Demand Planning

Lessons in this topic

• SAP IBP Demand Planning Tutorial (Part 1)Start with the IBP demand-planning model: planning areas, levels, key figures and the data used to create a forecast.
• Why Demand Planning Exists and How the IBP Planning Model Supports It (Part 2)Understand the business purpose of demand planning in SAP IBP and how the planning model (master data types, time profiles, planning levels, key figures) provides the technical foundation for forecasting.
• Configuring Statistical Forecasting and Demand Operators (Part 3)Learn how to configure forecast profiles, select forecasting models, run demand planning operators, and design the process flow from history to consensus demand.
• Designing Demand Planning Operators and Forecast Process Chains (Part 4)Learn how to design, sequence, and schedule IBP operators (statistical forecast, forecast consensus adjustments, disaggregation) into repeatable process chains that drive the demand planning cycle.
• Configuring Key Figures, Disaggregation, and Excel Planning Views for the Demand Cycle (Part 5)Learn how to configure demand-related key figures, define disaggregation logic for top-down planning, and build Excel-based planning views that support the statistical-to-consensus forecast workflow.
• Configuring Statistical Forecast Models and Forecast Profiles (Part 6)Learn how to configure forecast models, algorithms, and forecast profiles in SAP IBP Demand Planning to generate statistical baseline forecasts that planners can review and adjust.
• Advanced Demand Planning: Forecast Models, Bias and Forecast Value Add (Part 7)Improve demand planning by measuring whether statistical models and planner overrides actually add value rather than optimizing forecast metrics in isolation.

Interview questions covered

• What are the core concepts of Demand Planning, and how would you explain them clearly in an SAP interview?
• How would you apply Demand Planning in a real SAP project? Walk through the design or implementation approach.
• A production issue is reported in Demand Planning. What would you check first, and how would you troubleshoot it systematically?
• What are the most important design decisions, trade-offs, and best practices in Demand Planning?
• Suppose you inherit an existing Demand Planning solution. How would you review it before making a change?
• A senior architect is reviewing Demand Planning. The project situation is: Planners manually adjusted thousands of stable items each month. What design changes, validation evidence and production controls would you require before approving the solution?
• A project encounters this situation while working on Designing Demand Planning Operators and Forecast Process Chains: A consumer goods company runs a weekly demand planning cycle: actuals load from S/4HANA billing documents every Sunday night, followed by a statistical Forecast operator at family/region level, then a two-day consensus window where regional demand planners adjust in Excel, followed by a Disaggregation operator that spreads to SKU/DC/week for supply planning. Walk through how you would analyze the requirement or issue, what you would validate, and how you would test the solution before release.
• Using this SAP project situation — A consumer goods company onboarding SAP IBP defines its planning level as Product/Ship-To Location/Week for demand planning, but later discovers that finance wants revenue forecasts at the customer group level and supply wants replenishment at a daily grain for fast movers — explain Foundations of Demand Planning in SAP IBP. What should happen, which concepts or process steps matter, and what common mistake would you avoid?
• A project encounters this situation while working on Configuring Statistical Forecasting and Demand Operators: A mid-size manufacturer segments its portfolio into 'stable' and 'seasonal' product groups. Walk through how you would analyze the requirement or issue, what you would validate, and how you would test the solution before release.
• A project encounters this situation while working on Configuring Key Figures, Disaggregation, and Excel Planning Views for the Demand Cycle: During a consensus demand review, a regional planning manager overrode a monthly aggregate forecast upward by 15 percent to reflect a new promotion, expecting the increase to disaggregate mainly to the two SKUs actually being promoted. Walk through how you would analyze the requirement or issue, what you would validate, and how you would test the solution before release.
• A project encounters this situation while working on Configuring Statistical Forecast Models and Forecast Profiles: A consumer goods company implementing IBP Demand Planning found their initial statistical forecast wildly overshooting demand every quarter-end. Walk through how you would analyze the requirement or issue, what you would validate, and how you would test the solution before release.
• Using this SAP project situation — A consumer goods company onboarding IBP demand planning initially modeled everything at Product-Location level only, without Customer, because it seemed simpler — explain Why Demand Planning Exists and How the IBP Planning Model Supports It. What should happen, which concepts or process steps matter, and what common mistake would you avoid?

Related topics

Interview questions on this topic

• SAP IBP Demand Planning interview questions
• SAP IBP interview questions