Demand Planner User Flow

Version: 3.0
Date: September 11, 2025
(Revised based on detailed user experience feedback)

1. Overview & Objective

This document defines the user journey for the Demand Planner persona. Its objective is to create a highly intelligent, adaptive, and collaborative experience that transforms the asynchronous "Prepare" phase from a simple data review into a strategic, decision-oriented workflow. The design incorporates advanced AI features, real-time collaboration, and a focus on minimizing cognitive load while maximizing insight.

1.1. Core Architectural Principle: Dynamic Page Generation

This user flow is implemented via a Dynamic Page Generation architecture. All screens, from the Home Screen to the Workbench, are constructed on-the-fly by backend AI services (PageContextInsightService, ActionTitleService) that generate a JSON layout based on the user's role, the current data context, and the S&OP cycle step. This ensures a highly personalized and context-aware experience, aligning with the core vision of a "live slide" rather than a static dashboard.

2. The Demand Planner's Personalized Home Screen (v2)

Objective: To provide the Demand Planner with an instant, prioritized view of their S&OP cycle status and the single most important action they need to take, enriched with AI-driven context.

2.1. Functional Requirements

Predictive Action Prioritization (Zone A): The primary "Action Required" card will be enhanced with AI-driven context to provide urgency and guidance [cite: your feedback].
- It will display a dynamic urgency reason (e.g., "3 critical bias patterns detected").
- It will quantify the business impact of inaction (e.g., "$2.3M potential revenue at risk").
- It will provide a smart entry point to the review, suggesting where to start (e.g., "Start with Widget-Pro family (highest impact opportunity)").
Conversational Intelligence Feed (Zone D): The "Background Intelligence" feed will be more conversational and interactive [cite: your feedback].
- Insights will be phrased as proactive questions (e.g., "I noticed your Widget-Pro forecasts have been consistently optimistic. Want me to show you the pattern?").
- The feed will include actionable alerts from external data sources (e.g., "Competitor X just announced a Q4 price cut...").
Real-Time Collaboration Status: A new widget will provide visibility into the status of dependent team members, powered by our backend services [cite: your feedback].
- It will show status updates like: "Supply planner: Reviewed capacity constraints (2 hours ago)" or "Finance analyst: Approved margin assumptions (pending your submission)."

2.2. Wireframe / Layout

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [ZONE A: ACTION REQUIRED] |
| - Title: October S&OP Cycle: Demand Review |
| - AI Context: "$2.3M revenue at risk due to detected bias patterns." |
| - Action Button: [ Start Review (Focus on Widget-Pro) ] |
+------------------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| [ZONE B: PERFORMANCE SNAPSHOT] | [ZONE C: STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT] |
| - Data Health Score: 88% (Good) | - Top Objective: Increase Margin|
| - Last Cycle Accuracy: 78% (🔻-7 pts) | - External News: Competitor Cut |
+------------------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| [ZONE D: BACKGROUND INTELLIGENCE] AI Insight Feed |
| - "I noticed your Widget-Pro forecasts are consistently optimistic..." |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+

3. The Demand Data Review Page (v2)

Objective: To guide the Demand Planner through a strategic, insight-driven process that results in a high-quality, well-documented, and confirmed Unconstrained Demand Plan.

3.1. Functional Requirements

Intelligent Chart Narratives (Panel A): The primary data visualization chart will be enhanced with dynamic, AI-generated narratives and overlays [cite: your feedback].
- AI Annotations: The IntelligentChartingService will add annotations directly to the chart to highlight key events, such as a "success pattern" (e.g., "Promotional lift exceeded average") or a "risk_alert" (e.g., "EMEA bias pattern detected") [cite: your list, your feedback].
- Predictive Overlay: The chart will include an option to overlay the statistical forecast with confidence bands (e.g., an 80% confidence interval).
- Scenario Toggles: The user can toggle between different pre-calculated views of the plan, such as "Current Plan," "AI Bias-Corrected," "Conservative," and "Optimistic."
Intelligent Decision Sequencing (Panel B): The "AI Insights & Decision Hub" will be transformed into a priority-based workflow that guides the user through the most critical decisions first [cite: your feedback].
- The PageContextInsightService will deliver a prioritized list of critical_decisions [cite: your list, your feedback].
- Each decision card will show its business impact (e.g., "$1.2M working capital optimization") and the AI's confidence score.
- The AI will offer assistance for complex decisions (e.g., "I can pull similar historical campaign data for comparison").
- A workflow intelligence module will provide an estimated time to completion and suggest the "next best action" to the user.
Smart Data Validation (Live): A real-time data quality scoring service will be active on this page [cite: your feedback].
- The UI will display live scores for completeness, consistency, and timeliness.
- It will proactively flag high-severity issues detected in the data, such as a major outlier that is "287% above historical seasonal pattern."
Predictive Decision Impact (Live): The "Strategic Impact Analysis" card will be enhanced to show the cascading, forward-looking effects of any decision made [cite: your feedback].
- When a user applies a change (e.g., "-8% bias correction"), the card will instantly model the cascading effects on inventory_optimization, service_level_impact, and forecast_accuracy_improvement.
- It will also provide a Monte Carlo Preview, showing the real-time change to key probabilistic metrics like stockout_risk_change and p90_revenue_impact.

3.2. Wireframe / Layout

3.3. Future-State Enhancements (Post-MVP)

Mobile-First Enhancements: We will design a streamlined mobile view for quick approvals and annotations on the go [cite: your feedback].
Advanced Workflow Intelligence & Personalization: The platform will learn from user behavior to provide an adaptive experience [cite: your feedback].
Performance & Scalability: We will explore intelligent caching and offline capabilities via a Progressive Web App (PWA) [cite: your feedback].

1. Overview & Objective​

1.1. Core Architectural Principle: Dynamic Page Generation​

2. The Demand Planner's Personalized Home Screen (v2)​

2.1. Functional Requirements​

2.2. Wireframe / Layout​

3. The Demand Data Review Page (v2)​

3.1. Functional Requirements​

3.2. Wireframe / Layout​

3.3. Future-State Enhancements (Post-MVP)​