Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP)
The goal of S&OP is to align sales strategies with operational abilities. The process typically includes a product review, demand review, supply review, pre-S&OP, and executive S&OP. In theory, it helps companies make informed trade-offs and plan with confidence.
But in practice most companies find the process painfully slow and disconnected from reality. The biggest frustration is that it takes too long to prepare the data, run scenarios, and reach decisions. And by the time consensus is achieved, the business context has already moved on.
But in practice most companies find the process painfully slow and disconnected from reality. The biggest frustration is that it takes too long to prepare the data, run scenarios, and reach decisions. And by the time consensus is achieved, the business context has already moved on.
What is Flow Driven S&OP?
Flow-Driven S&OP transforms your S&OP process into a strategic weapon. At its core is our Bill of Flow logic, which organizes products by how they flow through your buisness, making trade-offs visible and decisions easier to action. With AI-powered scenario modeling and real-time data from our datamart, you can simulate options instantly and make confident choices on the spot.
Unlike traditional S&OP that’s bogged down in detail, this approach empowers instant answers to your strategic thinking.
Speak to an ExpertUnlike traditional S&OP that’s bogged down in detail, this approach empowers instant answers to your strategic thinking.
With Flow Driven S&OP, desisions are made continuous and in real time, not after the fact.
“We were able to adequately prepare for our Easter peak with only 8 weeks to go when we thought we had no chance. The biggest challenge I had wasn't getting the system to work, it was convincing the business that the problem we had been struggling over for months internally was solved in a matter of days using CommWise AI Collaboration—it just didn't seem possible to them!”
Supply Chain Manager -
How does Flow Driven S&OP enable rapid and sustainable results?
Flow Groups & Resource Aggregation
Organizes demand into flow groups and aggregates resources into manageable buckets.
Bill of Flow
Shows how demand translates into resource usage without complex BOMs.
AI-Assisted Scenario Creation
Enables planners to build and evaluate scenarios with simple prompts.
Instant Scenario Modeling
Allows rapid testing of disruptions and strategic options side-by-side.
Executable Plan
Uses the DDS&OP tactical hub to ensure your strategy is executed and monitored.
AI Secretary
Tracks every action, captures every insight, and makes each scenario audit-ready.
The 5 Steps of Flow Driven S&OP
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What S&OP needs: S&OP is a strategic process that operates at a family or group level. The starting point for every S&OP process is to group demand, supply, and inventory into logical families and to set the available capacity for each group.
What b2wise adds: Using the latest data in our DataMart, b2wise AI Agents automatically identify the most effective flow groups based on product demand patterns and the way the products flow through your operations. It then sets the default capacity per resource. This flow-driven rule set forms the foundation for a structured, meaningful S&OP process.
What b2wise adds: Using the latest data in our DataMart, b2wise AI Agents automatically identify the most effective flow groups based on product demand patterns and the way the products flow through your operations. It then sets the default capacity per resource. This flow-driven rule set forms the foundation for a structured, meaningful S&OP process.
What S&OP needs: A critical part of S&OP is reviewing new products, demand, and supply to understand historical performance and set new parameters for the future. This includes managing product introductions, adjusting forecasts, and validating supply capabilities.Maps demand to capacity to ensure feasibility.
What b2wise adds: Using the DataMart and AI Agents, b2wise automatically builds your demand and supply reviews. It lets you assess historical performance, capture notes, model multiple demand and supply scenarios, and manage new product introductions quickly and easily—all in one place.
What b2wise adds: Using the DataMart and AI Agents, b2wise automatically builds your demand and supply reviews. It lets you assess historical performance, capture notes, model multiple demand and supply scenarios, and manage new product introductions quickly and easily—all in one place.
What S&OP needs: A key part of S&OP is having a tool that can functionally execute the different scenarios you want to run. This is crucial for evaluating supply, demand, and capacity trade-offs in a structured manner.Helps evaluate supply-demand balance through scenario thinking.Helps evaluate supply-demand balance through scenario thinking.
What b2wise adds: The problem with many tools today is their rigidity—when new challenges or scenarios appear, adapting the process often requires expensive and time-consuming configuration changes. With CommWise.AI Studio, b2wise lets you rapidly create the new functional logic needed to model new scenarios as they emerge, keeping your S&OP tool agile, relevant, and responsive.
What b2wise adds: The problem with many tools today is their rigidity—when new challenges or scenarios appear, adapting the process often requires expensive and time-consuming configuration changes. With CommWise.AI Studio, b2wise lets you rapidly create the new functional logic needed to model new scenarios as they emerge, keeping your S&OP tool agile, relevant, and responsive.
What S&OP needs: An essential part of S&OP is running scenarios and documenting the assumptions, trade-offs, and decisions made in each cycle. Without this, decisions become disconnected from the data and assumptions that supported them.
What b2wise adds: b2wise uses generative AI to capture every change made during a scenario modelling run automatically. It documents the assumptions behind each scenario and provides summaries tied to the financial and operational metrics established in Step 3—ensuring full traceability and transparency.
What b2wise adds: b2wise uses generative AI to capture every change made during a scenario modelling run automatically. It documents the assumptions behind each scenario and provides summaries tied to the financial and operational metrics established in Step 3—ensuring full traceability and transparency.
What S&OP needs: Once a scenario is agreed upon, the final step is to ensure the plan is executed in the operational environment. This is where many S&OP processes break down—because there’s no formal way to connect strategic intent with day-to-day execution.Updates and realigns plans on a regular cadence.
What b2wise adds: Dick Ling (the father of S&OP) solved this by introducing the tactical hub called DD-S&OP, developed with guidance from Dick Ling, the founder of the DDS-S&OP. With this structure in place, you can now embed strategic plans directly into your operational model, ensuring that execution teams follow the company’s strategic objectives.
What b2wise adds: Dick Ling (the father of S&OP) solved this by introducing the tactical hub called DD-S&OP, developed with guidance from Dick Ling, the founder of the DDS-S&OP. With this structure in place, you can now embed strategic plans directly into your operational model, ensuring that execution teams follow the company’s strategic objectives.
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