Integrated Business Planning

Let’s Rethink How We Manage Business

 

IBP is provocative, challenging, and, at times, contentious, yet the benefits are unquestionable. We have experience navigating the dynamics which impede IBP implementation in a variety of different businesses. This experience affords us the opportunity to help others take the concepts of IBP and provide pragmatic operational solutions, avoiding rabbit-holes, minefields, and some of the frustration associated with the deployment.  This site is created to provide online support, answer questions, and help others on their IBP implementation journey.

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BusinessPlanning

Planning for uncertainty, responding with agility

“We have implemented Integrated Business Planning (IBP) but our performance doesn’t seem to be improving, why is it not working?”   This is a common frustration for many organizations that have embarked on the journey of IBP to obtain this miraculous alignment between supply and demand only to be left with minimal performance improvement.  In the early days of an IBP implementation the focus is hyperinflated on the business’s ability to demand plan within reasonable level of accuracy and eliminating bias, however determining the reasonable level of accuracy can often be subjective.   A supply chain manager that expects 98% accuracy in…
Debbie Evans
May 5, 2021
Business

Navigating the Acronyms: Understanding the Differences between S&OP, SIOP, and IBP

In the world of supply chain management, acronyms abound. Three of the most frequently used, and often confused, are S&OP, SIOP, and IBP. While they all share common objectives in optimizing business processes, they are distinct in their approaches and scopes. In this article, we will delve into the differences between S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning), SIOP (Sales, Inventory, Operations Planning), and IBP (Integrated Business Planning), shedding light on their unique characteristics and how they contribute to the success of an organization.  If you asked 10 people to describe the differences, you likely will get 10 different answers.  Here are…
Debbie Evans
September 24, 2023
Integrated Business Planning

IBP – Where Decisions Are Made

In the movie Field of Dreams, the character played by Kevin Costner repeatedly heard the words, “if you build it, he will come”, implying that if he built a baseball diamond in his cornfield the famous Shoeless Joe Jackson would return to play ball once again.   If only this worked when implementing IBP, if you build it value will come.  Unfortunately building an IBP process doesn’t necessarily mean value from the process will miraculously just appear like Shoeless Joe Jackson and we are left with a mechanized IBP process but dissatisfied with the results. When designing an IBP process…
Debbie Evans
October 23, 2020
BusinessIntegrated Business PlanningOperations

The Importance of Capable People in the IBP Process

Integrated business planning facilitates a systemic cadence that enables leadership to make the appropriate business decisions to achieve their long-term ambitions.   This is accomplished by aligning plans, understanding assumptions, evaluating opportunities and vulnerabilities, and perpetually reviewing the different scenarios for optimization.  Too often during an IBP implementation, the process is focused on establishing the various reviews centered on the mechanics of the process rather than the intent.  The process itself will not yield the desired results for the business, it is dependent on the right capability of the people to be thoughtful about what is important for discussions.  Consider…
Debbie Evans
September 24, 2020