This is our first blog for a while, but the start of 2025 brings important new features to Rainbow! In fact one of these is so important that we’ll devote a whole blog to it later, and just mention it briefly here. This is the new high-speed Logic Map function. It runs about 100 (yes, one hundred) times faster than the old version, and it opens up new ways of using this function which we’ll cover next time.
The other significant new feature is in the Sample Data function. We recognise this is a specialist function that not everyone uses, but it now has a new sampling method – Monetary Unit Sampling (MUS), as requested by one of our users. MUS is a well-established sampling method that has the advantage of focusing on high-value items in order to provide maximum assurance for a given sample size.
As you can see from the composite screenshot above, the new MUS feature is very easy to use. Simply tick (check) the Monetary Unit Sampling (MUS) box, and enter the column that holds the monetary values under MUS Column letter, then confirm the required sample size and you’re ready to go!
Rainbow will generate the sample very quickly, and you’ll see that it gives you a summary table at the top with all the information you need to understand the MUS sample. So it shows the total value in column D (actually column E in the report, due to an extra first column), which is £145,414,482. The 41 samples selected cover 61.22% of this total value. The sampling interval (total value divided by sample size) is £3,546,694.68. And the randomly selected monetary unit within the sampling interval is £1,549,965.11.
And in this case we have used Rainbow’s sample size calculator to determine the sample size, so on row 8 there is a summary (here partly hidden behind the Sample Data dialogue box) of the parameters that we’ve used for the sample size calculation. In short, Rainbow does the hard work for you, but it also gives you all the information you need to verify its calculations.
As usual the latest release of Rainbow includes a number of other minor improvements, and you’ll see we’ve also slightly changed the menu layout to give more prominence to the Logic Map function – but the same original Rainbow functions are all still there, and you can simply select the Menu Guide (at top left) to see them all laid out on your screen.
The last (but important) point to mention is that we have updated Rainbow’s “code signing certificate”, as the previous certificate was due to expire in March 2025. The new certificate is valid till December 2027, and it should enable your organisation’s information security processes to continue to authorise Rainbow for the next three years and more.