© 2016 Fair Isaac Corporation. All rights reserved. 1

FACT SHEET

A revolutionary approach to complex spreadsheets

Since the advent of VisiCalc nearly 40 years ago, organizations have increasingly relied on spreadsheets for analysis, reporting and other uses. As the need for decision speed and precision have escalated, however, business and analytic personnel alike have discovered that the lack of version control, large data sets and cumbersome analytic tool integration now limit the usefulness of their spreadsheets. Many are looking for a way to “escape from the cell” — but how?

Spreadsheet-based solution Optimization Modeler solution

Tough to compare multiple, side-by-side tables or results

Easily compare 10 or more spreadsheets at a time

Hard to track changes and updates for historical perspective

Explore and navigate any number of historical points

Reports with large data sets are slow to build and lack interactivity

Drill down and visualize reports with millions of data points

Programming needed to bring in historical and/or large data

Simply upload the pertinent information into software

Calculations (especially on a large scale) are slow

Distributed computing parallelizes and speeds computations

Cumbersome version tracking, with e-mail as a culprit

Automatically maintain, preserve and audit versions as needed

Hard to embed external analytic models, e.g., MATLAB, SAS, R, etc.

Easily embed and manage third-party analytic models

FICO® Optimization Modeler empowers analysts and researchers to evolve past “crunching numbers” to deliver fast and precise solutions to highly complex problems.

Supercharge your spreadsheetsComplex problems can create complex spreadsheets, which can slow you and your business down. Imagine if you had a way to take control.

You can, with FICO® Optimization Modeler. Optimization Modeler is an easy-to-use, browser-based advanced analytic platform that can help you break through the barriers of spreadsheets using powerful and fast optimization tools. Quickly turn myriad business scenarios into compelling solutions, while easily importing between other analytic tools and spreadsheets. Analyze millions of data points across myriad historical periods, and compare multiple scenarios easily — without being inundated by multiple spreadsheets. Rich visualization, reporting and collaboration give you more power and visibility into better solutions.

FACT SHEETEscape from the Cell: A Revolutionary Approach to Complex Spreadsheets

© 2016 Fair Isaac Corporation. All rights reserved. 2

Clearly, businesses will never completely abandon their spreadsheets. Nor should they. In spite of their growing use in business, spreadsheets will always impose certain limitations on very complex problems. And let’s be clear — gone are the days that a spreadsheet guru sits in an office or cubicle, surrounded by empty soda cans, solving whatever scheduling, resource allocation, marketing or other challenges are thrown his or her way. As problem-solving gets more complex and collaborative, with myriad constraints, data sources and even analytic models factored in, even black-belt spreadsheet users are looking for better, faster and even friendlier options.

FICO has a solution to support businesses that need to evolve beyond what spreadsheets alone can achieve. FICO® Optimization Modeler is an advanced analytic platform that helps business experts solve their most challenging, mission-critical problems with powerful, fast and easy-to-use optimization tools. Its rich simulation, visualization and reporting capabilities immediately help transform business scenarios into compelling solutions, while allowing for easy import and export between third-party analytic modeling tools and even your complex spreadsheets. Collaboration is a snap, with automated workflow and version control. Analyze millions of data points across multiple historical periods, and compare a dozen or more scenarios simultaneously to apply human judgment to problems that aren’t easily quantifiable.

How FICO customers made the breakTo illustrate how FICO’s solution has helped businesses across multiple industries evolve beyond their spreadsheets, here are a few real- life stories.

A bank needed to use a scoring model to predict loan default risk under varying economic scenarios. A five-gigabyte workbook with 10 interconnected sheets and thousands of complex calculations was awkward and error-prone to compare risk exposure across alternative economic scenarios. They were severely limited in their ability to email the file around the organization and maintain even the most minimal degree of input or calculation integrity. FICO worked

with them to convert this complex model (with discovered cell formula errors) into a compact, easily-maintained form, complete with multiple scenario capability and visualizations — all within a week.

A transportation company faced a monthly challenge to allocate resources within a large service center. They needed to ensure that workload was well balanced across work stations in order to maintain service levels, accounting for factors such as weather, schedule changes, etc. Their nine-megabyte spreadsheet kept growing as a result of all the data, complex combinations and restrictions. FICO worked with the company to redesign the process, generating a solution with creative visualizations in only two weeks. Users

Optimization Modeler offers robust performance, visualization, workflow and analytic integration — powered by an easy-to-learn interface and feature set.

FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the United States and in other countries. Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. © 2016 Fair Isaac Corporation. All rights reserved.

4204FS_EN 03/16 PDF

NORTH AMERICA +1 888 342 6336 info@fico.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION www.fico.com www.fico.com/blogs

LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN +55 11 5189 8267 LAC_info@fico.com

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA +44 (0) 207 940 8718 emeainfo@fico.com

ASIA PACIFIC +65 6422 7700 infoasia@fico.com

FACT SHEETEscape from the Cell: A Revolutionary Approach to Complex Spreadsheets

could now change parameters and run new scenarios to compare multiple solutions before selecting one.

A manufacturer needed to assign 20 resources to specific equipment in order to complete a regularly changing list of 100+ daily tasks. A complex VBA program had been developed to make these work assignment choices, with multiple timing and sequencing constraints. The program had to account for trillions of combinations and rules, leading to very slow performance. FICO’s technology solved this highly complex combinatorial assignment problem with better visualization, and the ability to run multiple scenarios, in less than a week.

Reimagine solving your toughest problems — nowThere’s no reason to wait to unleash Optimization Modeler on your most challenging spreadsheet or workbook. The solution’s easy-to-learn, browser-based user interface will have you up and running in minutes. Its industry-leading visualization and reporting capabilities help users quickly and easily compare results, show progress and review historical or other data. The analytic tool import/export ability helps maximize collaboration, as models created by research teams can easily be consumed by the solution and immediately be used by business analysts. And, of course, you can export what you create in Optimization Modeler to your spreadsheet, as working between both tools is seamless and fast — thus you can retain your business logic in its native spreadsheet format.

For more information on

FICO® Optimization Modeler

and FICO® Optimization

Solutions, please visit:

www.fico.com/optimization