Capstone Menu

The Capstone Menu launches the Coach, an interactive assistant who will help you learn how to use the spreadsheets.

File

• Save Draft
• Update Official Decisions (See Saving Decisions)
• Exit Capstone: Please use this selection (or the Exit icon on the tool palette) when exiting Capstone.xls.

View

• Full Screen
• Normal: Allows the Excel window to be resized and minimized.

Undo

• Undo to Official Decisions
• Undo to Start of Round

Decisions

Decision entry spreadsheets are selected from the Decisions menu item or from the tool palette on the right side of the spreadsheet.

In each decision area, the cell displays are either green or yellow:

Values in green cells can be changed, values in yellow cannot be changed directly, but will update as the values in the green cells change.

Numbers with decimal points are in units of 1. Numbers without decimals are in 1000’s. Some green cells will turn red and the numbers will be slashed if an entry becomes too large.

Each decision area works independently from the others, however, some areas depend on values entered on other areas. For example, the Production area relies on the Forecast and Accounts Payable information on the Marketing area.

Proformas

The proforma finance statements are estimates (should all projections be accurate) of what the financial statements will look like at the end of the year. These numbers are driven by the entries in the decision areas, and they change as your decisions change. Therefore, the proforma numbers will not be of value until your decisions begin to finalize. The proformas include a balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, and a selection of useful financial ratios.

The Proforma predictions can vary widely from year-end results. For example, sales estimates or product prices might be unrealistically high, making the Proforma numbers look great. However, if sales fall short of estimates, the round results will be significantly different from the Proforma numbers.

Reports

This menu displays and prints The Capstone Courier, a sensor-industry newsletter available to all companies, the Industry Conditions Report, which details conditions specific to your simulation, and your Annual Report, which is only available to your team. While the Courier and your Annual Report are also available from the website's Reports section, the pages will paginate properly if you print them from the Last Year's Reports menu.

Help and Flags

The Help menu links to frequently asked questions (Online Help), an expanded version of this printed guide (Manager Guide), and an Official Decision Audit.

Spreadsheet Flags

Red Flags on the spreadsheets activate pop-up explanation windows. Passing your cursor over any flag will open an explanation of the associated row or column.

Please Note: For Excel® 2007 users, the flags do not open if the pointer is directly over the flag. It must be directly over the lower right corner of the flag, or below the flag in the cell that the flag belongs to.