3. Timing. The order and pace at which an S&OP roll-out occurs is critical to its success. When a company realizes it wants to formalize its S&OP process, the first inclination is to get there quickly. The excitement to get started can be overwhelming. Patience, though, is critical. For example, a multi-billion dollar company with operations in 170 countries set out to implement a global S&OP process. The company set up a systematic approach, rolling out the process regionally. Each deployment benefited from the best practices of the previous. This global rollout took place over the course of four years which allowed for refinements to be made along the way and to ensure everyone involved was comfortable with the new process.

Technology Enabling People and Process

In addition to people and process, technology plays a large role in a company’s ability to manage a global S&OP process. First and foremost is the ability to create a feasible plan, one aligned with corporate capabilities, not a lofty, theoretical plan for the business. Tied to the plan is the ability to visualize progress, measure success and be alerted to potential issues before they become a problem. Developing a closed-loop business process is paramount to long-term success.

Sales and operations planning breaks down organizational silos to ensure everyone is on the same page and understands why margin, availability, service level, forecast accuracy, etc. are important and what they mean to the organization. The data presented to each department needs to be consistent and presented in a way that is meaningful to their role in the business. You can give accounting a plan in terms of volumetric numbers but that is not meaningful to them. They need the plan see it in terms of financial numbers. How much investment in inventory do we have/need? What is the carrying cost of that inventory? Work towards one plan that is viewable and understandable by all parties involved and that is analyzed from multiple perspectives.