---
title: Still Using Excel for Optimization Modeling? Stop.
description: This video shows how code-free optimization modeling software can model better than Excel's Premium Solver in half the time!
---

[River Logic Blog | Prescriptive Analytics Blog](https://download.riverlogic.com/blog)

# [Still Using Excel for Optimization Modeling? Stop.](https://download.riverlogic.com/blog/excel-for-business-optimization-modeling)

 Written by [Nathan Goldstein](https://download.riverlogic.com/blog/author/nathan-goldstein) | Aug 13, 2015

Recently, I found myself in exactly this situation. As you might imagine, the golf was not entirely occupying my attention, and I found myself catching up on new social media content. In particular, I was drawn to a thread on my B-school group page discussing the woes of building optimization models in Excel.

Someone suggested my old classmate review a series of videos in which the author walks through the process of building an optimization model using Excel’s Premium Solver. Given my background in [prescriptive analytics](https://download.riverlogic.com/technology/prescriptive-analytics), I could not resist watching a few myself.

Before I knew it, the golf tournament was over, 60Minutes had less than a half hour left, and I was more convinced than ever that **not only is [Enterprise Optimizer](https://download.riverlogic.com/technology/enterprise-optimizer)® more dynamic than Excel** **and other programming-based systems, it’s easier to use.**

### The Downfall of Excel's Premium Solver

Each video I watched was focused on solving a simple set of decision variables within a single functional silo. One model solved for product mix. Another solved for shipment volume between plants and warehouses, another solved for production volume within a plant, and yet another solved for optimal procurement mix.  

**None of the models were integrated despite the fact that these critical planning decisions are most certainly inter-related** in the real-world. Worse yet, each video stepped through an incredibly arduous equation-building process and resulted in a one-trick pony that very few business decision makers would be able or have the time to comprehend.  

Most poignant was the fact that **all of these examples took at least twelve minutes to build.** I couldn’t help but consider: 

### Business Optimization Modeling Example

 

### Enterprise Optimizer Does More than Excel ... in Half the Time

In the above video, I model a theoretical chemical company in River Logic’s code-free [optimization modeling](https://download.riverlogic.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-optimization-modeling-part-1) platform, [Enterprise Optimizer](https://download.riverlogic.com/technology/enterprise-optimizer)<https://download.riverlogic.com/technology/enterprise-optimizer>®.

The model **simultaneously optimizes a series of inter-related planning decisions:** 

Not only does the model solve for each set of decision variables simultaneously, the planned level of combinations are **dynamically translated into a full set of audit-quality financials for the firm**, and a proprietary solution output metric used to quantify the marginal economic value of binding constraints in true business terms. 

Could it get any better, you ask? It does! I was able to use [Enterprise Optimizer](https://download.riverlogic.com/technology/enterprise-optimizer)<https://download.riverlogic.com/technology/enterprise-optimizer>® drag-and-drop visual modeling language to build, populate, and **solve the entire model in five minutes without writing a single equation!**

And for even *more* information on the benefits of EO, you can download our Optimization product comparison below.

 

[View full post](https://download.riverlogic.com/blog/excel-for-business-optimization-modeling)

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