Crystal Ball^® 7.3.1

Release Notes

July 2007

Introduction
Crystal Ball Issues
OptQuest Issues
Crystal Ball Developer Kit Issues
Fixed in Crystal Ball 7.3 and 7.3.1

Introduction

Crystal Ball 7.3.1 is the current version of Crystal Ball. It has been developed to run on the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or 3.0, technology from Microsoft for developing secure and advanced Windows applications.

Crystal Ball 7.2.x introduced new process capability features to support Six Sigma and other quality programs. It also included bug fixes and many performance enhancements. For more information on the new features see http://www.crystalball.com/cb_features.html.

Like Crystal Ball 7.3, Crystal Ball 7.3.1 includes:

• A new distribution -- the betaPERT
• A new chart type, the scatter chart
• Distribution fitting enhancements (click here for details)
• Support for Microsoft Excel 2007 and Microsoft Windows Vista
• Bug fixes
• New Developer Kit calls for loading and unloading Crystal Ball after Excel has started

The following are a few known issues you should be aware of as you begin using Crystal Ball 7.3.1.

Note: If you are upgrading from an earlier version of Crystal Ball, it is also important for you to read the Crystal Ball 7.3.1 Migration Guide.

Crystal Ball Issues

Only Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or 3.0 can be used
This version of Crystal Ball is not translated
Extreme Speed enhancements included in this version of Crystal Ball
Extreme Speed and custom functions
Extreme Speed and non-English Analysis Toolpak functions
Crystal Ball grabbers are now dual-anchoring
Restored results are not resaved with simulation results
If an assumption's input parameter refers back to the assumption cell, the reference is static
"System clock set back" errors
Issues with preferences and the memory warning dialog
Restored results with capability metrics
Crystal Ball with custom menus and toolbars
Incompatibilities when running models in earlier versions of Crystal Ball 7.x
LOOKUP functions can affect speed
Overlay chart probability data can be inaccurate for series with less data
Extract Data information might not be accurate for the last bin
Using Crystal Ball with multiple versions of Excel installed
Distribution change note
Distribution display problems when moving from this version of Crystal Ball to an earlier version

Only Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or 3.0 can be used

If you have Microsoft .NET Framework 1.x installed as well as .NET Framework 2.0 or 3.0, warning messages might appear when you try to start this version of Crystal Ball. You might also find that Crystal Ball does not load at all when you start it. If this happens, choose Start > Programs > Crystal Ball 7 > Application Manager. Be sure this setting is checked in the Crystal Ball Application Manager: "Run Excel with Microsoft's .NET Framework v2.0 or 3.0 (Recommended)." Then, click OK and restart Crystal Ball.

Notice that errors can result if you try to check the .NET Framework setting in the Application Manager and do not have the required permissions to make that change.

If you have not yet installed Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or 3.0, follow the instructions in your Crystal Ball Installation and Licensing Guide, located at the root of your Crystal Ball CD or in the Docs folder under the folder where Crystal Ball is installed (by default, C:\Program Files\Decisioneering\Crystal Ball 7). The main installation document is named CB7 Install&Licensing.pdf. If your organization uses concurrent licensing, see InstallConcurrent.pdf.

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 is installed as part of Microsoft Windows Vista.

For details on using Crystal Ball with Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or 3.0, see Microsoft .NET Framework FAQs.

This version of C rystal Ball is not translated

If you install this version of Crystal Ball over a non-English version of Crystal Ball 7.2.x, Crystal Ball will appear in English. You must uninstall this version of Crystal Ball and re-install the earlier translated version to restore the non-English version of Crystal Ball.

Extreme Speed enhancements included in this version of Crystal Ball

If you are using the Professional or Premium Edition of Crystal Ball version 7.1 or later, the new Extreme Speed feature available in those editions is switched on by default. While Crystal Ball simulations run 10 to 100 times faster at Extreme speed, there are a few compatibility issues to consider.

For more information on Extreme Speed see Appendix C of the current Crystal Ball User Manual or "About Extreme Speed" in the Crystal Ball online help.

Go To button

When a calculation error occurs and a specific cell is identified, a Go To button appears in the error dialog. You can click it to move to the incompatible cell.

Extreme Speed and custom functions

Note: The following compatibility issue is not included in Appendix C of the current Crystal Ball User Manual.

In Extreme Speed, circular references with short Iteration settings might not match Excel's because of differences in calculation algorithms. For most consistent results, set Iteration to at least 1,000 as described in Appendix C of the Crystal Ball User Manual..

