Integrated Business Planning (IBP) has developed significantly from its origins in Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) over the last 10 years. However, its background in supply chain planning still weighs heavily and, in many cases, greatly limits its exposure and take-up as a core enterprise planning tool.
A key feature in successful deployments of IBP as an organisation-wide planning approach is the early involvement and advocacy of the Finance function, and especially the CFO.
In a series of 5 articles I published earlier this year on the Financial Management website of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA), I explored the value of IBP and how this is closely aligned with the emerging role and importance of Finance in enterprise strategic alignment, decision support and risk management.
Links to these articles are provided below:
1. How to plan for sustainable growth - an introduction to IBP as a corporate planning approach
2. How to successfully use integrated business planning - advice on deploying and sustaining IBP across the organisation
3. Enabling finance as a business partner - how IBP enables the development of the Finance business partner role
4. 3 priorities for building future finance leaders - how IBP supports the development of the key capabilities required for the future Finance function
5. Planning for long-term growth in a volatile world - a summary of articles 1-4 for a quick introduction to IBP, how to deploy it and why it is important for the Finance function.