1. Planning & SIOP Alignment

Your SIOP and Sales & Operations Execution processes only work if demand is loaded in the ERP system accurately, and a realistic master schedule drives operations and supply chain to act.
The assessment looks at:

• Whether SIOP outputs flow into ERP demand and master scheduling
• How you audit independent and dependent demand for errors and duplicates
• How well capacity constraints are reflected in how you load the shop

You’ll see where your planning rhythm is strong—and where it breaks as soon as it hits the system.

2. Master Data as a Living Asset

If master data is wrong, your “plan” is just a wish.

This pillar reviews how you manage:

• Item and planning data: Planning parameters, BOMs, routings, and work centers
• Costing data: Whether costs are loaded and maintained for active items
• Supplier and customer records: Clean addresses, terms, and sourcing attributes
• ERP user governance: Who can create and change data, and how it’s controlled

You’ll see if your data backbone supports reliable planning—or quietly undermines it every day.

3. Part Strategy & Material Planning Discipline

Every part needs more than a part number—it needs a strategy.

Here, the assessment checks whether your planning rules are intentional and enforced:

• Is there a clear Plan for Every Part that covers replenishment method, lot sizing, and safety stock logic? If you want a deeper walkthrough of the core replenishment methods, see the Order Policy Playbook.
• Do you use ABC and segmentation to focus effort and apply differentiated policies?
• Are C-class parts managed with simple, low-touch strategies that protect availability and planner time? For practical methods and ERP setups, the C-Class Planning Strategy Guide breaks these approaches down.
• Is your manufacturing calendar accurate so demand and supply dates align with real working days?
• Do planning parameters actually stay in sync with how parts behave?

This pillar shows whether parts are managed like a portfolio—or treated like a flat list of SKUs.

4. Supply Chain & Supplier Performance

If requisitions, POs, and vendors aren’t aligned, your ERP can’t protect your promises.

This area looks at how cleanly you turn planned demand into inbound supply:

• How often requisitions are used and how closely POs follow them
• Whether sourcing rules, list prices, and automatic POs reduce manual buyer work
• How you manage PO changes, promise acknowledgments, and shipment visibility
• How frequently vendor lead times are reviewed and updated in ER

You’ll see if your ERP is driving a disciplined supply chain—or just recording what already happened.

5. New Product & Change Readiness

New products shouldn’t break your ERP every time they launch.

This pillar reviews how NPI flows are tied into ERP and Supply Chain:

• Are projects and proposals set up with enough structure to plan materials, tools, and capacity?
• Does Sourcing get early notifications of new designs and new component demand?
• How standardized are RFQs, supplier selection, tooling buys, sample POs, and approved supplier lists for new parts?

You’ll see whether new products slot cleanly into your existing ERP framework—or arrive as one-off exceptions every time.

6. Production Planning & Shop Floor Discipline

If work orders and material transactions are messy, your ERP view of WIP is fiction.

Here, the focus is on how tightly the shop floor and ERP stay in sync:

• How you create, name, and manage work orders across their life cycle
• Whether make lead times reflect actual performance
• How WIP supply, backflushing, and material transactions are configured and used
• How quickly you detect material shortages and non-conforming material

The assessment surfaces where production is well controlled—and where the system is always playing catch-up.

7. Warehouse, Inventory Control & Forecasting

You can’t optimize inventory you don’t trust—or can’t see.

• Warehouse execution: Receipts, put-away, subinventories, storage logic, picking, and shipping
• Inventory controllership: Cycle counting, adjustments, and physical inventory discipline
• Inventory forecasting & optimization: How you forecast inventory, track turns, connect SIOP to inventory plans, and segment on-hand stock (with supporting tools like the Inventory Turns Calculator and the Inventory Forecasting – Input Output Model).

You’ll understand if inventory values are trustworthy, if material flows are efficient, and whether your working capital strategy is backed by data—or driven by fear of stockouts.