Sales & Operational Forecasting

Last week was dominated by Sales & Operational Forecasting (S&OP), making it the busiest of the month in my job. S&OP requires the Trade Marketing, Marketing, Finance and Demand Planning departments to work together on a combined forecast, which is sent to HQ.

That accomplished, I then meet with the Trade Marketing and Marketing departments, in order to discuss and weigh up all the issues that have arisen over the previous month.

It’s not so much about the meeting itself; rather, it’s the pre- and post-meeting tasks that keep me busy. Once we’re all aligned on a forecasting volume, I’ve to split total amounts and allocate them to each of the products and brands I look after, while ensuring the sum doesn’t change. The most challenging aspect is to bear in mind realistic sales volumes, as well as the inclusion of promotions that have already been announced. So, if you’re good at calculating and making reasonable assumptions, you’d surely be good at this!

June’s S&OP is now finished, and I can go back to spending my time on fine-tuning the forecast we’ve all agreed on. Yet it’s only two weeks until the next S&OP pre-meetings begin: valuable time to be put towards proper preparation, and to deal with the many other daily tasks that need to be done.