Integrated Business Planning

For integrating functional plans, deploying business strategy, and driving business management

What is Integrated Business Planning (IBP)?

Integrated Business Planning (IBP) is a common-sense process designed for effective decision-making and led by your leadership team. True business integration means senior management can plan and manage the entire organization over a 24-36 month horizon, aligning strategic and tactical plans each month, and allocating critical resources, people, equipment, inventory, materials, time, and money; to satisfy your customers in the most profitable way.

Integrated Business Planning represents the evolution of Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) from the supply and demand balancing process developed in the early 1980s. Today it is a process that drives the alignment of all functions across an organization, models and creates readiness for alternate outcomes, drives deployment of strategy, and enhances collaboration across supply chains.

Oliver Wight Integrated Business Planning
Integrated Business Model

What is the difference between S&OP and IBP?

There are many differences between Sales & Operations Planning and Integrated Business Planning, but firstly it’s important to note that IBP is not a supply chain process; it has a much broader reach. IBP is the process that connects your strategy and business plan to ensure both are delivered.

The purpose of IBP is not to drive a better forecast with which supply chain can plan. It is the process that brings focus to the deployment of your business strategy and provides a framework for effective decision-making to drive growth.

It's also much more than just a monthly meeting. IBP is a company framework to surface and solve problems and continually re-optimize plans as circumstances change. IBP enables businesses to create an aligned, cross-functional plan for the future, based upon key assumptions. These assumptions, documented and updated each month, are based on insights.

Read our white paper to learn more about what sets Integrated Business Planning apart from Sales & Operations Planning.

Looking for help with IBP software?

Oliver Wight IBP Powered by Board is a holistic solution combining Oliver Wight's industry-leading Class A and implementation change management processes with Board software. Fully align people, processes, and technology and embed IBP and its benefits for years to come.

This offering combines IBP technology and process in one package for rapid time to value. You will benefit from Oliver Wight consulting and education + Board Intelligent Planning Platform + specialist implementation services. 

Find out more.

How mature is your organization's true level of maturity in IBP?

Before embarking on any performance improvement program, it is imperative to identify your organization's true level of maturity. The Oliver Wight Maturity Model characterizes an organization as being in one of four key phases of maturity: Co-ordination, Business Process Control, Automation, or Integration. Assess your business maturity in Integrated Business Planning using our free online self-assessment tool.

Assess your business maturity

You should consider Integrated Business Planning for your business if:

  • You are constantly in ‘fire-fighting’ mode

  • You have a misaligned management team

  • You are continually missing the financial plan

  • You are experiencing rapid growth and can no longer manage effectively using an informal process

  • Your budgeting process is ‘painful’

  • You are struggling to get on top of service issues

  • You cannot keep up with growth in demand

  • You have excessive inventory

  • You are experiencing excessive rework and cost

  • Departments or sites are working in silos

  • There is no ‘single source of truth’ or ‘single set of numbers’ to run the business

  • You feel like you never have time to look at the strategy

  • There is poor deployment and execution of the strategic plan

  • You have poor employee engagement

  • You feel like you are not getting a return on the effort put into your existing S&OP/IBP process

How we can help

  • A diagnostic assessment of your current S&OP or IBP process, including its effectiveness and identifying any performance issues

  • Transfer of our knowledge to your people so they can create and manage an effective IBP process

  • Change management – plan, monitor, and support the implementation of change and its impact on your people

  • Facilitate the design of an IBP process to best fit your organization and its needs

  • Scoping of an action plan to address issues and take advantage of the opportunities identified, including resourcing, timelines, and performance improvement expectations

  • Coach IBP process users as you introduce the new ways of working

  • Assess and validate that your IBP process has achieved a Class A level of effectiveness – firmly embedded as the ‘way you do things’ and delivering the benefits you wanted

Integrated Business Planning is a cutting edge process which creates cross-functional alignment and enables businesses to re-focus to meet the ever-changing environment. IBP generates readiness for alternative outcomes, enhances collaboration, and ultimately drives deployment of strategy in an uncertain world.

The chosen process of some of the world’s most progressive and best-known organizations, IBP is a common-sense process that maximizes profit and enables leaders to manage risk with confidence.

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Integrated Business Planning

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