Manage External Variables
Territory Design provides options to bring new attributes into an existing territory solution. For example, you may want to join newly compiled sales figures before readjusting your company territories.
- Import variables—Joins external variables to an existing territory solution
- Remove imported variables—Removes the join to external variables
- Refresh imported variables—Reimports all imported variables and recalculates territory statistics for imported variables
You can import point or polygon layers to Territory Design. When you choose a polygon layer and click Join by locations, the values of the imported variables are divided in proportion to the imported polygons that overlap the polygons of the alignment layer.
You can also import a Business Analyst Dataset (BDS). The Business Analyst apportionment method is used to calculate the values of the imported variables.
If an imported variable record doesn't match an alignment layer record ID, the variable will be zero.
Choosing to remove variables will remove the joins between the external tables of the imported variable and the territory database. It is assumed you have already imported variables before choosing to remove them. If you move your joined external table, the join will be broken, and you will not be able to access the imported attributes in Territory Design.
The performance of the balancing operations can be reduced when imported variables are present.