Initialization Links are useful when it is more convenient to keep the numbers initializing DPL nodes (probabilities and values) in an Excel spreadsheet, rather than in the DPL Workspace file. With initialization links, you can easily build a template DPL model to be used with several input data spreadsheets.
Initialization links are separate from calculation links, which are used with a spreadsheet that calculates NPV or some other metric in each scenario. A model can have initialization links and calculation links with the same Excel file, but the data used by the initialization links must be on a sheet that doesn't have any calculation links.
Initialization links are established as follows:
- In the Links tab of the Node Definition dialog, click Microsoft Excel in the bottom (Initialization links) section.
- If the node already has calculation links to an Excel spreadsheet and the data are in the same file, leave "Same as calc links workbook" checked, otherwise uncheck it and click the Browse button to locate the file.
- Click the Data tab.
- Click the Link button
next to the edit box. The
Range Names dialog will be displayed.
- Select the appropriate range and click Select. DPL will warn you if the range doesn't have the correct number of values.
For chance nodes, the probabilities and values are initialized separately. If you wish to use initialization links for both, you will need to perform the last two steps twice: once values and once for probabilities.
Versions: DPL Professional, DPL Enterprise, DPL Portfolio
See Also