Allocation strategies used to be one-to-one with an actual choice — each style-color could carry a single strategy. You can now create more than one strategy on the same actual choice. These are called Related Strategies, and they let you run different allocation logic for different stores or time periods on the same product while sharing source inventory.

Each related strategy keeps its own inputs — location list, dates, ROS/forecast, order cycle, safety stock, prioritization method, and location overrides — and is configured independently, exactly like a standalone strategy. When you allocate, Toolio runs all of an actual choice's related strategies together as one combined run.

Note: Multiple allocation strategies are controlled by a feature flag and are enabled for your organization by your Toolio team. If you don't see the option to create related strategies, reach out to your Customer Success Manager.

Right-click any existing strategy row and choose Create Related Strategy. The new strategy is added as a sibling row under the same actual choice.

The new strategy inherits all settings from the strategy you right-clicked, except its location list and Allocation Group. This lets you spin up a second strategy quickly and only change what differs (for example, the stores and the safety stock).

An Allocation Group is a label you can apply to a strategy to identify what it is for — for example, Branded, Outlet, or a planner's name. Allocation Groups are the allocation equivalent of Assortment Groups in Assortment Planning, and they make it easy to find and work with a specific set of related strategies.

Allocation Groups are managed in Settings > Module Settings > Allocation > Allocation Groups. From there you can add, rename, or delete groups for your organization — use Add Allocation Group to create one and give it a name.

On the allocation strategies grid, the Allocation Group column is editable — pick a group for any strategy directly in the grid. To narrow the grid to one or more groups, use the Allocation Group filter. Strategies that have not been assigned a group appear under (Uncategorized).

Two related strategies on the same actual choice may not deliver to the same store at the same time. When you save, Toolio blocks the change if two sibling strategies share a destination location during overlapping date ranges, with a message explaining the conflict.

The following combinations are allowed:

Fix the overlap by adjusting the location list or the date range, and save again.

When two related strategies pull from the same source inventory during overlapping time, Toolio needs a rule for who gets stock first. That rule is Allocation Strategy Priority, a new attribute on the location record.

Set Allocation Strategy Priority on a location in Master Data > Locations when adding or editing a location. It is an integer where a lower number means higher priority. Duplicates are allowed. For example, every branded store can be priority 1.

When shared inventory is detected for an overlapping time window, Toolio ranks each related strategy by the average Allocation Strategy Priority of its locations. The strategy with the lowest average is served first. All of its stores receive their requested stock before the next strategy is considered.

For example, if a branded strategy's stores average a priority of 1.5 and an outlet strategy's stores average 2, the branded strategy is higher priority. Its stores are filled first from the shared warehouse, even on a day when an outlet store has more forecasted demand.

A few details to keep in mind:

Right-click any related strategy and choose to allocate. Toolio always runs all related strategies under that actual choice together as one combined run. Running a single related strategy on its own is not possible when more than one exists, because they may share inventory.

Each strategy's forecast still runs independently and in parallel using that strategy's own settings. Toolio waits for every forecast to finish, then performs one combined allocation across all the strategies. Where strategies compete for the same source stock, the Allocation Strategy Priority ordering above decides who is served first; otherwise stock is allocated with no priority arbitration.

They are three different controls. Allocation Strategy Priority decides which related strategy is served first when strategies share source inventory. Location Priority is a demand tiebreaker that ranks individual locations and is unchanged. The Prioritization Method (Demand First vs. Minimum Presentation First) decides how stock is distributed within a strategy — see Prioritization Methods in Allocations.

Yes, but not at the same time. Two related strategies may target the same store only if their date ranges do not overlap (a sequential hand-off). If both the store and the dates overlap, the save is blocked by overlap validation.

Yes. Each related strategy is configured independently.

Yes. Allocation Strategy Priority orders strategies day by day, but lead time ultimately wins — a store that needs stock earlier may receive it before a higher-priority store whose need comes later.

Not yet. If you seed more than one line for the same Actual Choice, each seed overwrites the same strategy instead of adding a new one.

If you need more than one strategy on the same product today, create them directly in Allocation with Create Related Strategy and configure each independently. Seeding each Assortment Plan line into its own related strategy is planned for a future release.