It is hard to know in advance how many levels of precedent substitution to specify when initiating a reconstruction, particularly with a spreadsheet that is unfamiliar.
•If a calculation is built up over several cells representing separate steps, then a reconstruction of no or few levels of precedents will only disclose a portion of how the calculation works.
•A reconstruction of many levels of precedents can produce a reconstruction too convoluted to offer any useful insight into a calculation.
Typically there is a sweet spot where there is some precedent substitution which improves the utility of a reconstruction, but not so much as to make it overcomplicated.
One way forward this is to ask OAK to generate reconstructions at, successively, level 0, level 1, level 2 and so on, stopping when the right level is found.
OAK can generate these multiple reconstructions automatically by ticking the box next to "Show all levels".
With this option switched on: |
With it switched off: |
The different levels are presented as separate worksheets in a workbook newly generated to hold the reconstructions. |
A new workbook will be generated, containing a reconstruction of the specified level only. |
The worksheets are named Level 0, Level 1 etc. |
There is just one worksheet named Level x, where x is the specified level |
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It is quick and easy to flip between the worksheets, using the Pg-Up and Pg-Dn keys, to hunt for the one that is most insightful. |
The main reason not to show all levels of reconstruction is that it is slightly faster just to generate one level of reconstruction than to generate several of them. |
