An allocation is used to assign specific pieces of collateral to specific Fixtures in specific stores. This process drives the print list and the kit list. The print list tells creative agencies and vendors what needs to be done and when. The kit list is used by fulfillment houses to pack and ship items to reps and stores.

Your allocation can be as specific as targeting a store in Vancouver, British Columbia on Robson Street or it can target all stores within each channel across the nation.

Allocation contains three key dates:

• Disclose Date (date stores are notified of upcoming program)
• Launch Date (date program starts)
• End Date (date program ends)

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Create an Allocation using Formula

• Click on the Allocations tab when you are in the program that you want to create an allocation for
• Click on the New Allocation button located at the top left corner of the page beneath the company logo
• Enter the name of the allocation in the Allocation Title field. Examples of allocation titles are: Big 4, Small 6, Mass Allocation, Best Buy, Wal-Mart Connection Centre’s, National Deployment etc.
• Select the job from the Print Job drop down menu. If the job is unknown, you can leave this blank and return later to enter this information
• If you know specific fixtures or zones you’re going to allocate or compose to you can select them in the filter section. By default, system target’s all fixtures and all zones.
• Do not enter information under Allocation List. This method of allocating does not use the Allocation List field. Please see ‘How do I create an Allocation using the Allocation List’ to allocate with this method
• Select the Disclose, Launch and End date for this allocation. These dates are important as they drive when the merchandising direction of stores is released to store managers, when an allocation is active and when an allocation ends. These dates also affect the hierarchy of the allocations. An allocation with a later launch date will sit higher up on the allocation list. An allocation with an earlier launch date will sit lower on the allocation list
• Select the province(s) that are controlled by this allocation and select the channel(s) and label(s) if applicable, from the drop down menus
• Use the Green + sign or the Red – sign to add or subtract different variables. For example, you can do an allocation for just Corporate stores, just Retail stores, all Dealer stores in Ontario, only Best Buys in Ontario or Future Shops in BC and AB.
• If you had labeled collateral pieces as Extra Merchandise in this program, you will see the items listed under the Extra Merchandise section. Enter the quantity that each store should receive of each extra merchandise item (stores are selected per province and per channel/per label above)
• Click on Save at the bottom of the page to capture settings

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Create an Allocation using the Allocation List

• Click on the Allocations tab when you are in the program that you want to create an allocation for
• Click on the New Allocation button located at the top left corner of the page below the company logo
• Enter the name of the allocation in the Allocation Title field. Examples of allocation titles are: Big 4, Small 6, Mass Allocation, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, National Deployment etc
• Select the job from the Print Job drop down menu. If the job is unknown, you can leave this blank and return later to enter this information
• If you know specific fixtures or zones you’re going to allocate or compose to you can select them in the filter section. By default, system target’s all fixtures and all zones.
• Select the Disclose, Launch and End date for this allocation. These dates are important as they drive when the merchandising direction of stores is released to store managers, when an allocation is active and when an allocation ends. These dates also affect the hierarchy of the allocations. An allocation with a later launch date will sit higher up on the allocation list. An allocation with an earlier launch date will sit lower on the allocation list
• In the Allocation List field, enter in specific RMS IDs or Internal Store Numbers of the stores you wish to allocate to. If there is more than one store, separate them by commas (recommended) or space/tab. The allocation list can be as long as you want or as short as you want. This method of allocating does not use any of the fields in the Allocation Formula Section. Please see Create an Allocation using Formula to allocate with this method
• If you had labeled collateral pieces as Extra Merchandise in this program, you will see the items listed under the heading Extra Merchandise. Enter in the quantity that each store (stores are selected per province and per channel/per label above) should receive of each extra merchandise item
• Click on Save at the bottom of the page to capture settings

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Composing the Allocation

This is Part 2 of creating an allocation.

• Click on the Compose link for the allocation you have just created. It is located on the right side of the table.
• Here you will see a list of all the fixtures that are available in all the stores you have selected. The language of the fixtures is based on the region of the store. All stores in Quebec have French fixtures and the stores in the remaining provinces have English fixtures. If Quebec is not included in your allocation, then there will be no French fixtures for you to populate
• On the top of the page you will see filter to find specific fixture, option to use collateral connections, and fitter for fixtures categories. Small lock icon allows you to toggle to see only fixtures that have something already composed to them and all fixtures.
• Click on a blue hotspot space on any fixture to bring up a list of available collateral for that spot. The collateral is based on size; as a result a Trumpet Poster will not appear if the spot size is 8.5x11.
• Click on desired element on the right side to place it in the spot.
• To rotate spot (with or without collateral in it) click on a spot then on the the top right side drag slider left or right to rotate spot. You can fine tune rotation angle using keyboard arrows.
• To empty a fixture of collateral, click on the collateral in the fixture you want to remove, then on the right side click on Remove [Collateral Title – Language] button on top of the highlighted collateral element. This option is available only when clicked on composed collateral.
• To compose to different fixture layout please choose desired layout from dropdown box on top right side of fixture view section. This will switch view of fixture to different layout you can compose to.
• Continue to populate all the fixtures that require collateral.
• To use connections (collateral peers) please change dropdown option (top left) from No connection to either Match Zone of Match Fixture.
• Match zone – will allocate to different fixture that resides in same zone (and is connected)
• Match fixture – will allocated to same fixture that resides in different zone (and is connected)
• The compose section of an allocation auto-saves any changes you make. Click on the Back arrow button at the top left corner to return to the allocations page.

