What is Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP)?

S&OP is the monthly, cross-functional cadence that aligns demand, supply, inventory, and finance to one plan. Teams review a rolling horizon, reconcile gaps to targets, run scenarios (price, promo, mix, capacity, lead time), and escalate trade-offs for executive sign-off. A strong S&OP process links strategic goals to operational constraints, reduces last-minute expedites, and improves service, margin, and cash then hands an agreed plan to execution with clear owners and KPIs.