# Demand Review Meeting Agenda

The demand review is the first formal meeting in the monthly IBP cycle. Its purpose is to reach consensus on a single demand plan that the rest of the process — supply planning, financial reconciliation, and the executive review — will work from.

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# Meeting Overview

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# Pre-Meeting Preparation Checklist

Complete these items before the meeting. If more than two are unchecked, consider rescheduling — an unprepared demand review wastes everyone's time.

• Statistical forecast baseline generated and reviewed by demand planning
• Prior month actual demand captured and reconciled against the plan
• Forecast accuracy metrics calculated (MAPE, bias by family)
• Market intelligence collected from sales and marketing teams
• New product launch / discontinuation updates compiled
• Promotional calendar updated with confirmed and tentative events
• Demand exceptions identified (items with >20% variance vs. prior plan)
• Pre-read package distributed to attendees (2 business days prior)

# What goes in the pre-read

The pre-read should be concise — no more than 5-10 pages:

1. Prior month demand performance vs. plan (1-page summary)
2. Forecast accuracy scorecard by product family
3. Exception list with proposed demand plan adjustments
4. Market intelligence summary (key events, competitive actions, customer updates)
5. New product / lifecycle status changes

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# Agenda

# 1. Review Prior Actions (5 min)

• Walk through open action items from the previous demand review
• Confirm completed items; escalate overdue items
• Output: Updated action log

# 2. Performance Review (15 min)

• Prior month actual demand vs. plan: where did we hit, where did we miss?
• Forecast accuracy metrics: MAPE and bias by product family
• Forecast Value Added — did manual overrides improve or degrade accuracy?
• Identify any systematic patterns (consistent bias in a family, region, or channel)
• Output: Performance summary and accuracy trends

# 3. Demand Exceptions (30 min)

This is the core of the meeting — spend the most time here.

• Review items with >20% variance vs. prior consensus plan
• For each exception:
  • What changed? (Market shift, customer action, data correction, promotional timing)
  • Is the change permanent or temporary?
  • What is the recommended demand plan adjustment?
• Use ABC-XYZ segmentation to prioritize — focus on A-items with significant variance first
• Output: Agreed adjustments to the demand plan

# 4. Market Intelligence (15 min)

• Sales input: pipeline changes, key account updates, competitive wins/losses
• Marketing input: campaign performance, promotional plans, market trends
• Product management input: launch readiness, customer feedback, category dynamics
• Output: Qualitative context documented as planning assumptions

# 5. New Products & Lifecycle Changes (10 min)

• New product introductions: demand estimates, launch timing, cannibalization assumptions
• Phase-outs: remaining demand, last-time-buy timing, inventory rundown plans
• Product lifecycle stage transitions and their impact on forecast method
• Output: Updated product lifecycle calendar and demand assumptions

# 6. Consensus & Actions (10 min)

• Confirm the consensus demand plan by product family
• Summarize key assumptions underpinning the plan
• Assign action items with owners and due dates
• Output: Approved consensus demand plan, assumptions log, action items

# 7. Risks & Opportunities (5 min)

• Upside scenarios: potential demand above the consensus plan
• Downside risks: events that could reduce demand
• Quantify where possible (e.g., "$2M upside if Customer X confirms Q3 launch")
• Output: Risk/opportunity register for supply review and executive meeting

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# Meeting Outputs Summary

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# Common Pitfalls

• Reviewing every SKU — Stay at the family level; only drill into SKUs for major exceptions.
• Relitigating the statistical model — Model selection is a pre-work activity. The meeting is for consensus, not methodology debates.
• No sales participation — If sales sends a delegate who can't make commitments, the consensus isn't real.
• Skipping the accuracy review — Without accountability for prior forecasts, overrides accumulate unchecked.

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# Further Reading

• Demand Planning — The full demand planning process, forecasting methods, and segmentation.
• Forecast Accuracy — How to measure and improve demand plan quality.
• Supply Review Agenda — The next meeting in the IBP cycle, which consumes this meeting's output.