Sales and Operations Planning is an integrated business process that aligns demand and supply planning tasks to the business operational and financial targets and supports better informed executive decisions making.

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S&OP is a collaborative recurring process, typically monthly, with inputs from the commercial, operational and finance teams to align the demand and supply operations, report variances to key performance indicators, and understand risks and opportunities to the business objectives.

 

Driven from industry best practice S&OP has the ability to drive improvements in business performance such as improved customer service, reduced inventory, reduction in logistics costs and improved productivity.

 

Best practices are defined in 3 areas:

• Process – A formally defined process with an agreed Demand plan looking at a horizon of at least 18 months against a Supply plan that identifies requirements and constraints.

• Organisation – Cross-functional participation owned by senior leadership with formal targets, accountability, and discipline to the process.

• Tools/Data – Agreed performance metrics/dashboards with ability to reconcile Demand and Supply, identify gaps and conduct scenario modelling.