the earlier version, but the file will still open and run using available features.

For example, if you try to load Crystal Ball 7.3. x or later results into an earlier version of Crystal Ball, an error message might appear explaining that the Crystal Ball data contained in the selected result set cannot be loaded. One reason this message could appear is that a new chart type, scatter charts, was added in Crystal Ball 7.3. Or, the error message might be triggered by the betaPERT distribution, new in Crystal Ball 7.3. In these cases, it could be helpful to load the entire model, not just saved results. If you load a model containing scatter charts or the betaPERT distribution into an earlier version of Crystal Ball, the model will run and the new charts or distribution will be ignored.

Excel 2007 Compatibility and Conversion Issues

Excel 2007 workbooks can be saved in several file formats that are radically different from those for previous versions of Excel. This version of Crystal Ball has been carefully designed to preserve Crystal Ball data in existing workbooks as long as you follow a few simple rules when opening and saving files created in previous versions of Excel.

NOTE: These conditions also hold when using Excel 2003 with the Excel 2007 Compatibility Pack.

The following information is for those who are using Crystal Ball 7.3 or later versions of Crystal Ball with Excel 2007.

Note: Crystal Ball 7.2.2 and earlier versions of Crystal Ball are not supported on either of these Excel platforms.

New Excel 2007 File Types

Excel 2007 supports three main new XML-based file formats:

• XLSX -- Office Open XML format without support for VBA or macros
• XLSM -- Office Open XML format including support for VBA or macros
• XLSB -- Office Open binary format (in an XML structure that contains binary data instead of XML data)

By default, any new workbooks created in Excel 2007 are created in one of these file formats. There are other formats for add-ins and templates, but these are the only relevant Excel 2007 formats for workbooks.

You can also open older Excel 97-2003 workbooks with file extension XLS in Excel 2007. These older workbooks are opened in a special compatibility mode (identified by "[Compatibility Mode]" after the filename in the window title) so you can operate on them in much the same manner as with newer file formats. You cannot, however, use any of the new Excel 2007 features such as the expanded grid size, new chart types, and so on.

You can use Excel 2007's Save As command to convert your older XLS files to one of the new file formats or, optionally, to convert the new formats to XLS.

New Crystal Ball Data Format

This version of Crystal Ball stores its data in a new format within Excel 2007 files. Older Crystal Ball data formats are converted to the new format the first time you perform a Save or Save As command in Excel 2007. Crystal Ball must be loaded when you save the file.

Before converting older XLS files to one of the new Excel 2007 formats, we recommend that you keep backup copies of your older workbooks for safekeeping.

Portability of Analysis Toolpak functions in Excel 2007

With Excel 2003 and earlier, a model created on an English-language version of Windows with English Analysis Toolpak functions was not portable to other language environments since the function name would not be recognized. This is no longer a problem in Excel 2007 since the Analysis Toolpak is a part of the core XLL.

Excel 2003 Compatibility

Microsoft offers an Office 2007 Compatibility Pack (available as a separate download from Microsoft’s website). This Pack was designed to allow Office 2003 users to open, edit, and save data in the new Office 2007 formats. The use of the Office 2007 Compatibility Pack with Crystal Ball 7.3 or later is not recommended. For best results, users of Crystal Ball 7.3 or later can share data between Excel 2003 and 2007 using the .xls format.

Compatibility with earlier versions of Crystal Ball

Crystal Ball 7.2.2 and earlier cannot read data created by this version of Crystal Ball in the new Excel 2007 formats. To maintain compatibility with users of Crystal Ball 7.2.2 or earlier versions running in Excel 2003, you should keep your workbooks as XLS files (Excel 97-2003 format).

If users open an Excel 2007 file in Crystal Ball 7.2.2 and attempt to define assumption data, this error message appears:

You must first save your workbook 'name' in a new file format (Excel 97 or later).

Crystal Ball 7.2.2 users cannot create the specified XLS file themselves. Instead, they must obtain a version of the file saved in XLS format from a Crystal Ball 7.3 user.

Be sure Crystal Ball 7.3 or later is open whenever you save an Excel 2007 model with Crystal Ball data as an XLS file to share with 7.2.2 users.

Warning: If you are saving to .xls format, be sure it is Excel 97-2003 format and not the earlier version. If you accidentally save it to Excel 5.0 or Excel 95 .xls format when Crystal Ball is not open, data is lost.

