Excel Solver and Goal Seek Setup for a Planning Decision
Frame a decision as a model that Goal Seek or Solver can handle.
The Open buttons send the prompt text as currently shown below to that site only when you click. Fill in the placeholders first.
[VERIFY] is an editorial flag, not a blank to fill. Wherever the prompt shows [VERIFY], check that item against a reliable source before you use it.
I need to make a planning decision in Excel and want Goal Seek or Solver. The decision: [DECISION]. Inputs I control: [DECISION_VARIABLES]. Fixed inputs and limits: [CONSTRAINTS]. What I want to maximise, minimise or reach: [OBJECTIVE]. Ask me for missing information first if my description is incomplete. Then say which tool fits, Goal Seek for one input and one target or Solver for several inputs and limits, and why. Lay out the worksheet: inputs, constraints, the objective cell, connecting formulas and labels. Give the settings in plain words: objective cell, direction, changing cells, constraints with operators, and solving method. Explain how to read and keep the result and how to run a sensitivity check by changing one input at a time. Mark dialog names [VERIFY]. Worked example with invented numbers: 100 hours of capacity and two products earning 30 and 50 per unit; the model chooses the mix that earns most within the limit and the arithmetic should confirm the total. Warn that a solution is only as good as the model, Solver may find a local answer, and the result must make sense in real life. Add a checklist (units consistent, all constraints entered, answer feasible by hand, copy saved before re-running), and a short presentation for a manager: recommendation, assumptions, sensitivity and limits, plus a plain summary of what the tool does and cannot know.
Fill in before use
Optional: type your details and the prompt above updates. Nothing is saved or sent.
Replace each bracketed placeholder with your own details, then paste into Any AI or another assistant.
See an example result (fictional data)
Invented example. Capacity 100 hours. Product A earns 30 per unit and takes 2 hours; Product B earns 50 per unit and takes 4 hours. Per hour: A 15, B 12.5. Make 50 units of A: 100 hours, profit 1,500. All B: 25 units, profit 1,250. Solver should favour A unless a minimum of B is required; if B must be at least 10 units (40 hours), A gets 60 hours = 30 units, profit 900 + 500 = 1,400.
Illustrative only, made-up data. Your results will differ and must be reviewed.