In the past weeks, the series of our Integrated Business Planning (IBP) campaign mostly contained information about processes, structures and tools that will help you start working with IBP. However, in order to implement IBP, your employees should be prepared as well. In this paper and checklist, you are guided through a set of elements regarding human factors in IBP that will help your organization prepare for working with IBP.

Within the projects Supply Value executes for her clients, our consultants structurally experience that the human aspects of supply chains are often forgotten. The role of technology is getting bigger and bigger, but the people in your organization are the ones who work with technology, the ones who lead the employees and give them perspective and direction, the ones you talk to during your breaks or the ones who assess you. Therefore, we can conclude that humans are no replaceable units, but they form the head, heart and hands of living and learning organizations. These different elements create value through interaction[1].

In short, the human role is even as important as the growing role of technology. You will always need a breeding ground for implementing technological innovations. Therefore, social skills are crucial to convey your ideas or perspectives.

These social skills are important in several stages of implementing IBP in your organization. It starts when the idea of implementing IBP is first suggested. You will face two challenges here: convincing (top) management and convincing the rest of the organization. Having convinced the people in your organization and having determined the skills and behaviour necessary for it, a (personnel) transition plan has to take place and lastly, an IBP leader must be appointed. This paper ends by providing a short summary.