Before diving into the actual budget allocation analysis, it is helpful to configure your dashboard view. This includes setting up the different budget allocation scenarios you want to analyse.
1. Budget optimisation scenarios
Scenarios allow you to run quick budget allocation simulations based on your specific goals and targets.
By default, every newly created configuration displays actual data for the selected date, along with two pre-configured scenarios based on conversion goals:
Maintain Ad Spend
Maintain Conversions
2. Creating and editing scenarios for budget optimisation
You can create new scenarios by selecting "Add scenario" and edit existing scenarios by clicking More → Edit scenarios.
Once inside the scenario configuration menu, you will be prompted to provide the following information:
A. What you are optimising for?
Decide whether the Budget Optimiser should calculate results to achieve a 'Revenue' goal or a 'Conversions' goal. Your choice here should align directly with your overall campaign strategy.
B. What's your goal?
Defines the target values for your budget allocations. The available options change depending on whether you are optimising for 'Revenue' or 'Conversions', as summarised in the table below:
Optimisation goal | Target goals avaliable |
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Example: If you want to increase your budget, select "Target ad spend" and input a specific value for the model to optimise towards. Alternatively, you can select "Change in ad spend" and use the slider to adjust the percentage: slide right to increase spend, or slide left to decrease it.
Note: targets involving currencies, such as 'Target ad spend' and 'Target revenue', use the same currency of the workspace. In case you change the workspace currency, these values will be automatically converted to the new currency.
C. Name your scenario
Simply give a name to your scenario. This will be displayed on the top of the scenario card in the Budget optimiser configuration dashboard.
D. Advanced options
Lookback days:
Lookback days refer to the number of past days the Budget optimiser includes in its model calculations, counting backwards from today. By default, this is set to 30 days, but you can adjust it to suit your needs. Ideally, this parameter should align with your business's specific conversion window.
Example: If today is 1 September 2026 and the lookback period is set to 30 days, the Budget optimiser will use data from 2 August 2026 to 31 August 2026 for its calculations.
Allocation constraints:
Defines how the redistribution of ad spend should be limited, controlling how freely budget can move. The options available are:
'Within channels' means that the budget will be reallocated between different campaigns within specific channels.
'Within data sources' means that the budget will be reallocated between different campaigns within specific data sources.
'No limit on redistribution' means that the algorithm will reallocate the budget as effectively as calculated across all possible properties, including channels and data sources.
The results of the Budget optimiser suggestions will vary based on the selected strategy. For example:
If you want to see budget optimisation suggestions limited to allocation within channels, such as 'Email marketing channel' and 'Branded search channel', you can select 'Within channels'.
If you are looking for inspiration regarding budget optimisation within the context of data sources, such as allocating budget within Google Ads data source and Meta Ads data source, you can choose 'Within data sources'.
If you want to explore the full range of possibilities for budget allocation between all channels in a custom grouping and all used data sources, you can select 'No limits on redistribution'.
Once you finish configuring the scenario, click on the 'Save scenario' button at the bottom of the pop-up. This will apply all settings and Alvie will proceed with calculating budget optimisation results.
3. Select the date for the analysis
You can choose any available date for your analysis. Simply click on the timeline dropdown menu at the top of the page and select your required date from the calendar.
The timeline selector allows you to isolate a specific historical date to see how the algorithm evaluated your budget parameters at that precise moment. When you choose a target date from the calendar, the system automatically recalibrates the model, using your defined lookback period to analyse the daily spend and performance data immediately preceding that selected point in time. This enables you to review past optimisation insights and track how the model's recommendations have evolved over different periods.
Example: Following on from the previous example (where the lookback period is 30 days and data from 2 August 2026 to 31 August 2026 is used), if you select a specific date within that range, such as 28 August 2026, the algorithm will analyse the budget spend parameters for each day within the 30-day interval leading up to that chosen date.
If there is no data available for a specific date, that date will be marked as grey in the calendar and cannot be selected. This can occur, for example, for dates prior to when the Budget optimiser configuration was set up and activated.