Sales and Operations Planning is a highly effective Executive Decision Making process.  It is not a meeting but a process that enables executives to review the latest view of their business; assessing projections and their alignment with the commitments laid down in the company business plan

Since its launch in the eighties to support the introduction of MRPII, the dynamics of businesses have changed completely.  The additional complexities that lean and supply chain design has brought have stretched the capabilities of the traditional S&OP process.

In the new world the traditional parts of S&OP (i.e. monthly review for supply and demand, 24 month planning horizon, rough-cut resource assessment for constraint resources and final management review where decisions are taken) are still needed.

However, new aspects need to be incorporated both in terms of process and Management Behaviours

• The ability to manage regional demands
• Understanding the impact of new activities
• The ability to produce "what if" scenarios
• Managing by graphical trends not numbers
• The use of data cubes to segment information.
• Functional buy in

The introduction of these new aspects whether during implementation or post implementation bring with them new challenges.  Organisations are often wrangling with the frustrations of the process not providing good quality information.