Two-minute self-assessment

Is your plan produced by a system, or negotiated by people?

Eight questions. Nothing is sent anywhere and nothing is stored — the scoring runs in your browser, and no email is required to see the result. These are the same eight things I look at in the first week of a real diagnostic, which is the only reason the score means anything.

Question 01

Between the system's suggested quantity and the purchase order going out, how many people can change the number?

Question 02

Where does the plan your buyers actually work from live?

Question 03

Do demand and supply reconcile on a fixed cadence, with a named owner per session?

Question 04

If you asked three people in your business what last month's fill rate was, how many answers would you get?

Question 05

How is safety stock set?

Question 06

How do you decide which location inventory goes to?

Question 07

When someone overrides the system, is the reason recorded and later checked against what happened?

Question 08

Roughly what share of a planner's week goes to assembling data and rebuilding reports rather than deciding?

What this is and isn't

A score isn't a diagnosis.

01

It's directional

Eight questions can tell you which half of the distribution you're in. They can't size an opportunity — that needs your ERP data, a week of watching how the work actually happens, and someone doing the arithmetic.

02

The questions are the point

Even if you never contact me, the eight things above are the eight things worth arguing about internally. Several companies I've worked with couldn't answer question one without a meeting, which is itself the answer.

03

A low score is a real answer

If you come out disciplined, I'll say so on the call rather than sell you a diagnostic. The engagements that go badly are the ones where someone talked themselves into a problem that wasn't there.

What a real three-week diagnostic covers →