Extreme Speed and non-English Analysis Toolpak functions

Note: The following compatibility issue is not included in Appendix C of the current Crystal Ball User Manual.

Currently, non-English names of the Analysis Toolpak functions are not supported in Extreme Speed simulations in versions of Excel older than Excel 2007. In Excel 2007, the Analysis Toolpak is included as part of Excel..

Crystal Ball grabbers are now dual-anchoring

Certainty grabbers in forecast windows are now anchored at both ends. A grabber is anchored when users enter a value or click and move the grabber. Clicking the grabber without moving it toggles the anchor state of the grabber. Ctrl-clicking or Shift-clicking a grabber anchors or unanchors both grabbers, depending on the previous state of the clicked grabber. When both grabbers are positioned to infinity, both grabbers are unanchored. When just one grabber is positioned to infinity, the anchor state of the grabber at infinity is set to the opposite of the other grabber.

Anchoring both grabbers changes the certainty. Changing the certainty with both grabbers unanchored adjusts both grabbers centered on the median. When one grabber is anchored, the certainty value sets the free grabber’s position. When typing in a minimum or maximum certainty range, Crystal Ball sets only the location of the corresponding grabber; the modified grabber is anchored and the certainty value is updated.

Restored results are not resaved with simulation results

If restored results are used with results from the current simulation – in an overlay chart, for example – the restored results are not resaved with Analyze > Save Results. When the saved results are later restored, only the results from the current simulation are restored.

Likewise, if preferences – for example, chart preferences – are set for the restored results, those preference settings are not saved either.

If an assumption's input parameter refers back to the assumption cell, the reference is static

If a cell reference refers to an assumption cell, the cell reference is replaced by the base value (value at the start of the simulation) for the duration of the simulation. This makes the cell reference static.

"System clock set back" errors

If a computer's system clock is set back at some point to a date earlier than the current date, Crystal Ball's sophisticated licensing system recognizes this. When you try to start Crystal Ball with a time-limited license under these conditions, startup fails and a "system clock set back" message appears. Under some system clock conditions, a "license not found" message appears and a checkout error is written to the Crystal Ball log file. The reason that a license file cannot be found can also be determined by clicking on the View Existing License link in the Welcome screen of the CB License Manager. A dialog states why the license cannot be found -- whether it be a system clock error, feature start date in the future, and so on. For information on how to fix this, contact cbsupport_ww@oracle.com.

Issues with preferences and the memory warning dialog

If you run an Extreme Speed simulation multiple times on a large or complex model, you might find that you receive the "Sufficient memory may not be available..." warning dialog. This dialog lets you disable the Store Assumption Values run preference and change the number of trials to run. Notice that these changes in the warning dialog reset those preferences in the Run Preferences dialog on the Trials and Options tabs. They are then applied to other models unless you reset them after the large model has run.

Restored results with capability metrics

The following rules apply when you calculate capability metrics, store the results in a .cbr file, and then restore the results:

1. The restored results use the preference settings on the machine where the results are restored, which might be different from the settings when the original simulation was run and stored.
   
2. Crystal Ball refits the data when the results are restored, so results might differ somewhat from the original results.

Incompatibilities when running models in earlier versions of Crystal Ball 7.x

Certain Crystal Ball distribution types are not compatible with pre-7.1 versions of Crystal Ball 7.x. For example, if you create a model in Crystal Ball 7.2 or later that includes linked custom distributions, #NUM! appears in the assumption cells when you run a simulation in Crystal Ball 7.0 at Normal Speed with the following custom distribution types: continuous range, discrete range, sloping continuous range, and sloping discrete range.

LOOKUP functions can affect speed

Crystal Ball now supports LOOKUP functions in both Normal and Extreme Speed. However, if you use more than a thousand in a model, this can slow down the initial parsing time and cause the simulation to run slowly.

Overlay chart probability data can be inaccurate for series with less data

Overlay chart data are attached to the frequency axis of the chart, not the probability axis. For this reason, probability data can be inaccurate for all series except the one with the most data.

Extract Data information might not be accurate for the last bin

If you choose the Chart Bins statistic in the Extract Data dialog, information for the last (rightmost) bin might not be accurate. Crystal Ball determines bin location by evaluating whether data is equal to or greater than the minimum and less than the maximum for each bin. If data is equal to the maximum for the highest bin, it is not counted.

