Demand Review Meeting Minutes Template
The demand review is where the statistical forecast becomes a consensus plan. Without written minutes, changes get lost between the demand and supply reviews. This template records what changed, why, which risks were accepted and who owns each action.
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Demand Review Meeting Minutes Template
Demand Review Minutes
Company: Acme Precision Ltd Cycle: October 2026 Date: 2026-10-21 Chair: Demand planning manager
Attendees
Demand planning, sales (EMEA, Americas), marketing, finance, supply planning, product management
Headline message
Unconstrained demand is 3% above last cycle for the next 6 months, driven by a new distributor contract. Two product families are 8% below plan.
Forecast changes by family
| Product family | Previous plan | New plan | Change % | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Key assumptions
Pricing: Promotions and campaigns: Customer wins and losses: New products and phase outs: Macro or market factors:
Risks and opportunities
| Item | Type | Volume at stake | Probability | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Decisions
Approve the distributor volume at the base case. Hold the high case as an upside risk. Reduce family B by 5% from January.
Actions
| Action | Owner | Due date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Approval
Send the minutes within one working day so the supply review starts from the agreed demand plan.
Pre-built demand review pack
Ask for an optional review of how to generate the demand review pack from your ERP data.
Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.
How to use it
Fill the header and the headline message before the meeting, then complete the tables live or straight after. The forecast changes table should show previous plan, new plan and the reason, one row per product family. Download as PDF or Word and send the same day. Keep the minutes in one folder per cycle so the history of assumptions is auditable.
What a demand review decides
A demand review does not discuss capacity, that is for supply review. It agrees one unconstrained demand number per family, documents the assumptions behind it, and logs risks and opportunities that are outside the base plan. Keeping risks separate from the base stops optimistic numbers leaking into the plan that supply executes.
- Agree one number per family
- Log assumptions explicitly
- Keep risks outside the base plan
- Assign an owner and date to each action
Reading the change column
Compare each family against the last cycle and against the same period last year. Consistent upward revisions by sales that never materialize point to bias, which the tracking signal will confirm. A change without a stated reason should not be accepted. The reason column forces that discipline.
Common mistakes
Meetings often drift into supply problems and decisions are not written down. Another mistake is changing numbers in the meeting without recording who asked for the change. Capture the requester and reason for every change, and measure later whether overrides improved accuracy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a demand review in S&OP?
The demand review is the step in the monthly S&OP cycle where sales, marketing, planning and finance review the statistical forecast, add known commercial information and agree one unconstrained demand plan for the planning horizon.
Who should attend the demand review?
Demand planning, sales, marketing, product management and finance, with supply planning observing. Each attendee should bring information that the statistical model cannot see.
How long should the minutes be?
One to two pages. They should show the headline, family level changes with reasons, key assumptions, risks and a short action list. Detailed SKU data belongs in the planning system.
How do I track whether changes helped?
Log each override and compare the error of the adjusted forecast with the statistical one after the actuals arrive. The forecast override log worksheet does this row by row.
Netray can draft the headline message and change table from your ERP and planning data before each meeting, leaving the team to debate decisions instead of assembling numbers.
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