Use Copilot in Excel for S&OP Scenario What-If Summaries

What This Does

Before an S&OP meeting, you usually build two or three demand or supply scenarios in a workbook and then walk through what changed by eye. Copilot's data insight feature reads a range and summarizes the trend, the outliers, and the biggest movers in plain sentences, so your pre-read starts from a written summary instead of a blank comment box next to the numbers.

Before You Start

• You have a scenario workbook open with the demand or supply totals you want summarized, ideally in a clean table with header row
• Your organization has a Microsoft 365 Copilot license added to the subscription. This is the same add-on that covers Copilot's formula feature, and if your team already uses that, you likely already have this. See Microsoft's Copilot page to confirm current plan requirements, or ask IT
• Column headers describe what each column holds (Scenario, SKU or Category, Baseline Units, Revised Units) rather than generic labels like Col1

Steps

1. Find the Copilot feature

Open the Copilot side pane from the icon in the lower right corner of the Excel window. This is the same pane used for formula writing, but here you ask it to describe your data rather than calculate something new.

2. Tell it what you need

Select the range covering your scenario data, or reference it by name, and ask for a summary rather than a formula. Ask specifically for what changed between scenarios, not just a general description.

Example: "Summarize how the revised demand scenario in columns D and E changes total units and dollar exposure compared to the baseline in columns B and C. Call out the three categories with the biggest swings."

3. Review and use the result

Copilot returns a short written summary, and it can also suggest a chart or PivotTable to go with it. Read the summary against a couple of rows you already know well; if it misreads which column is the baseline and which is revised, correct your prompt and ask again before you use the output in your pre-read.

Real Example

Scenario: Sales wants to model a 15 percent demand increase for a key account ahead of Thursday's S&OP meeting, and you need a two-sentence summary for the pre-read email, not a full slide.

What you type: "Summarize what changes in total units and freight cost per unit if demand for the Key Account category rises 15 percent, using the scenario columns F through I. Keep it to two sentences."

What you get: A short paragraph noting the category's projected unit increase, the resulting freight cost per unit shift, and which other category now competes for warehouse capacity. You paste that into the pre-read and move on to the next scenario.

Tips

• Ask for the comparison directly ("compared to baseline," "the three biggest swings") instead of a generic "summarize this sheet." A vague prompt gets a vague summary.
• Treat the summary as a first draft of your framing, not a verified number. Check any total or percentage Copilot states against the ERP export or your source sheet before it goes into the S&OP pre-read or anything a CFO will see.
• If your scenarios sit on separate sheet tabs, mention the tab names in your prompt. Copilot works from what is visible or referenced, not the whole workbook by default.

Tool interfaces change. If the Copilot icon has moved, look for a similar AI or sparkle icon in the Excel ribbon or window corners.