Preferences

The Preferences Window permits you to adjust the settings for your application.  Preferences save with the case.  Additional settings can be found in the Options Menu.

To access, click the Preferences Button from the ribbon.  The Preferences Window appears.  Choose one of the panes by selecting the appropriate option in the tree to the left.

General Pane

• Checking the Warn Before Attempting to Save as Excel Documents Box causes a confirmation dialog to appear whenever you attempt to save the case in Excel format rather than New Frontier format.  Since the Excel format does not save everything, the warning appears as the default.

• Checking the Warn Before Attempting to Clear All Data Box causes the Optimizer to double check when you hit the Clear Button. The warning appears as the default.

• Speak when optimizations are complete causes the Optimizer to announce the completion of optimizations.  You can test this feature by clicking the Test Speech button.

• Cases to Load on Startup: Set the case to load when each module of the Asset Allocation System opens.

Bloomberg Pane

Once Bloomberg account information is entered here, the Optimizer can drift portfolios according to Bloomberg returns. This requires a file with Bloomberg global ids entered as the ticker, a valid Bloomberg account, and an internet connection.  

Misc. Data Sources Pane (FMP)

The Optimizer can drift portfolios according to FMP returns once the FMP API key has been entered here. Remember to set the ticker source to FMP for each ticker in the Inputs sheet. (If the Ticker Source column is hidden, please expand Asset Info Columns in the ribbon and check Ticker Source).

Optimization Panes

• Optimize Subpane

• • Checking the Automatically Run Post-Optimize During Optimization Option saves you a few mouse clicks. It is the equivalent of clicking the Post-Optimize Button as soon as the optimization progress meter (and possibly the rebalance progress meter) disappears. (This choice also appears on the Post-Optimize Subpane.)

  • The Number of Simulation Points displayed allows you to dictate the number of points that appear on the Efficient Frontier graph. As the simulation points only appear in complete frontiers, a lower number of simulation points can result in just a few frontiers of dots on your graph. For example, with the standard 51 portfolio frontier, selecting 100 simulations results in just one frontier of simulations along the graph. So, users that display simulations regularly, should probably avoid decreasing the number of simulation points from the default 10,000.

• Post-Optimize Subpane

• • Checking the Automatically Run Post-Optimize During Optimization Option removes the necessity of post-optimizing separately from optimization. It is the equivalent of clicking the Post-Optimize Button as soon as the optimization progress meter disappears. (This choice also appears on the Optimize Subpane.)  The default option is for post-optimize to only run when you click the Post-Optimize Button.

  • The Seconds Allowed for Post-Optimization slider determines the running time of post-optimization. The default run time depends on the problem size, but it is almost always greater than 120 seconds.  Use this to force a simpler or more thorough post-optimization. Keep in mind that this option only controls the time spent on post-optimization, not the time spent pushing results into the fields, so the actual time spent between pressing the button and viewing the results will be longer than the time selected.

Computation Pane

The Computation panes manage multi-core processing. Choose the appropriate option in the Run Computations On drop down menu. Clicking the Advanced Button brings you to the corresponding sub-pane for specifics.

• Local, the default option, offers choices for running the Asset Allocation System on your local machine.  

• • The Choose the Best Settings for My Computer setting searches for the multiple processors and enables dual processing if possible. This is the default option.

  • Choose the Advanced Options to restrict the number of processors used. Advanced Options also permits you to change the location of the temporary file generated during multicore processing, though this is not recommended.  

  • Select the number of cores in the Number of Computational Processes to Run Simultaneously field.

  • The File Location field should not be changed unless you are very sure you know what you are doing. It tells the Asset Allocation System where to store temporary files.

  • If you make a change and want to return to the defaults, click the Reset Button.  

Contact New Frontier at support@newfrontieradvisors.com for details as required.

Debug Pane

The Debug Pane permits the user to enable debugging. Debugging should only be enabled when a specific problem has been identified, as it creates logs for each action that save to the specified folders.

Reset Pane

The Reset Pane provides the option to return the preferences to the defaults selected by New Frontier. Invoking this option will carry over to your preferences in all modules of the Asset Allocation System.

The Info Worksheet offers a convenient review of your currently selected preferences and options.