Portfolio data is divided into three categories - portfolio, benchmark, universe. A portfolio and benchmark require position size, currently only upload by shares is supported but the functionality will soon be expanded to upload by weight as well as by position value. A universe may contain position size but it is not required as the module will translate a list of securities into an equally weighted universe.
The phaseinvest portfolio functionality operates on a concept of a series and a state. A portfolio can have multiple series and within each series, it can have several states. A portfolio type can have state type Real and Virtual, but benchmark and universe type can only have type virtual. The underlying logix is that a portfolio type can have a actual holdings and simulated holdings whilst types benchmark and universe are reference portfolios.
Users can choose to keep things simple by assigning the same name to portfolio and series that will result in a single series per portfolio. However, the notion of series helps in organising portfolio holdings because simulated alternatives of the same portfolio can be grouped within the same portfolio and multiple benchmarks that track an identical segment of a market can be grouped together as illustrated in the examples above.
Factor data is security level numeric data. It is a proprietary metric used to inject security level user views into portfolio management workflows. It can also be 3rd party data that you wish to use in your investment management process.