In a standard S&OP process, unconstrained market demand is first transferred into a simulation environment within supply planning. The supply planning team then identifies bottlenecks and develops a constrained supply plan. This constrained plan is sent back to Demand Planning, where—if supply cannot fully meet the unconstrained demand—the S&OP team or an Allocation Board typically determines the constrained demand plan at an aggregate level.
In this project, however, the process differed. The system itself generated the constrained demand plan by applying proportional allocation, using both the unconstrained demand and the constrained supply as inputs.