Information Technology

Gartner Glossary

Supply Chain Planning (SCP)

Supply chain planning (SCP) is the forward-looking process of coordinating assets to optimize the delivery of goods, services and information from supplier to customer, balancing supply and demand. An SCP suite sits on top of a transactional system to provide planning, what-if scenario analysis capabilities and real-time demand commitments, considering constraints. Typical modules include:

  • Available/capable to promise
  • Sales and operations planning/integrated business planning
  • Collaborative planning (including forecasting and replenishment)
  • Vendor-managed inventory/direct point of sale 
  • Event planning (promotion, life cycle)
  • Demand planning
  • Inventory planning
  • Production/factory planning and scheduling
  • Distribution planning (unconstrained, distribution requirements planning [DRP] and deployment)
  • Strategic network design
  • Inventory strategy optimization (simultaneous, multitiered) 
  • Supply planning (optimized, DRP and deployment)
  • Production/multiplant capacity planning (master production scheduling, rough-cut capacity planning)

Experience Sourcing, Procurement and Vendor Management conferences

Join your peers for the unveiling of the latest insights at Gartner conferences.

Gartner Webinars

Expert insights and strategies to address your priorities and solve your most pressing challenges.