Allocation Overview
Allocation is what the engine does after consumptions are posted and licenses are loaded — it picks which license covers which consumption. This chapter covers what the engine does automatically, how to override it for specific cases, and how to interpret the result.
What the Engine Does
For each product, on each calculation:
- Direct assignments are processed first — explicit license-to-machine links are honored before anything else
- Affinity-scored allocation — for the remaining consumptions and capacity, the engine sorts candidate licenses by affinity score and grants in order
- Capacity is enforced — once a license is full, the engine moves to the next-best
- Deficit is recorded — consumptions that no license could cover appear as outstanding requirement
The full conceptual model is in Concepts: Affinity vs Requirements.
What's in This Chapter
| Page | Covers |
|---|---|
| Auto-Allocation | How the engine picks licenses without manual intervention |
| Direct Assignment | Forcing a specific license to cover specific machines |
| User Allocation | Allocating per-user licenses to named individuals |
| Reallocating After Disposal | What happens when an asset is decommissioned |
| Capacity Enforcement | How the engine handles licenses at capacity and deficit |
When You Need to Intervene
Most allocations are correct without intervention. You need to step in when:
- A specific license must cover a specific machine for contractual or audit reasons → Direct Assignment
- A named-user license needs to be tied to a specific person → User Allocation
- An asset has been decommissioned and the license should be reclaimed → Reallocating After Disposal
- The default affinity rules consistently produce allocations you would not have made → Customizing the Calculation
Reading Allocation Results
After a calculation, the allocation can be inspected from several angles:
| To Answer | Look At |
|---|---|
| "What is allocated to this license?" | Open the license — Allocated count and the per-asset breakdown |
| "What licenses cover this machine?" | Open the asset's Software tab — each product shows its covering licenses |
| "What is in deficit for this product?" | Licensing Position — Outstanding Requirement column |
| "Why was this license picked over that one?" | The calculation's debug output (batch job log) shows affinity scores per pair |