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Allocator In-Season Views Overview

An overview of the out-of-the-box views designed to support an allocator's day-in-the-life — from daily exception management to weekly business reviews.

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This article covers the out-of-the-box (OOTB) views designed specifically for allocators managing inventory in season. Each view is built around a key question allocators face weekly — where should the next unit go, what's at risk, and where does the business stand today.

Together, these views support a structured day-in-the-life workflow: start with exceptions, act on risks, and review the broader business with the context needed to make confident decisions.

View

Module

Dataset

Primary Use Case

Cadence

Toolio - In Stock %

Allocation Plan

Toolio - In Stock % (L4W+TW)

Monitor SKU-level in-stock rates and identify source inventory gaps

Weekly

Toolio - Potential Lost Sales

Allocation Plan

Toolio - Lost Sales (TW + N13W)

Identify top sellers at risk of stocking out before the next PO arrives

Weekly

Toolio - Allocation Strategies On Hold

Allocation Strategies

Monitor strategies with a 100% holdback so they are not forgotten

Weekly / As needed

Toolio - Business Overview

Allocation Plan

Toolio - (L4W + N4W)

Get a single view of business performance and upcoming plans across channels and locations

Weekly

Toolio - Retrend

Allocation Strategies

Review and act on in-season forecast adjustments driven by Retrend

As needed

Toolio - Upcoming Launches

Allocation Plan

Ensure new product hits the right stores on time by aligning supply timing with allocation strategy

Weekly

Toolio - End of Season / Out-of-Assortment Sendbacks

Allocation Plan

Automatically identify items with inventory but no forward plan that are candidates for sendback

Seasonally / As needed


Toolio - In Stock %

Module: Allocation Plan | Dataset: Toolio - In Stock % (L4W+TW) | Cadence: Weekly

What It Does

This view monitors SKU-level in-stock rates in real time, with clear indicators that surface where locations are not being stocked as planned. It answers a key weekly question: Which planned SKUs are not in stock?

When to Use It

  • At the start of a weekly review to identify in-stock exceptions before taking action in Allocation Plan

  • To spot SKUs that are planned and have demand but lack available source inventory

  • To quickly assess whether in-stock issues are isolated or systemic across a category or location cluster

Key Metrics

This view relies on three supporting metrics that work together to calculate In Stock %:

  • In Stock: Returns 1 if BOP units (actual) are greater than 0; otherwise 0

  • Is Planned: Returns 1 if the SKU has either a minimum presentation profile or planned gross sales units greater than 0

  • Is Planned & In Stock: Returns 1 only when a SKU is both planned and in stock

  • In Stock %: Is Planned & In Stock ÷ Is Planned — the share of planned SKUs that are currently in stock

The view uses conditional formatting to highlight locations or SKUs falling below acceptable in-stock thresholds, making it easy to triage where action is needed.

For a full walkthrough, see the Toolio - In Stock % View article.


Toolio - Potential Lost Sales

Module: Allocation Plan | Dataset: Toolio - Lost Sales (TW + N13W) | Cadence: Weekly

What It Does

This view identifies top-selling items at risk of stocking out before the next PO arrives. It surfaces sell-out risk before it becomes a missed sale, so allocators can act proactively — whether that means rebalancing inventory from slow-moving stores to high-velocity locations or flagging an urgent replenishment need.

When to Use It

  • Weekly to review items with projected Potential Lost Sales units greater than 0

  • To identify best sellers where current inventory may not meet forecasted demand

  • To prioritize rebalancing decisions — pulling inventory from stores with excess and pushing it to high-velocity locations

  • To flag revenue risk on key items ahead of the next PO arrival

Key Metrics

  • Potential Lost Sales Units: The demand that is projected to exceed available inventory over the review horizon (TW + N13W)

  • Forward Weeks of Supply: How many weeks of inventory remain based on planned sales units for TW and the next 13 weeks. The metric is capped at 14 weeks — items at or above 14 weeks of supply may have additional coverage beyond what is shown. Items below 4 weeks are highlighted. The view is sorted from largest planned items to smallest, making it easy to prioritize action on the highest-volume styles first.

  • In Transit to Ship: Units already en route to the location, helping assess whether incoming inventory will resolve the risk in time

Conditional formatting highlights items with Potential Lost Sales greater than 0, making the prioritization list immediately visible.


Toolio - Allocation Strategies On Hold

Module: Allocation Strategies | Cadence: Weekly / As needed

What It Does

This view monitors all allocation strategies that are currently on hold — meaning a 100% holdback has been applied. A 100% holdback is effectively a way to freeze allocations for a strategy without deactivating it: the algorithm still runs and the strategy stays active, but no units ship.

This is useful when you want to temporarily pause a style — for example, while waiting for a product issue to be resolved, a pricing change to be finalized, or a promotion to launch. The risk is that paused strategies can be forgotten. This view captures all on-hold strategies in one place so they remain visible and can be reviewed or released when appropriate.

When to Use It

  • As part of a weekly exception check to ensure no strategies have been left on hold longer than intended

  • After a promotion, product hold, or inventory event resolves — to confirm holdbacks are released

  • To give visibility to strategies that are silently paused and not generating transfer orders


Toolio - Business Overview

Module: Allocation Plan | Dataset: Toolio - (L4W + N4W) | Cadence: Weekly

What It Does

The Business Overview view replaces multiple disconnected reports with a single view of what's driving the business across channels, categories, and locations. It shows actual performance for the Last 4 Weeks (L4W) and Last Week (LW) alongside This Week (TW) and the Next 4 Weeks (N4W) plan — making it easy to compare recent performance with upcoming plans in one place.

