The IBP blog

professional articles, expert analysis

Integrated Business Planning

Behavior Challenges when Implementing IBP

Behavior is a critical issue in the implementation of Integrated Business Planning (IBP) because the success of IBP relies heavily on people and their ability to work collaboratively and align their behaviors with the goals of the process. There are several reasons why behavior can be a challenge in IBP implementation. Firstly, IBP requires a significant shift in the way people work and think. It involves breaking down silos and encouraging cross-functional collaboration, which can be difficult in organizations where departments have historically worked independently. This requires a change in behavior at both an individual and organizational level, and this…
Debbie Evans
April 4, 2023
Integrated Business Planning

Challenges Implementing Integrated Business Planning

Implementing an Integrated Business Planning (IBP) process is a complex and challenging initiative. IBP is a strategic management process that aligns an organization's planning and execution functions across all levels of the organization. This process provides a framework for companies to integrate their business strategies, financial planning, demand and supply planning, and operational planning. However, implementing an IBP process can be challenging, and organizations may encounter several obstacles in the process. In this article, we will discuss some of the significant challenges that companies face while implementing an IBP process. Challenges of implementing an IBP process: Organizational culture: Organizational culture…
Debbie Evans
April 1, 2023
Business

Why deploying Integrated Business Planning is so hard..

Conceptually, integrated business planning isn’t complicated to discern and as a result, many organizations readily take on this journey of enlightenment. This prospective planned utopia of enlightenment that provide a regular cadence for aligning plans between our product portfolio, commercial demand and supply chain that enables business leadership to orchestrate the necessary business decisions for the achievement of strategic growth over the long horizon.  How hard can it be, right?  Unfortunately, for those that have led an organization through such a journey, it is by far one of the most challenging roles to undertake and definitely not for the faint…
Debbie Evans
December 1, 2021
Capability

How do you know if your IBP Process is working

For many organizations reflecting upon their IBP performance, demand planning is considered as the primary indicator on determining a successful IBP process. A demand plan that achieves utopia by perfectly aligning demand with supply and when this does not occur it must be a demand planning issue and therefore IBP must be broken.  Conceptually we can all accept that there is no such thing as a perfect forecast, in practice however many organizations expect this elusive perfection and as an IBP practitioner, I am often besieged by supply chain leaders on the failures of supply chain performance as a result…
Debbie Evans
September 20, 2021
Capability

Advance S&OP to IBP – simple right?

I’m going to reframe from a lengthy affirmation of how your S&OP process is rocking; The effective ownership of the unconstrained demand forecast, systemic bias controlled within +/-2%.  The ability and accuracy of the process to constrain demand based upon material, resource availability and machine capacity. Generating a credible supply plan and measuring production adherence weekly and monthly against this plan to ensure sales commitments to customers are respected. Controlling abnormal demand when customer orders are over forecast, worst still when they drop orders inside published lead-time. Your ERP is effectively driving the materials requirement plan and accurately performing production…
Kim Britton
September 7, 2021
Business

Finance and Integrated Business Planning

The real value of integrated business planning (IBP) is the ability to establish credible plans that enable the business leadership to make the appropriate tactical and strategic decisions that aligns with the business’s ambitions over the long-term horizon.   To accomplish this, the IBP process requires transparency of bottom-up plans with credible assumptions that can be financialized that leadership trusts.   Unfortunately, integrating finance into the IBP process can be challenging for an array of reasons that often result in financial leaders becoming frustrated.  This frustration is recognized when you hear comments such as, “the business doesn’t know how to plan”, or…
Debbie Evans
June 1, 2021
BusinessIntegrated Business Planning

Challenges of IBP

After 8 years implementing, coaching businesses and designing Integrated Business Planning (IBP) processes I have accumulated a long list of common challenges that often plague IBP deployments.   To understand all the challenges it is important to understand the intent and purpose of IBP. To contextualize how IBP should work in a business it is best to illustrate with an example.  Let say you want to grow your business from $500M to $1B in 3 years while maintaining a 15% EBITDA.   This is the focus to which the IBP process is centered for all the 5 steps, product portfolio review, commercial…
Debbie Evans
May 24, 2021
man reading newspaper while sitting near table with smartphone and cupBusinessPlanning

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