Ordoro - How does the Allocation feature in Ordoro work?

Allocation helps you stay in control of inventory while you work orders. It checks whether you have enough stock to fulfill an order and then sets that inventory aside so you don’t accidentally “use” the same units on multiple orders.

Allocation is a good fit if you want clearer “ready to ship vs. not ready” order statuses than Standard Shippability.

What is Allocation?

Allocation checks whether you have enough inventory to fulfill your orders. When an order is allocated, Ordoro reserves those units for that order.

This helps you:

See which orders are ready to ship.
Avoid promising the same inventory to multiple orders.
Spot orders that need attention (like items that went out of stock after you allocated them).

What Allocation changes in your workflow

Think of Allocation like “calling dibs” on inventory for specific orders.

Without Allocation:

You might look at your stock and assume an order can ship.
Another order (or an adjustment) could reduce inventory before you ship, and you won’t notice until later.

With Allocation:

Allocated orders are the ones Ordoro considers ready to ship.
Orders that can’t be reserved show a status that makes the problem obvious.

Important notes

Only Awaiting Fulfillment orders can be allocated.
Allocation is removed when an order is shipped, canceled, or dropshipped.
Allocation does not change your inventory totals. It only reserves inventory for orders.
Re-run Allocation if you:
- Edit an allocated order (add items or change quantities).
- Update inventory (receiving stock, adjustments, corrections, etc.).

Allocation statuses

After you run Allocation, each order will show one of these statuses:

Allocation status	Description
Unallocated	Allocation hasn’t been run yet.
Allocated	Ordoro reserved the inventory for the order. This order is ready to ship.
Could Not Allocate	There isn’t enough inventory available to reserve for this order.
Partially Allocated	Some items in the order were reserved, but others were not.
Overallocated	The order used to be Allocated, but inventory changed after the fact (for example, an adjustment was made or another order shipped). The order needs review.

How Allocation statuses appear on orders:

How to run Allocation

Go to Orders -> Awaiting Fulfillment.
- Select the orders you want to allocate.
Click Actions → Allocate.

Tip: Decide the order priority before you allocate

Allocation follows the order you run it in. If you want to prioritize older orders first (FIFO), sort by Order Date (Oldest) before you allocate.

How to handle common scenarios

If the order is:	Action:
Unallocated	Wait for Allocation to run, or allocate manually.
Allocated	You can ship it normally.
Could Not Allocate	You’ll usually want to wait for inventory to be restocked, or adjust the order.
Partially Allocated	You have two common options: 1) Split the order and ship what’s ready now. 2) Keep the order together and wait for the remaining stock.
Overallocated	This means the inventory changed after the allocation ran. A common fix is: 1) Select the affected orders. 2) Actions → Deallocate. 3) Then Actions → Allocate again (after inventory is corrected).

Overallocated example:

You allocate an order for 1 unit.
Later, inventory drops to 0 because of an adjustment or another shipment.
The original order is Overallocated and requires review.

Filtering by Allocation status

Once orders have an Allocation status, you can filter by it:

Go to Orders.
Click Filters.

Choose one or more Allocation statuses (Allocated, Could Not Allocate, etc.)
- This is helpful if you want a quick “show me only orders that are ready to ship” view.

Automating Allocation

You can create Automation Rules to run Allocation automatically for new orders.

Common examples:

Allocate all new orders as they come in.
Allocate only orders that meet specific criteria (e.g., a specific sales channel or shipping region).

If you want help setting this up, contact support@ordoro.com.