TABLE OF CONTENTS Probably no single process within the enterprise resource planning (ERP) business model gets more attention than demand planning. I spend a lot of time with operations people, and demand planning is a popular topic with most of them. The popularity comes from the frequently observed wide-band process variation introduced into almost every business by its customers. If your business does not have unpredictable customers, then you are the exception! In many businesses, the demand plan or forecast is actually done by the operations people because the demand-side folks have not willingly come to the planning table yet to give forecasting a decent chance. In a Class A ERP environment, it is necessary that there is a solid handshake between the demand process and the operations side of the business. This handshake culminates in the sales and operations planning (S&OP) process. Not only is this partnership attitude important for minimizing risk, it also creates an environment where everybody has shared goals and understands how variation from their part of the business affects other parts of the operation.
The inputs are what make the quality of the demand plan (Figure 4.1). If the emphasis is on the right tasks and they are linked to the business plan properly, the results are fun indeed! For this to happen, there have to be well-communicated, well-understood objectives with shared ownership in the outcomes. Let's look at each input individually.