Converting to Excel 2007

To convert your XLS workbooks to one of the new file formats, we recommend that you first create a backup copy of the XLS workbook and then follow these steps:

1. Run Excel 2007 with Crystal Ball 7.3 loaded.
2. Open an XLS workbook.
3. Choose Save As from the Office button. The Save As command has a submenu where you can select a different file format, or you can use the Save As dialog to choose the file format. Once you save the file to one of the new file formats, the Crystal Ball data is converted to the Excel 2007 format.

If you saved your XLS workbooks to one of the new file formats without Crystal Ball 7.3. x or later loaded, you may see the following warning message:

This workbook contains one or more of the following features that are not supported by the selected file format: * Script objects To save the workbook without these features, click OK. To keep using these features, click Cancel, and then select a file format that supports these features.

This message is normal and you should click OK to proceed with the operation. Crystal Ball will convert its data to the Excel 2007 format the next time you save the file with Crystal Ball 7.3. x or later loaded.

Note: Pre-7.0 Crystal Ball data is converted in Excel 2007, even if you save it back to an .xls file. If you open a workbook created in Crystal Ball 2000. x (5. x) in Excel 2007 with Crystal Ball loaded, the data is converted to the current Crystal Ball format. Even if you save it back to a workbook with .xls extension, the Crystal Ball data remains in the current Crystal Ball format. To preserve the Crystal Ball data in pre- 7.0 format, avoid opening the workbook in Excel 2007. However, if you open a workbook created in Crystal Ball 2000. x (5. x) in Excel 2007 without Crystal Ball loaded, and then save it to an Excel 2007 format, the Crystal Ball data is lost.

Using the Excel 2007 Convert command

You can also convert XLS workbooks to the new Excel 2007 formats using the Convert command under the Office button. Crystal Ball data is converted to the current format as soon as the workbook is saved.

The Convert command, however, has a side effect of removing the older XLS file in the process. We recommend that you use the Save As command to maintain a backup copy of the XLS file.

Rare Data Loss Scenarios

In a few rare cases, there is potential to lose Crystal Ball data during a series of conversion processes.

To avoid virtually all problems, have Crystal Ball 7.3. x or later open whenever files with Crystal Ball data are opened and saved.

If you do this, you will probably never experience these difficulties. However, you should be aware of the following cases so you can avoid them.

Forward, then Backward Save

Avoid this situation because data loss could occur if you :

• Run Excel 2007 or Excel 2003 with the Office 2007 Compatibility Pack without Crystal Ball 7.3. x or later loaded.
• Save an XLS workbook to one of the Excel 2007 file formats.
• In a separate session, run Excel 2007 or Excel 2003 with the Compatibility Pack without Crystal Ball 7.3. x or later loaded again.
• Open the workbook that was created in step 2 and resave it back to the XLS format.

Save and Resave in Excel 2003

Avoid this situation because data loss could occur if you :

• Run Excel 2003 with the Office 2007 Compatibility Pack without Crystal Ball 7.3 or later loaded.
• Save an XLS workbook to one of the Excel 2007 file formats.
• In a separate session, run Excel 2003 with the Office 2007 Compatibility Pack without Crystal Ball 7.3 or later loaded again.
• Open the workbook that was created in step 2 and resave it either in the same file format or back to XLS.

If one of these scenarios occurs, please contact our technical support department for further assistance. For contact information, see our web site.

Publishing Workbooks to Excel Services

If your organization uses Excel Services with the Microsoft SharePoint Server, you can publish Excel workbooks with Crystal Ball data to the SharePoint Server in XLSX and XLSB formats for sharing with other Microsoft Office users or opening in Web browsers. The workbooks must be converted to XLSX or XLSB format before they are published. The Crystal Ball data is retained in the published workbooks. However, you can't run Crystal Ball simulations in the Web browser.

Crystal Ball 7.3 or later , Excel 2007, and Multi-processor Computers

If you are using a computer with multiple processors -- for example, dual cores -- you can use a new "multi-threaded" option in Excel 2007 to split up spreadsheet model recalculations into separate tasks. These tasks can then be run independently on each processor to speed up the overall recalculation time. Since time for one calculation is reduced, the time to run an entire simulation is also reduced.

To activate multi-threading in Excel 2007:

1. Click the Office button.
2. Choose Excel Options > Advanced.
3. In the Advanced Options dialog, scroll to the Formulas group and then check "Enable multi-threaded calculation."
4. Click OK to accept the setting and close the dialog.

Note: To use multi-threading efficiently, you should be working with a spreadsheet model that:

• Is large (that is, it takes more than 0.5 sec for each recalculation).
• Can easily be divided into separate tasks by Excel 2007 (for example, it might have separate chains or groups of formulas that do not depend on each other).