Using Crystal Ball with multiple versions of Excel installed

Crystal Ball always runs against the default version of Excel, which is typically the most recently installed version of Excel. To run Crystal Ball with another version of Excel, open Windows Explorer and select Tools > Options. Then, in the Folder Options dialog, select the File Types tab and make sure that you set the XLS extension so that it opens with the appropriate version of Microsoft Excel.

If these instructions do not work, perform a Repair on the installation of Excel that you want to be the default version. That is, if Excel 2003 and then Excel 2007 are installed on a machine and you want Excel 2003 to remain the default version of Excel, perform a Repair on Excel 2003. Once the Repair is complete, Excel 2003 should start when you select Crystal Ball from the Start menu.

Distribution change note

Fitting routines have been changed for some distributions (gamma, lognormal, Weibull and Student's t) to calculate better distribution parameters for a range of datapoints within a reasonable time. These changes might affect the fitting results for your data. The new routines have been tested and give results that are close to the previous results and compare favorably with Minitab and Matlab, among other applications. Should you observe unexpected results, please contact cbsupport_ww@oracle.com to provide feedback (or use the Send Feedback command available on the Crystal Ball Help menu).

The fitting routine for the Student's t distribution has been changed to improve performance with simulations greater than 3000 trials. If the number of datapoints is more than 3000, the new algorithm randomly samples 3000 points from the original set and runs the fitting routine on that. For simulations with more than 3000 trials, accuracy can drop slightly because the full dataset is not used in fitting.

Distribution display problems when moving from this version of Crystal Ball to an earlier version

If you use this version of Crystal Ball and then reinstall an earlier version, distribution display problems can occur. You might be able to open the Basic distributions when defining an assumption but not the All folder and an "unexpected error" message appears. This could happen if you use an evaluation version of Crystal Ball this version of Crystal Ball and then go back to your permanent version of 7.2.2.

If this happens, close Crystal Ball. Then, type the following in the address box in My Computer or Windows Explorer and press Enter or click Go:

%appdata%\Decisioneering\Crystal Ball\7.0\Store

Next, delete CBGalleryPrefs.bin and CBPrefs.bin in that folder. The next time you start Crystal Ball, you should have no problem displaying the All folder and choosing any distribution you want.

OptQuest Issues

OptQuest files are not always saved on request

Whenever you modify values or settings in the OptQuest wizard or other dialogs, always click the OK button to ensure that information will be saved in the .opt file.

OptQuest won't work properly if an Excel cell is in Edit mode

If you try to run OptQuest when a cell in Excel is being edited, OptQuest doesn't perform as expected. Be sure to either press Enter to accept your edits or leave the active cell without changing it before you attempt to run a simulation with OptQuest.

Crystal Ball Developer Kit Issues

Crystal Ball Developer Kit User Manual is now available online
Always use CB.CheckData before a CB.Get... call
CB.ExtractDataND can now extract multiple data types
Issues with CB.DefineAltParms and CB.GetAssum

Several new calls have been added to the Crystal Ball Developer Kit for this version of Crystal Ball. For a list, see Appendix B of the current Crystal Ball Developer Kit User Manual. Then, see Chapter 2 for a description of each new call.

Crystal Ball Developer Kit User Manual is now available online

If you have purchased the Crystal Ball Professional Edition or Premium Edition, you can download the Crystal Ball Developer Kit User Manual directly from our Web site. To do this, start Crystal Ball. Then, choose Help > Crystal Ball > Crystal Ball Developer Kit. A page with a Download link appears in your browser. If you don't have a Crystal Ball Professional or Premium license, an error message appears instead.

Always use CB.CheckData before a CB.Get... call

To ensure that data is properly synchronized, always call CB.CheckData immediately after you insert, delete, move, or otherwise edit cells in a model, particularly before you use one of the CB.Get... functions.

   CB.ExtractDataND cbExtDataType, cbDatStatistics, True
   CB.ExtractDataND cbExtDataType, cbDatValues, True
   CB.ExtractDataND cbExtOK

Issues with CB.DefineAltParms and CB.GetAssum

There are problems in defining and updating assumptions with lognormal distributions with alternate parameter sets created by the CB.DefineAltParms call. For example, if you are defining a lognormal distribution assumption with the log mean and log standard deviation, the low cutoff value or high cutoff value is being assigned to the mean and standard deviation.Workarounds are to avoid cell references; pass in the actual values for the parameters rather than cell references. Also, consider using the DefineAssumND call to define means and standard deviations.

Fixed in Crystal Ball 7.3 and 7.3.1