Rainbow Analyst And The Model Answer
About Us
This page provides details of the latest major update of Rainbow Analyst, as well as some background information about The Model Answer and the development of the Rainbow Analyst add-in.
Rainbow Analyst News
Our latest update
Automated formula editing in Rainbow 12.6.1
Rainbow’s Formula Scan function lets you see instantly where there are inconsistent formulas that differ from the surrounding cells. So in the composite screenshot above, you can see there is a block of inconsistent formulas highlighted in red. And if you look at the formula bar, you can see the problem: there is a hardcoded “- 330” at the end of the formula. This is not present in the surrounding formulas highlighted in green.
Of course you could manually copy the correct “green” formula to overwrite the incorrect “red” formula, but it would be too easy to copy over other formulas by mistake. So Rainbow’s Issue Tracker can now do the copying for you, as well as letting you check and annotate other issues found by the Formula Scan and/or Risk Map functions.
All you need do is let Issue Tracker find the start of the incorrect formula (in this case cell J42), and then click one of the Edit Fmla buttons to copy either the formula on the left or the formula above. Issue Tracker will find all the nearby matching (incorrect) formulas, and automatically overwrite them with the selected correct formula, leaving you with a consistent block of correct formulas (and no hard-coding!) as shown here.
This is just one of many ways that Rainbow can streamline your workflow; why not try it for yourself?
Where Rainbow Analyst Started
The Model Answer
Mike Shallcross
Founder
Mike set up The Model Answer in 2000 as a financial modelling consultancy. At the same time, he started developing Rainbow Analyst, initially just for his own use in analysing and auditing Excel spreadsheets. Its key feature (and the reason for the name “Rainbow Analyst”) was a unique colour-coding system that makes it very easy to spot problems and inconsistencies. Over time it grew into the leading-edge commercial tool that it is today.
Before starting The Model Answer, Mike spent 17 years working for KPMG and predecessor firms. He trained as a chartered accountant (ICAEW) and chartered tax adviser (IoT), and then moved into financial modelling. His modelling projects at KPMG ranged from a spreadsheet for calculating divorce tax settlements, to a multi-dimensional simulation of the UK electricity generation system. Mike lives in London and is also a qualified psychotherapist. In his spare time he enjoys travel and riding a big-wheel unicycle.