Example

Introduction

Rainbow Analyst is a comprehensive spreadsheet analysis add-in (for Microsoft Excel 2000 and above) that uses colour to highlight or map potential problem areas, as well as generating a wide range of diagnostic reports. Some of Rainbow’s default cell mapping colours are shown on the left.

Rainbow Analyst can help detect errors that would be very hard to spot through manual checking, however exhaustive, and it can deliver considerable time savings in the spreadsheet audit process.

Version 5.0 of Rainbow Analyst Professional represents the most significant upgrade since Rainbow Analyst was first released in 2001, with a completely revised front end and many new reports and other features. And version 5.1 is now compatible with Microsoft Excel 2007.

This page provides a very small-scale example of how Rainbow Analyst can be used in practice. It shows how even a simple spreadsheet can conceal a number of potential errors, which are clearly highlighted after running a few Rainbow tests.

Example - error highlighting

To demonstrate (on a very small scale) how Rainbow Analyst can be applied, here is a simple spreadsheet that might appear to be comparatively free of errors. (Click the image on the left to see a larger version, then click the Back arrow in your browser or press the Back key to return to this page.)

And this is how it appears after invoking Rainbow Analyst to run three quick tests for dependencies, formula groups and hardcoded numbers. The colour chart at the top of this page indicates the cell types displayed here.

It is easy to spot errors from irregularities in the colour patterns. We have added notes to explain the various errors indicated here, many of which would be difficult to find (in a larger spreadsheet) without extensive checking.

For comparison, here is the spreadsheet after correcting the errors and re-running the same tests. Note that the arrangement of colours is much more regular, and is consistent across rows.

Example - printed reports

The report on the left was generated by Rainbow Analyst to list cells that were changed between the two versions of the spreadsheet. It groups together blocks of cells with the same change, and so is much clearer than most comparison reports.

Other useful reports generated by Rainbow Analyst include a list of all unique formula groups in a spreadsheet. This is ideal for streamlining the manual auditing of a spreadsheet.

Further information

Rainbow Analyst has many other functions. For a more detailed explanation of each menu and sub-menu item please read the User Guide. You can then visit our Rainbow downloads page to download a free 30-day evaluation copy before you decide about purchasing your own licensed copy of Rainbow Analyst.