Act as a supply-chain analyst. Analyze the operation described below and produce a decision-ready improvement plan. Do not assume missing data or invent supplier performance, costs, lead times, capacity, or savings. Business context: [BUSINESS CONTEXT] Products and demand pattern: [PRODUCTS AND DEMAND] Current supply-chain data and pain points: [DATA AND PAIN POINTS] Constraints and priorities: [CONSTRAINTS AND PRIORITIES] Planning horizon and available owners: [HORIZON AND OWNERS] 1. Start with a one-paragraph diagnosis that separates symptoms from likely root causes. Distinguish demand variability, forecast bias, supplier reliability, internal planning, inventory policy, manufacturing capacity, warehouse execution, and transport performance. 2. Create a table with: issue, evidence supplied, likely root cause, operational impact, metric to validate it, owner, first action, and target date. 3. Quantify only what the inputs support. For inventory, consider service level, safety stock, reorder point, MOQ, lead-time variability, obsolete stock, and stockout cost. For suppliers, assess on-time-in-full, lead-time variation, quality, concentration, and contingency options. For logistics, assess order cycle time, fill rate, freight mode, lane performance, and expedite causes. 4. Recommend a 30-, 60-, and 90-day plan. Make actions specific enough to assign: data clean-up, policy change, supplier discussion, planning cadence, pilot, or escalation. Show dependencies and decisions that need executive approval. 5. Finish with a compact KPI scorecard: definition, formula, current baseline if known, target, reporting cadence, and owner. Before answering, check that every conclusion traces to supplied evidence; label assumptions and data gaps separately. Also flag any recommendation that could improve one metric while harming service, working capital, quality, or resilience. Ask up to 3 clarifying questions only if a required input is missing.
Fill in
| Placeholder | What to enter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| [BUSINESS CONTEXT] | Describe the company, customer promise, regions served, and how products flow from source to customer. | US direct-to-consumer kitchenware brand; imports from Vietnam, stores at one New Jersey 3PL, ships within 2 business days. |
| [PRODUCTS AND DEMAND] | List major product groups, demand seasonality, forecast process, and any important customer segments. | 180 SKUs; 12 core items drive 70% of sales; demand peaks 3x in November; monthly forecast by merchandising. |
| [DATA AND PAIN POINTS] | Paste available metrics, examples of failures, and known supplier, inventory, warehouse, or freight issues. | Fill rate fell from 96% to 89%; 18% of orders had split shipments; top supplier OTIF is 78%; slow movers equal 42% of units on hand. |
| [CONSTRAINTS AND PRIORITIES] | State budget, systems, contracts, service targets, cash constraints, and the outcomes that matter most. | No new ERP this year; reduce stockouts before holiday while keeping inventory cash under $2.4M. |
| [HORIZON AND OWNERS] | Give the planning period and the teams or roles able to own actions. | Next 90 days; supply planning manager, sourcing lead, merchandising director, 3PL operations manager. |
How to use
- Paste the prompt and replace every bracketed input with your operating facts and metric definitions.
- Include a recent export or a concise metric summary; label the date range and any suspected data-quality problem.
- Check that the action table has one accountable owner and a measurable validation metric for every priority.
- Follow up with: “Turn the 30-day actions into a weekly operating-review agenda with inputs due from each owner.”
Variations
Supplier scorecard
Use this when supplier performance is the immediate concern.
Build a supplier scorecard from [SUPPLIER DATA] for [PRODUCT CATEGORY]. Rank suppliers using OTIF, lead-time variability, defect rate, responsiveness, MOQ, payment terms, capacity risk, and concentration exposure. Show the data source for each rating and do not fill gaps with assumptions. Produce a table with score, evidence, commercial or continuity risk, corrective action, owner, and review date. End with the three supplier conversations to hold first. Ask up to 3 questions only for missing required data.
Inventory reset
Use this when excess inventory and stockouts coexist.
Analyze [INVENTORY EXPORT] and [DEMAND HISTORY] for [BUSINESS RULES]. Segment SKUs into replenish, protect, reduce, liquidate, and investigate. Explain the evidence using lead time, demand variability, MOQ, margin, lifecycle status, service target, and existing stock. Produce a SKU-action table, a weekly cash and service-risk view, and policy changes for safety stock or reorder points. Do not calculate unavailable values; identify missing fields. Ask up to 3 questions only if required inputs are absent.
S&OP agenda
Use this when planning meetings produce decisions without follow-through.
Create a 60-minute S&OP meeting pack for [COMPANY CONTEXT] using [CURRENT METRICS] and [DECISIONS NEEDED]. Include demand changes, supply constraints, inventory exceptions, financial tradeoffs, decisions required, and action log. For each decision, name the decision owner, options, deadline, and consequence of delay. Separate facts, assumptions, and open questions. Produce a one-page agenda plus a decision register. Ask up to 3 questions only if essential inputs are missing.
Tips
- Do not average away volatility: separate average lead time from lead-time variation, because the latter often drives safety stock and expedites.
- Use OTIF with an agreed definition; a supplier can appear on time while delivering partial quantities that still create customer shortages.
- Put a dollar and service consequence beside inventory recommendations, since a lower inventory target can simply move cost into lost sales or freight.
- Assign a single owner to each action; “supply chain team” is not an accountable owner.
FAQ
Can AI analyze a spreadsheet of supply-chain data?
Yes, if you provide definitions, date ranges, and enough columns to interpret the data. Treat its calculations as a draft and validate formulas and outliers before acting.
Which KPIs should I include?
Start with customer fill rate or OTIF, forecast bias and accuracy, inventory turns or days on hand, supplier OTIF, order cycle time, and expedite cost. Add metrics only when a team can act on them.
Will this replace an operations consultant?
It can organize analysis and expose questions quickly, but it cannot inspect facilities, validate source systems, or negotiate operational tradeoffs for you.