Solver

With this Solver add-in, created by Frontline Systems, developers of the Solver in Microsoft Excel, you can define and solve optimization problems in your Excel workbook, using Excel Online in Office 365, Excel on iPad, Excel 2013, or Excel 2016. Solve your model in the cloud.

Solver models that you may already have, created in old or new versions of Microsoft Excel, are automatically recognized by this Solver add-in. You can also define a completely new Solver model and solve it using this add-in; however, models created with this new Solver add-in won’t be recognized automatically by the desktop Excel Solver.

You can use this Solver add-in to find better ways to allocate scarce resources, maximize profits or minimize costs or risks, in a wide range of applications in finance and investment, marketing, manufacturing and production, distribution and logistics, purchasing, and human resources, as well as science and engineering. To see examples, open the SolvSamp.xlsx workbook included in Microsoft Excel, or register at www.solver.com and click on Examples to download dozens more example models. Many management science textbooks also include examples and discussions of Solver models: see Support - Recommended Books on Solver.com.

All the solving methods and options available in the Excel Solver can be used:

- Simplex LP Solver

- GRG Nonlinear Solver

- Evolutionary Solver

- Integer and binary constraints

For a complete description, visit www.solver.com/excel-solver-help. You can create an Answer Report and/or a Sensitivity Report in Excel 2016, and soon in Excel Online or Excel on iPad, as long as Solver finds a feasible solution. But since VBA is not available online, Solver VBA macros cannot be used to control this Solver add-in.

For free use by everyone, problem size limits in this Solver add-in are the same as in the Excel Solver (200 decision variables and 100 constraints in addition to bounds on the variables). Limits on Solver subproblems and iterations operate just as they do in the Excel Solver, but the backend server currently limits solving time to 30 seconds. If you are using Frontline’s enhanced Solvers for desktop Excel and you ‘publish’ your model to Excel Online, you can solve much larger problems, use additional Solver engines and options, and use more solving time with this add-in, up to the limits of your desktop license.

When you click the Solve button in the add-in, your model is queued for solution by Frontline’s backend RASON Server, running on Windows Azure. Usually solutions are available in seconds, but during periods of heavy use, there may be delays in solving. If you need priority response time or you need to solve challenging large-scale conventional or stochastic optimization models - up to the state of the art - please contact Frontline Systems at info@solver.com or 775-831-0300 about our enhanced Solvers and desktop + cloud licenses.