M&S D31

Management and Strategy

Professor David Besanko

Sections 65 & 67

Downloading TreePlan Decision Tree Software

Table of Contents

1) Overview: about TreePlan 1.61 decision tree software

2) How to download TreePlan to your personal computer.

3) How to use TreePlan once you have downloaded it.

4) How to obtain documentation on TreePlan.

5) Where to get sample decision trees constructed with TreePlan.

1. Overview

TreePlan is an Add-In for Microsoft Excel 4.0, 5.0, 7.0 and Excel 97that was written by Michael Middleton to accompany a textbook on decision analysis (Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis, by Cliff Ragsdale, Course Technology, Inc., International Thomson Publishing Company).

TreePlan is required for some sections of M&S D31 and for some courses in Decision Sciences. It may be a useful tool for many other Kellogg courses as well. We have arranged for Kellogg students, faculty, and staff to have a general license to use the academic version of TreePlan in D31 and other courses. The license also permits the software to be installed on Kellogg Lab computers, but do not count on it being installed on every machine. Please be patient, especially in the McManus Lab and Wieboldt. If you plan to use lab computers it is probably a good idea to download the software and bring it with you on a diskette when you come to the lab, just to be sure.

If you are interested in using this product, but do not qualify for its use under Kellogg's license, you may download a shareware version from Decision Sciences Services web page.

Treeplan 1.61 replaces versions 1.56, 1.55, and 1.54 that were distributed from this page in the past. The revised version has corrected a printing problem encountered in Excel and corrects a computation problem that occured only in Excel 7.0. If you have an earlier version and you are using Excel 7.0, you must download the new version to be sure that your computations are accurate.

2. How to Download TreePlan to Your Personal Computer

How to Download to an IBM-compatible PC:

Click here to Download TreePlan 1.61 for an IBM-compatible PC (treeplan.xla).

When you click here, a window will pop up with various buttons at the bottom of it. All you need to do at this point to download treeplan.xla is to click the button that says 'Save File.'  BE PATIENT! Wait for the file to be completely downloaded before continuing in Netscape! '

How to Download to a MAC:

Click here to Download Mac-encoded version of Treeplan Microsoft Excel Add-In (treeplan-add-in encoded as treeplan.hqx).

This download will work if your version of Netscape is configured for application/mac-binhex40 files and you have an appropriate helper application available. (e.g., BinHex 4.0 or Stuffit Expander). Netscape will save the file to your disk and launch the helper application to 'decode it.' If Netscape says that it is not configured for application/mac-binhex40 files, then use the alternative option below.

Notes on Loading Treeplan to a MAC:

Open the window containing your treeplan software, and look at the icon (select view by icon if necessary). The icon should look like an Excel file, but with an electric plug. If so, just double click on the file and you are done.

If the file is not an Excel type file (e.g., if you downloaded the IBM compatible version) then you should 1) launch Excel; 2) select open from the file menu; 3) *** select "ALL FILES" in the "List Files of Type:" menu ***, 4) find TreePlan and click double click on it.

Remember Excel files are also fully transportable between Macs and IBM-compatible PCs. The only difference is that IBM compatible files do not have a file type the way MAC files do.

3. How to Use TreePlan Once You Have Downloaded It.

Loading TreePlan into Excel

To load TreePlan into Excel, you should follow these steps.

1) Start Excel

2) Go to the Tools menu of Excel

3) If TreePlan appears on the tools menu your are done: Select TreePlan

Otherwise:

4) Select "Add-ins" from the "tool"s menu

5) Choose "Browse"

6) Find the file treeplan.xla

If you are in the Kellogg lab ...

                        this file should be in the h: drive.

If you downloaded a copy of TreePlan from this web page ...

                       this file will be in the directory of your computer where you saved it.

If you have TreePlan on a diskette ...

                  you can also load it from there

7) Double click treeplan.xla, or select treeplan.xla and choose "okay"

8) If Excel asks you

"Do you want to copy the add in to the Excel library?"

                Answer "Yes" if you are on your own computer.

               Answer "No" if you are on a lab computer. (If you answer "Yes" on a lab computer, you will almost certainly get an error that says that the library is write protected.)

9) Exit the Add-Ins window by choosing "okay".

10) TreePlan is now loaded on the "Tools" Menu!

11) Keep in mind that TreePlan may have to be reloaded each time you use Excel in the labs

Using TreePlan

1) Select TreePlan from the Tools Menu

2) Click on HELP for complete documentation.

3) Click on NEW TREE to start a new tree

4) Most TreePlan commands and options are accessed by clicking on a node in your decision tree (the one you want to change) and selecting TreePlan from the Tools Menu

4. How to Get Documentation for 'TreePlan' Decision Tree Software for Excel

Please note: Files marked with are Portable Document Files that you will need Adobe Acrobat to view.

Besanko and Dana, "Note on Decision Trees" (dtreenot.doc)

This is a short note on decision trees written by Jim Dana and me which includes some explanation of how to use TreePlan. It is in Microsoft Word 97 format.

 Workbook to Accompany TreePlan (treeinfo.xls)

This is a work book from Decision Support Services which contains a tutorial, some helpful hints, and some examples of sensitivity analysis.

Michael Middleton, Documentation for TreePlan (treedoc.pdf)

This documentation is also available on-line in Excel. However, you can't print the help menu within Excel, so if you want a hard copy here it is.

5. Sample Spreadsheets Using TreePlan

The following are Excel 5 spreadsheets which show decision trees built using TreePlan

Petro Industries Decision Tree Excel 5 spreadsheet (petro.xls)

DriveTek Decision Tree Excel 5 spreadsheet (drivetek.xls)

Note that in the first example the cash flows are entered along the branches, and TreePlan computes the terminal values from them, while in the second, the terminal values are entered directly and the 'partial cash flows' or 'branch case flows' are omitted.