Space / Space Planning
Real Property / Advanced Forecasting / Advanced Portfolio Forecasting
Concept: Allocation Event
When analyzing forecast and current space needs, you will want to review space needs over time. The system's allocation events, as displayed on the Events panel of the Space & Portfolio Planning Console, act as a time- machine view of your space.
An allocation event is an operational event that occurs on a specific day. Allocation events can include dates such as:
- the date that you bring your space inventory into the portfolio scenario as a starting point
- the end of a lease
- the date you move three departments
- the date that you manually create an allocation
- the date that you split an allocation
- the beginning of the forecast period
You select an allocation event in the Stack Plan tab of the Space & Portfolio Planning Console, and the system updates any displayed stack plans with the space allocations as of this date.
For instance, if you select the "2015-06-18" event, all open stack plans update to display allocations as of this date and the system calculates the utilization and other statistics as of this date. To remind you that this is the date you selected, the Space & Portfolio Console's Stack Plan tab updates the "Stack Allocations as of" field to show the selected date.
Since allocations are stored Groups table and specify their event in the table's Allocation Event field , the system can group together allocations that have the same value for the Allocation Event field into one allocation. The Groups table's and Date Start and Date End fields store the time frame.
Note: If you want to see your space allocations on a date other than the Allocation Event date, you can complete the "Stack Allocations as of "date field, located in the left corner above the stack plan. The system updates the displayed stack plans to show allocations as of the most recent allocation event before the date that you entered in the As Of field.
Creating Allocation Events
You create allocation events in a number of ways.
- When you start a portfolio scenario, the system creates an allocation event entitled "Add Space from Inventory" which includes the UNALLOC building.
- If the scenario is at the functional group level, the first time you sync you are prompted to enter an allocation event and date. See Editing Space Requirements and Syncing the Stack Plan.
- When you bring a space requirement into a portfolio scenario, the system creates allocation events based on the Event Name that you specify in the Allocate Requirements form. See Add Space Requirements to a Portfolio Scenario.
- While working with a stack plan, you can create additional unavailable area. This is particularly useful for a short-term change, such as a construction project. When you create unavailable area, you can specify the time frame and the allocation event, such as Phase 1 Construction Project, See Working with Unavailable Area.
- While working with the stack plan, you can create new allocations or you split allocations. When you do so, you specify an event name and a date. See Splitting an Allocation and Adding New Allocations to the Stack Plan.
- While working with the stack plan, you can edit allocations. When you do so, you specify an event name and a date. See Edit an Allocation on a Stack Plan.
- While working with the stack plan, you can move an allocation from one floor to another. When you do so, you specify an event name and a date. See Moving Allocations on a Stack Plan.
For example, the below image shows allocation events that were generated from a forecast space requirement that were added to inventory (the two-year, three-year and four-year forecasts), allocation events created for unavailable space (the construction project), and allocation events created when editing an existing allocation (the corporate reorganization).
Note: When creating, editing, and moving allocations, you will be presented with a form that includes fields for naming the allocation event and entering a description. Taking the time to clearly complete these fields will enable you to more easily locate the allocation events in the Events panel.
Comparing Stack Plans for Different Allocation Events
You might want to compare the stack plans for different allocation events to see how the space changes over time. For example, if you are working on a five-year forecast and have an allocation event for each year, you might want to review at one time the stack plans for the five forecast allocation events. To do so, you can export to each allocation event's stack plan to a PowerPoint presentation. This would result in five PowerPoint files, which you could merge into one document. See Output a Portfolio Scenario to PowerPoint.
You can also quickly see changes between different events by using the Show Highlights option. See Indicate allocation event changes on the stack plan
See also
View Allocation Events and Allocations (the Events pane of the Stack Plan tab)
View a Portfolio Scenario's Allocations (the Allocation Events tab) - to see all allocations at once, sorted by organization, date, or location