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What Is Sales and Operations Planning?
By integrating the operational areas of the business (e.g., sales, marketing, procurement, manufacturing, etc.), Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) ensures monthly alignment with the enterprise’s supply, demand, and finance planning needs. Effective and efficient supply chain management relies on a well-orchestrated and executed S&OP process.
Execute S&OP with SAP Integrated Business Planning
SAP provides S&OP planning as part of SAP Integrated Business Planning to drive revenue growth, reduce inventory carrying costs, and increase productivity. Key capabilities include:
What Is Sales and Operations Planning?
By integrating the operational areas of the business (e.g., sales, marketing, procurement, manufacturing, etc.), Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) ensures monthly alignment with the enterprise’s supply, demand, and finance planning needs. Effective and efficient supply chain management relies on a well-orchestrated and executed S&OP process.
Execute S&OP with SAP Integrated Business Planning
SAP provides S&OP planning as part of SAP Integrated Business Planning to drive revenue growth, reduce inventory carrying costs, and increase productivity. Key capabilities include:
• Enable real-time planning
• Simulate and compare scenarios
• Collaborate across departments
• Monitor performance and future alignment
Key Considerations for SAPinsiders
- Operational Excellence: Achieving S&OP Success. Watch this on-demand webinar to take your S&OP process to the next level. Often, companies lack end-to-end supply chain integration because of functional silos and poor executive support within their current S&OP process. Alex Kahsar, Senior Solution Advisor for GIB USA, leads the discussion to showcase the benefits of an S&OP process that is capable of operating inside a core SAP ERP system, while also simplifying and optimizing supply chain execution. Too often, SAP users resort to a patchwork of disparate solutions to solve various use cases, creating complex, brittle connections, which prevent organizations from adapting to future business changes.
- 5 Steps of S&OP to Achieve an Integrated Business Plan. In this article, learn the framework and five essential steps of the S&OP process: 1) data gathering, 2) demand planning, 3) supply planning, 4) pre-S&OP meeting, and 5) executive S&OP. Venkata Ramana Nethi, CSCP, CPIM, MGR IT Build-Run Operations & Quality, Schlumberger, writes that the “S&OP concept and methodology, regardless of industry, has been around since the 1980s; however, with new advances in technology it has become more transparent and agile, adopting and delivering nearly accurate results in dynamic environments to achieve balance.”
- 7 Questions to Guide You on Your S&OP Transformation. In this blog post, explore a series of seven questions that can help business stakeholders uncover the root causes of the issues in an S&OP strategy and determine ways to fix them. By answering these questions carefully and in order, an organization can craft an effective S&OP strategy.
Vendors in the S&OP space include: Innovation Enterprise and OpsVeda.
58 results
Streamlining Global S&OP with SAP IBPDec 17, 2024 — A global advanced materials leader improved its manufacturing operations and unified its Sales & Operations Planning processes by implementing SAP Integrated Business Planning, resulting in enhanced efficiency, better inventory control, and increased profitability through real-time analytics and standardized workflows.
2 minute read
Advanced Demand Planning with S&OP and SAP HANADec 16, 2014 — Learn how to meet the challenges of integrating SAP Advanced Planning and Optimization (APO) statistical forecasting with SAP Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) and SAP HANA. Key Concept SAP Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is a solution powered by SAP HANA that supports an organization’s end-to-end sales and operations planning business process. In SAP S&OP, […]
20 minute read
5 Steps of S&OP to Achieve an Integrated Business PlanApr 28, 2020 — Sales and operations planning (S&OP) is a set of decision-making processes that regulate and coordinate overall capacity, inventory levels, and lead times across engineering, projects, manufacturing, finance, supply chain, and operations based on forecast information about the market. S&OP focuses on changes from the previous plan and links that with the strategic goals of cost and lead time reduction to determine suitable capacity adjustment actions. This article will provide the framework and key concepts to using SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) for Supply Chain to effectively balance demand and supply and attain financial targets.
After reading this article you will be able to:
- List and define the five essential steps of S&OP
- Explain how S&OP fits into the larger manufacturing planning and control hierarchy
- Apply the components of S&OP to data gathering, demand and supply planning, and supplier collaboration
14 minute read
SAP Integrated Business Planning for Sales and Operations: Q&A on How to Optimize Demand and Supply Planning and Increase ProfitabilityApr 1, 2016 — When it comes to your supply chain, accuracy, efficiency, swift and informed decision making, and timely responses and adjustments to market and business changes are critical — but a lack of communication between sales, marketing, finance, and operations can be a significant impediment to these goals. The ability to effectively and simultaneously evaluate data from […]
24 minute read
Best Practices for Implementing Sales and Operations PlanningMar 29, 2013 — The sales and operations planning (S&OP) process can bring about substantial improvements in the way a company manages its supply chain. Learn the building blocks of the S&OP process, what it needs in terms of technology, and how this is supported in different SAP solutions. Key Concept Sales and operations planning (S&OP) is the process […]
14 minute read
Achieve Excellence in Sales and Operations PlanningApr 24, 2020 — Sales and operations planning (S&OP) functions live at the tactical level of the planning hierarchy in an environment that synchronizes demand, inventory, and supply plans and considers profit objectives. S&OP has been discussed in multiple forums over the years because of the value it delivers to the organization as whole. In this article you will gain an understanding of key business drivers impacting S&OP processes and the stakeholders who are affected by decisions made as a result. This article will also review how to create a business case to justify an implementation of SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain (IBP) and factors to consider when selecting a partner to implement SAP IBP.
19 minute read
How to Build a Resilient and Efficient Supply Chain With Robust Sales and Operations Planning Using SAP IBP S4HANAMar 17, 2021 — Sales and operations planning (S&OP) helps companies estimate the demand for their products/services at an aggregate volume level using some form of forecasting method and incorporating inputs from the sales and marketing teams. Many organizations, in their race to embrace technology, ignore a key ingredient for the successful implementation of their S&OP: organizational readiness. Drawing from deep experience in implementing S&OP across diverse industries, the author of this article, Ulaganathan Balakrishnan, outlines key steps that organizations should take in the preparatory phase before any system implementation.
Read this article and learn:
- An overview of sales and operations planning (S&OP) and the significant role it plays in any organization;
- Common challenges that organizations face when implementing a S&OP process; and
- A detailed framework to help you execute a successful S&OP plan.
9 minute read
7 Questions to Guide You on Your S&OP TransformationOct 4, 2016 — For many businesses, getting sales and operations planning (S&OP) right is a critical step toward success. S&OP processes are responsible for cutting down waste and optimizing your organization’s resources. But for too often, S&OP falls short of expectations. Why does this happen – and what can you do to fix it? Every organization will answer […]
3 minute read
What Is xP&A Exactly and How Does it Relate to S&OP?Nov 21, 2023 — Business executives are desperately grasping for a solution that will help them prevent a repeat of the previous few years’ supply chain insanity. The first truth to reveal is that there is no “one size fits all” answer or “silver bullet” solution or magic pixie dust to sprinkle on and solve all aspects of this recent history and that in some cases there will not be an available answer.
In this series, we will explore three major questions. The first big first question to be answered is: What does xP&A bring to the table to help mitigate these challenges? The second question to be answered is: How does xP&A fit in with other operational planning activities? A third and final big question in this series is: How does one get started on an xP&A journey?
5 minute read