Scenarios
A scenario is a named copy of the sheet's cell contents — values, formulas and slicer picks. Scenarios let you keep several versions of the same sheet side by side: Base, Stretch, Worst Case.
What a Scenario Contains
Cell sources only: ordinary cell values, formulas and slicer picks. Regions, styles, conditional formats, init code and layout stay shared across scenarios. Write-back bindings on formula cells (see Table Regions) are also captured; a restored formula can write its result when the same record or budget scope still appears at that address and the user's access allows it.
Scenarios do not capture live region results, amounts typed directly into editable budget or table cells, or virtual-column values. Direct edits to business data are written immediately and are not restored by loading a scenario. For example, type 100 in a live budget cell and capture BASE, then change it to 200: loading BASE leaves the budget amount at 200.
Scenarios belong to a saved sheet. Opening the dialog on an unsaved sheet saves it first (a brand-new sheet asks for a code).
Working with Scenarios
Open Sheet → Scenarios… in the editor. The list shows each scenario's code, description, when it was last captured, and how many cells it holds.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Capture Sheet | Stores the sheet's current cell contents into the selected scenario, replacing whatever it held. |
| Load into Sheet | Replaces the sheet's cell contents with the scenario's (after a confirmation). The sheet recalculates when the dialog closes. |
Create a scenario by adding a row with a code (for example BASE) and a description, then Capture Sheet.
A Typical Budget Workflow
- Put planning assumptions, such as growth rates and monthly targets, in ordinary cells outside live data regions. Build projection formulas from those cells.
- Capture the assumptions and formulas into
BASE. - Change the assumption cells or use Spread Total across ordinary planning cells. Capture this version into
STRETCH. - Use Load into Sheet to restore either set of assumptions and recalculate the projections.
- If you want the projections written to a budget matrix, enter formulas in its editable amount cells referencing those planning cells, then capture the scenario again to include those formula bindings. Those formulas write during recalculation; scenario capture is not a separate posting or approval step.
Example: Three Sales Targets
Your sheet models next year's revenue: assumption cells in B2:B4 (growth 4%, price increase 2%, churn 1%) drive twelve monthly formula cells.
| Scenario | B2 growth | B3 price | B4 churn | Captured as |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Realistic | 0.04 |
0.02 |
0.01 |
BASE |
| Ambitious | 0.08 |
0.03 |
0.01 |
STRETCH |
| Defensive | 0.00 |
0.00 |
0.03 |
WORST |
Set the first assumption set, Capture Sheet into BASE; change the three cells, capture STRETCH; change again, capture WORST. In the Monday meeting, Load into Sheet flips the entire model between the three versions in one click — everything downstream of B2:B4 recalculates, while the regions, charts and formatting stay untouched because they are shared across scenarios.
Note: restoring a bound write-back formula can change business data on the next recalculation. Loading a scenario does not undo earlier direct edits to budget entries or table records. Keep projections in ordinary cells when you want to compare assumptions without writing them to Business Central.