Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP)

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  The Sales and Operations or S&OP processes mission is to balance supply and demand at an aggregate level, to align operational planning with financial planning, and to link strategic planning with tactical/operational planning.  It does this through a series of meetings which are designed to guide a group of individuals towards consensus of "ONE" plan.  

The plan ultimately lays out an agreement between demand and production and makes all parties aware of what needs to be done to influence any constraints so that the plan can be met.  In the book Sales & Operations Planning: The How-To-Handbook, authors, Wallace and Stahl list the 5 step process:

1. Data Gathering
2. Demand Planning
3. Supply Planning
4. Pre-Meeting
5. Executive Meeting

  Later in a book entitled Demand Management Best Practices, authors, Crum and Palmatier add two additional steps to the process:

1. Product Review
2. Demand Planning
3. Supply Planning
4. Financial Review
5. Pre-Meeting
6. Executive Meeting

Reference:​ APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional CSCP: Learning System. Chicago, IL.: APICS the Association for Operations Management, 2014. Print.

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