S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning)
Quick answer
A monthly management process aligning the sales plan with operational and supply capacity.
Key takeaways
- Collecting the demand forecast
- The supply/production plan
- Demand-capacity-finance reconciliation
- The executive decision meeting
What S&OP is
S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning) is the recurring process in which sales, supply, production and finance agree on a single balanced plan of demand vs capacity, over a 3-18 month horizon.
Why it matters to the board
S&OP is the bridge between commercial strategy and operational execution. Without it, sales promise what operations cannot deliver, and finance cannot anticipate working-capital needs.
Typical steps
- Collecting the demand forecast
- The supply/production plan
- Demand-capacity-finance reconciliation
- The executive decision meeting
How CRMconnect helps
CRMconnect provides real operational data (demand, stock, lead time, fulfilment capacity) in a single layer, so S&OP meetings rely on clean figures, not manually reconciled exports.
Real-world example
A company ran S&OP on manually reconciled Excel files for 4 days. With data consolidated in CRMconnect, preparation dropped to a few hours, and the plan reflected real stock and lead time.
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Frequently asked
Is S&OP the same as budgeting?+
No. The budget is financial and annual; S&OP is operational, monthly, and balances demand against real delivery capacity.
Does CRMconnect do S&OP?+
CRMconnect does not replace the decision process, but it feeds S&OP with clean operational data (demand, stock, lead time) that makes the meeting useful.
Where CRMconnect fits
Related terms
Demand Forecasting
Estimating future demand per product based on sales history, seasonality and external factors.
OperationsCapacity Planning
Aligning operational capacity (staff, space, equipment) to forecast demand, to avoid bottlenecks or wasted cost.
OperationsReorder Point (ROP)
The stock level at which a new order must be placed to avoid a stockout before goods arrive.
TechnologyControl tower (supply chain)
A single visibility and decision hub that aggregates chain-wide data to detect and resolve issues proactively.