S&OP Meeting Prep Skill

An S&OP meeting that reviews numbers but decides nothing just delayed the miss by a month. This skill prepares the readout so the meeting spends its time on the three decisions only that room can make — not on re-litigating the forecast. Everything else goes in the pre-read, gaps are quantified in units and money, and every open gap arrives with priced scenario levers.

What This Skill Produces

• A demand vs. supply gap table by product family and month
• Scenario levers for each material gap (expedite / build-ahead / allocate / demand-shape) with cost and consequence
• A projected inventory position (units, value, days/weeks of supply) under the recommended plan
• The three decisions the meeting must make, each framed with options and a recommendation
• A pre-read package with what to absorb before the meeting vs. what will be decided in it

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• Planning horizon & buckets — typically months 1–18, decisions concentrated in months 1–3
• Demand plan — consensus forecast by family, plus notable changes since last cycle
• Supply plan — capacity, committed material, known constraints (lines, labor, supplier allocations)
• Inventory position — current on-hand, in-transit, and targets by family
• Carry-overs — decisions or actions from last cycle and their status
• Financial context — revenue plan the volumes must support; standard margins if trade-off math is needed

From a thin brief, build the structure with the numbers marked [to confirm] — a skeleton the planner fills beats a refusal.

Gap & Decision Framework

Gap table discipline — for each family × month: demand, supply, gap (units and %), and gap valued at revenue at risk. Classify each gap:

Scenario levers — price every option, never present a bare gap:

• Expedite — premium freight / overtime: cost per unit recovered, margin erosion
• Build-ahead — pull production into soft months: inventory carrying cost, obsolescence exposure if demand slips
• Allocate — who gets shorted, by name: revenue and relationship consequence per customer tier
• Demand-shape — delay a promotion/launch: revenue timing shift, commercial owner's agreement required

The three-decisions rule — the agenda names at most three decisions, each stated as a question with options A/B, the cost of each, and a recommendation. If there are more than three, the smaller ones move to the pre-read as "ratify unless objection." A decision without a recommendation is analysis, not an agenda item.

Pre-read discipline — issued 48 hours ahead; contains all data, gap analysis, and lever costing; the meeting assumes it was read. First slide of the meeting is the decision list, not the demand review.

Output Format

S&OP Readout: [cycle / month]

1. Cycle summary — plan vs. last cycle in three sentences; biggest change since last month.

2. Carry-over actions — last cycle's decisions: done / at risk / missed, with owner.

3. Demand vs. supply gap table — Family | Month | Demand | Supply | Gap (units / % / $) | Class | Proposed lever.

4. Scenario levers — per escalation-class gap: options with cost, consequence, and decision deadline ("expedite window closes [date]").

5. Inventory projection — by family: closing inventory under the recommended plan vs. target, flagged where projection exceeds target by >20% or falls below safety stock.

6. Decisions required (max 3) — Decision | Options & cost | Recommendation | Owner if approved.

7. Pre-read appendix — assumptions, forecast changes, ratify-unless-objection items.

Quality Checks

• Every gap >5% has a proposed lever with a cost — no naked gaps
• Gaps expressed in units and dollars, so finance and operations read the same page
• Exactly 1–3 decisions on the agenda, each with options, costs, and a recommendation
• Allocation scenarios name which customers/tiers get shorted — no abstract "reduce supply"
• Carry-over actions from last cycle reviewed before new ones are added
• Inventory projection reflects the recommended levers, not the unresolved plan
• Decision deadlines stated where levers expire (expedite windows, build-ahead cutoffs)

Anti-Patterns

• Do not spend meeting time re-forecasting — forecast disputes go back to the demand review step
• Do not present a gap without at least one priced lever — that's reporting a problem, not planning
• Do not bury the decisions at slide 30 — they open the meeting
• Do not show inventory only in units — value and days-of-supply are what the CFO and planner each need
• Do not let "allocate" stay abstract — someone specific gets shorted, and the meeting must own that choice
• Do not issue the pre-read at midnight before the meeting — 48 hours or the meeting becomes the read-through