S&OP Meeting SOP, Agenda & Data Pack Template (Practical Playbook)

Purpose

This template helps teams run a repeatable S&OP / IBP cadence that aligns demand, supply, and finance. Use it to prepare a consistent pre-read data pack, structure the meeting for decision-making, and apply simple decision rules so trade-offs become explicit and commitments are executable.

Scope

Recommended for a monthly management-level S&OP meeting that produces a consensus demand and supply position, identifies material gaps, and provides clear actions and owners. It complements tactical/weekly planning and executive-level reviews.

Cadence & Timing

• Pre-read data pack distributed: 3 business days before meeting
• Review window (optional): 1–2 business days for functional clarifications
• S&OP meeting: monthly, 60–120 minutes depending on complexity
• Executive IBP review (if required): within 7 business days after the S&OP meeting

Core Roles & Responsibilities

• S&OP Chair (Plant/OPS Director or VP Ops): runs the meeting, enforces agenda and decision rules.
• Demand Owner (Commercial/Head of Sales & Marketing): presents forecast, demand risks, scenarios.
• Supply Owner (Production / Supply Chain Manager): presents capacity, constraints, and recovery plans.
• Finance Owner (FP&A): reviews financial impact, trade-off implications on margin, cash, and working capital.
• Data Pack Owner: ensures data accuracy and timeliness; distributes pre-read pack.
• Record Keeper / PMO: captures decisions, owners, due dates, and circulates minutes.

Pre-Read Data Pack — Required Sections (minimum)

Each section should include the most recent data, change from prior month, and a short one-paragraph analysis or exception note.

1. Demand
   • Consensus forecast vs. firm orders by SKU (12–24 month horizon as appropriate)
   • Top SKUs by volume and value, and forecast variance vs. rolling average
   • Key demand drivers, promotions, new product introductions, customer alerts
2. Supply
   • Available capacity (hours), planned capacity, and forecasted utilization by line or workcenter
   • Material availability and lead-time exceptions
   • Planned maintenance, line changeovers, and known outages
3. Inventory
   • Inventory by critical SKU: on-hand, committed, days of cover, target days of cover
   • Slow-moving and excess inventory highlights
4. Financial Summary
   • Impact on revenue, margin, and working capital for major scenarios
   • Inventory carrying cost estimates for proposed actions
5. Risk & Issue Register
   • Top risks (supplier, logistics, quality, regulatory) with probability and impact
6. Scenario Tests
   • At least two tested scenarios (base, upside, downside) with recommended decisions

Data Ownership & Update Frequency

• Demand forecast: Demand Owner — weekly updates; final pre-read freeze 72 hours before meeting.
• Orders and sales commitments: Commercial systems owner — continuous; included in pre-read.
• Inventory & supply status: Supply Owner — daily to weekly depending on volatility.
• Finance metrics: Finance Owner — monthly close and pre-read snapshot.

Meeting Agenda (example — 90 minutes)

1. Welcome & objectives (5 minutes) — Chair
2. Confirm agenda and ground rules (5 minutes) — Chair
3. Demand review: key variances, promotions, customer issues (15 minutes) — Demand Owner
4. Supply review: capacity, materials, constraints (15 minutes) — Supply Owner
5. Inventory & financial impact (10 minutes) — Inventory / Finance Owners
6. Scenario discussion & decision recommendations (20 minutes) — Cross-functional
7. Decisions, owners, and committed actions (15 minutes) — Chair/Record Keeper
8. Wrap-up & confirm next steps (5 minutes) — Chair

Decision Rules (use these as starting guidance — customize to fit your business)

Decision rules make trade-offs explicit and reduce ad-hoc debate. Below are common examples; replace values with ones that match your risk appetite and economics.

• Forecast acceptance threshold: If consensus forecast change vs. last committed plan is >10% for a SKU and the change affects available capacity, it requires documented scenario testing and approval.
• Inventory drawdown rule: For SKUs with days of cover < target - 20%, implement inventory protection actions or escalate to tactical planning.
• Tactical planning trigger: If projected service level for key customers < 95% (or your agreed threshold) within the next 30 days, convene tactical planning within 48 hours.
• Executive escalation: Any decision that increases working capital by more than X% or reduces month-over-month margin by more than Y% requires executive IBP review.

Meeting Outputs & Artifacts

• Consensus demand plan and consensus supply plan (documented)
• List of prioritized actions with owners, due dates, and metrics to monitor
• Updated risk register and scenario outcomes
• Minutes distributed within 24–48 hours

Pre-Meeting Checklist (Data Pack Owner)

• Distribute data pack 3 business days before meeting
• Ensure key stakeholders confirm data accuracy
• Highlight top 5 exceptions on first page of the pack
• Confirm required attendees and escalate absences if decisions are blocked

Post-Meeting Follow-up

• Record Keeper circulates decisions, owners, and due dates within 24–48 hours.
• Action owners update status in shared tracker weekly until closed.
• Progress against decisions reviewed at the next S&OP meeting and at tactical touchpoints as needed.

How to Adapt This Template

Start with simple, conservative decision rules and evolve them as you learn. Focus first on getting reliable data, shortening the pre-read freeze windows, and making one class of predictable decisions (e.g., inventory protection) rather than trying to solve every exception in month one.

Change Log & Versioning

Keep a short change log at the end of the pack noting who changed thresholds, major template updates, and the effective date.

Notes: This template is intentionally vendor- and industry-neutral. Tailor the data pack fields, decision thresholds, and cadence to your product mix, lead times, customer commitments, and financial tolerance.