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Allocated Stores

Count column in allocations list show you how many stores this allocation is affecting. Clicking on number will open a new window with list of affected stores. To export this list to Excel click on Export button on top right.

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Lock an allocation

A locked allocation will have a black lock icon next to it. The icon will appear to the left of the allocation title

• Locking an allocation will prevent the quote and print quantities from changing. This allows for proper quote submissions from vendors and provides static print quantities for printers
• Allocations are locked through the job that they are assigned to. This means that by locking a Print Job, all allocations assigned to the same job will also be locked
• To access the job list, click on the Programs tab then the Print Management tab
• Find the job that you wish to lock under Print Management and click on the name link to be able to edit its properties
• Place a checkmark next to ‘Lock’ to select it
• Click on Save at the bottom of the page to capture the changes
• When you return to your program allocation page, the black lock icon will be visible to all allocations assigned to the same job you have just locked

Unlock an allocation

• To unlock an allocation, click on the Programs tab then the Print Management tab
• Find the job that your allocation is assigned to and click on its name link to be able to edit its properties
• Uncheck ‘Lock’ to deselect it
• Click on Save at the bottom of the page to capture the changes
• When you return to your program allocation page, the black lock icon will no longer be visible to all allocations assigned to the same job you have just unlocked

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Job does not appear in my allocations job drop down menu

• If you want to assign an allocation to a job but the job does not appear in the allocations job drop down menu, the job may be archived. To un-archive a job, click on the Programs tab then the Print Management tab
• Find the job that your allocation is assigned to and click on its name link to be able to edit its properties
• Uncheck ‘Archive’ to deselect it
• Click on Save at the bottom of the page to capture the changes
• When you return to your program allocation page, you will now be able to select this job from the allocations job drop down menu

Allocation Hierarchy

• There are three ways to control allocation hierarchy.
• Launch Date
• End Date
• The position of the allocation within the table (controlled by the up and down Arrows located to the left of the title.)
• All allocations with the same start date are grouped together. A hierarchy with the earliest launch date will default to the bottom of the list. Allocations with later launch date(s) will appear together (if similar) and will be positioned above earlier launch dates
• Allocations with the same launch date but different end dates will be positioned on the list according to first, the launch date and secondly, to the end date
• You are only able to control the allocation list via the up and down arrows for allocations that fall within the same group. i.e. allocations with the same launch and end dates

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Copying Allocations

Allocations can be copied from one program to another. You have option to copy only formula (Clone Attributes) or to copy formula and composition (Clone Content). To copy allocations to specific program follow these steps.

• Click on the program you want to copy an allocation to
• Click on the Allocation tab
• Click on Mark as Target on the top right (button will change color to Orange).
• Navigate to program allocations you want to copy from, to this target
• Place checkmark in front of allocation(s) you want to copy to target program
• Click on Clone Attributes to clone allocation formula to target program or Clone Content to clone composition. You will be prompted to confirm if you wish to copy selected allocations to “Program Name”
• Click OK

You will be taken to target program allocations. Newly copied allocations will be highlighted Yellow and will have CLONE: [allocation name] in front of the name. Allocation will be positioned according to date rules. Name of user that created / cloned allocation is in the last column. Hovering mouse over name will display date when allocation was copied / created.

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Re-saving Allocations (Updating)

If you have added new stores to the system, these new stores might not be included in the original allocation, even if they should be as per allocation formula. You need to re-save allocations so system can recalculate stores included

• Go to the program allocation for which you want to re-save allocation(s) (select program and click on Allocation tab)
• Click on check mark in front of allocation(s) you want to re-save
• Click on Resave Selection button on top left
• You will be asked to confirm action

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Review Allocations

While creating allocations you can Review how store(s) will look at any specific date in the future without time shifting and posing as different stores.

• Go to Accounts and click on Shift on the top right corner of the page (near the sign-in button)
• Select future date you would like to see how store will look
• Click Set to set date
• Navigate to program allocations you are working on and click Review button on top right
• New window will open where you will see options to choose regions and channels you want to review
• System will list random locations
• Click on location name to see their fixtures at previously selected date

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Launch Allocations Manually (immediately)

To launch allocation immediately and make fixtures flash at the store level and request compliance please follow this steps:

• Go to desired Program then Allocation page.
• Make sure you have one or more allocations that are launching today
• Click the checkboxes for each allocation you want to launch
• The Launch button appears on top left side
• Click Launch button to continue
• On the next confirmation screen you can see all allocations that can be launched
• Select time to launch allocations
• Make sure to select allocations that you want to launch
• Click Launch Selected

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Allocations Trace

Since allocations can be very complex, it is sometimes hard to trace where an element is coming from and showing for the store. We have added an option allowing admin users to trace each collateral element at a specific store to the specific allocation it comes from. To see what allocation an element is coming from:

• Click on the Fixture icon on the store’s floor plan.
• In the table list with collateral elements, click on Allocation Name (last column) for the element you want to trace.
• This will take you to Program > Allocations, and allocations for that element will be highlighted in yellow.

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Assigning or Changing a Job or Key dates to multiple allocations

This feature allows the user to select multiple allocations and from the Jobs dropdown choose what job to associate with them.

• In the allocations page, place checkmark in front of the allocations that you want to assign or change a job to.
• From “Change Print Job Here” dropdown, choose the job you want to assign to selected allocations
• Choose new key dates or leave them blank for no change.
• Click Set

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