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What this page is for

Demand planning is where you decide how much you expect to sell, month by month, so supply planning knows what to make and buy. Spherecast splits the work into three connected areas and gives you one number ladder to move down as the plan firms up. This page shows how the pieces fit together. Each area has its own detailed page linked below.

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The three areas

AreaWhat it isWho drives it
TargetsTop-down goals from leadership (revenue or units), broken down by Market, Channel, and GroupLeadership, entered by planners
Baseline forecast runsThe statistical forecast Spherecast generates from sales historyAutomatic, reviewed by planners
S&OP gridThe demand plan itself, where you review, adjust, and agree numbersDemand and supply planners
S&OP stands for Sales & Operations Planning.

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The metric ladder

Inside the S&OP grid you work down a ladder of rows. Each row is a refinement of the one above it.
  1. Target — the top-down goal for the month.
  2. Baseline — the statistical forecast Spherecast produces.
  3. Baseline Adj. — the Baseline plus the sum of every “included” adjustment line. This row is always derived; you never type into it directly. You change it by editing the adjustment lines beneath it.
  4. Consensus — the final agreed number your team commits to.
  5. Push down — you send Consensus into supply planning so it can plan production and purchasing.
Some companies rename these rows (for example “Consensus” or “Baseline Adj.”). The defaults are used throughout this guide.

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How the typical flow works

  1. Run a statistical Baseline forecast so every product and channel has a starting number.
  2. Layer adjustments on top of the Baseline. The sum of your included adjustment lines produces Baseline Adj.
  3. Review the plan together and agree a Consensus number.
  4. Push Consensus down into supply planning, which triggers a supply-plan re-run.
  5. Later, freeze the plan in a snapshot and measure accuracy against what actually sold.
Along the way you’ll use Filter & display to focus the grid on the products, channels, and timeframe you care about, and Targets to compare your plan against leadership’s goals.

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Example

A snack-food planner runs a monthly Baseline. For one cracker SKU the Baseline says 12,000 cases in March. Marketing confirms a promotion, so the planner adds a +2,000 case adjustment line. Baseline Adj. becomes 14,000. After the review meeting the team agrees Consensus at 13,500 and pushes it down. Supply planning re-plans production against 13,500 cases.
Tip: Work top to bottom on the ladder. Get a clean Baseline first, then adjust, then agree Consensus — chasing Consensus before the Baseline is settled usually means redoing work.