Crystal Ball Software

Crystal Ball is a risk-analysis software for MS Excel that runs Monte Carlo method simulations and allows to build probabilistic and stochastic models out of static deterministic spreadsheets. Therefore this helps define risk and uncertainty for decision-makers.

Crystal Ball 7 is the latest EDition of the product. It allows a user to perform Monte Carlo simulations in Excel spreadsheets. Crystal Ball automatically calculates thousands of different "what if" cases, saving the inputs and results of each calculation as individual scenarios. Analysis of these scenarios reveals the range of possible outcomes, their probability of occurring, which input has the most effect on your model and where you should focus your efforts.

Crystal Ball has been used increasingly more over the past decade by financial analysts who wish to construct "stochastic" or probabilistic financial models as opposed to the traditional static and deterministic models that have been used in traditional corporate finance because Monte Carlo methods in finance have become very popular and the approach is growing rapidly as a key application for mitigating uncertainty in financial models used on Wall Street and by corporate executives, specifically by CFO and CEO for decision-making.

The company has been around since 1986 but was acquired by Oracle in 2006. It was formerly Decisioneering, Inc.