The view is designed to help allocators quickly identify emerging winners and underperformers and act before trends become problems.

When to Use It

  • At the start of a weekly review to get a pulse on the business before drilling into exceptions

  • To compare recent actuals to the upcoming plan and assess whether the plan still makes sense

  • To identify categories or locations trending significantly above or below last year

  • To evaluate where recommended allocations are largest and whether they align with the business direction

Key Metrics

  • Gross Sales ACT vs. LY: Sales variance to last year — the primary sort for surfacing the biggest changes in the business

  • In Stock % (L4W): Rolling in-stock performance over the last four weeks — highlighted when below 85%

  • Gross Weeks of Supply: Current inventory coverage based on the L4W sales rate — highlighted when below 4 weeks

  • N4W Plan: Planned demand for the next four weeks — compare against L4W actuals to spot plan misalignments

  • In Transit to Ship (N4W): Recommended transfers for the next four weeks

  • Potential Lost Sales: Units at risk of being missed due to insufficient inventory — highlighted when greater than 0

  • Retrend Adjustment Rate: The percentage difference between the original plan units and the current retrended plan — visible when Retrend is enabled

The view supports dynamic sorting by any metric column and can be drilled down from Division all the way to Location, giving allocators the flexibility to shift focus quickly during a review.

For a full walkthrough, see the Business Overview article.


Toolio - Retrend

Module: Allocation Strategies | Cadence: As needed

What It Does

When Retrend is enabled, the system automatically adjusts forecasts in season based on actual sales performance. This view surfaces the strategies where Retrend has made a meaningful adjustment to the original plan — giving allocators visibility into where the system is reading the business differently than originally planned.

Key Metrics

  • Retrend Adjustment Rate: The percentage difference between the current plan and the original forecast — calculated as (Gross Sales Units − Original Forecast Units) ÷ Original Forecast Units

  • Gross Sales ACT vs. Original System: How actual sales to date compare to what was originally forecast — a signal for whether the Retrend direction aligns with what has already happened

  • Original Forecast Units: The baseline plan before any in-season adjustments, for reference


Toolio - Upcoming Launches

Module: Allocation Plan | Cadence: Weekly

What It Does

This view ensures new product hits the right stores on time by surfacing items with upcoming start dates alongside the supply timing and allocation strategy readiness needed to execute a clean launch. It reduces the risk of silent launch failures caused by PO delays, lead time misalignment, or incomplete strategy setup.

When to Use It

  • Weekly to review new items launching in the next 4–8 weeks and confirm supply and strategy are in place

  • To identify items where the PO due date is after the planned start date — a risk signal that stores may not have product on launch day

  • To confirm allocation strategies are active and fully configured before inventory arrives

  • To flag items where source inventory is 0 and no inbound PO is visible within the launch window

Key Signals to Review

  • Strategy Start Date: When the allocation strategy is set to begin — this should align with when product is expected in-store

  • Next PO Date: When the next inbound purchase order is due at the source — if this is after the start date, the launch may be delayed

  • Source On Order: Total units inbound to the warehouse — a zero here with an imminent start date is a critical exception

  • Strategy Status: Whether the allocation strategy is active and ready to run when inventory arrives


Toolio - End of Season / Out-of-Assortment Sendbacks

Module: Allocation Plan | Cadence: Seasonally / As needed

What It Does

This view automatically identifies items that have inventory on hand but no meaningful forward plan — making them candidates for sendback to the warehouse. It helps allocators systematically clear non-productive inventory from store floors, freeing up shelf space for new arrivals and reducing end-of-season exposure.

When to Use It

  • At end of season to identify styles that have passed their end date or phase-out date but still have store-level inventory

  • To surface items that are out of assortment — no allocation strategy is active — but inventory remains in stores

  • To prioritize sendbacks and consolidation before new product arrives, ensuring space is available for launches

  • As an ongoing check for items that have dropped out of the active assortment mid-season due to performance or strategy changes

Key Signals to Review

  • Destination Current Inventory: Units still sitting in stores with no forward plan to sell through

  • Strategy End Date / Phase-Out Date: Items past their planned selling window are prime sendback candidates

  • Gross Weeks of Supply: High weeks of supply on out-of-assortment items signals inventory that will not naturally sell down

  • In Transit to Ship: Confirm no additional inventory is being sent to stores before initiating a sendback


Recommended Cadence

These views are designed to fit into a structured allocator workflow. The recommended cadence below is a starting point — adjust based on your business's pace and the volume of active strategies.

Timing

Views to Open

Goal

Weekly (Exceptions)

Toolio - In Stock %Toolio - Potential Lost SalesToolio - Allocation Strategies On Hold

Identify and act on inventory exceptions before they become missed sales

Weekly (Review)

Toolio - Business OverviewToolio - Upcoming Launches

Review business performance and prepare for upcoming new product

As needed

Toolio - Retrend

Validate forecast adjustments before they drive allocation decisions

Seasonally / As needed

Toolio - End of Season / Out-of-Assortment Sendbacks

Clear non-productive inventory and free up shelf space ahead of new arrivals

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