# What is IBP?

v1.0

Integrated Business Planning, is a business management process, which may also be known as Executive Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), Sales Inventory & Operations Planning (SIOP), or several other variations. A standard definition of IBP would be: a process by which a company or business unit aligns its forward looking plans and projections. In the real world, IBP or Executive S&OP is most often observed as:

a series of meetings 🤝,
occurring every month,
between specific accountable leaders in your company 🤏,
where plans from demand planning, marketing, sales, finance, & operations are shared 💸,
reviewed against actual performance,
and gaps between the plans are discussed in terms of options, recommendations, and decisions,
in order to achieve your business objectives.

# What is this website?

This site started as a repository for me, to keep a record of lessons learned and notes that are easily searchable. Over time, I realized others could benefit from this knowledge, so I decided to share it entirely for free. If you find it useful, buy me a coffee or a beer. If you love it or hate it, or think I got something wrong, send me your input.

# What should I know if I am trying to start IBP at my company?

The principles seem easy. I mean, how hard could it be to collaborate across teams? So where do companies go wrong?

Focusing on technology to solve your collaboration problems, :robot:
not involving the right levels of leadership to resolve gaps in accountability,
being unable to move away from the way we've always done it,
deferring accountability by paying 'yes man' consulting firms,
and more...

This site aims to help you setup IBP in the real world.

# Getting around

The site is divided into a few key areas, all of which are accessible on the left navigation pane.

Nav Area	Overview
Concepts	Core IBP knowledge across 5 domains — portfolio, demand, supply, finance, and management.
Data	Data foundations and master data requirements for planning.
Templates	Reusable meeting agendas and planning artifacts.
Anti-Patterns	Common implementation mistakes and how to avoid them.
FAQ	Answers to the 10 most common IBP questions.

Feel free to start wherever you find most interesting, or start with the Concepts section to build your foundation.