What should be on a line review agenda?

Six slots: frame the review and state what must be decided; walk the range category by category with the whole season visible; take a cross-cutting pass on colour and price tier; convert candidates into decisions with recorded reasons; reconcile the resulting option count against the line plan; and close with sign-off, owned follow-ups, and the next review date. The walk is the longest slot and the framing is the one most often skipped.

How long should a line review be?

Around two hours for a full range review is typical, weighted heavily toward walking the range. The variable is range size and how many categories are genuinely in scope — reviewing four categories properly beats skimming twelve. If the meeting is running long consistently, the usual cause is a board that was not review-ready, not an agenda that is too short.

Who signs off a line review?

Whoever owns the range commercially — commonly a merchandising director or VP, with planning confirming the range fits the plan and finance confirming margin where it is in scope. The important thing is that sign-off is given by a named person in the room and recorded, rather than assumed from the absence of objection.

What is a decision log in a line review?

A record of every add, cut, and rebalance with its reason and owner. It matters most for cuts: assortment work later regularly surfaces a gap, and without the record the fastest fix is to reinstate a style that was cut for a good reason — quietly undoing the review’s work. The log is the deliverable that makes a review stick.

How many line reviews should you run per season?

Most teams run several rather than one — conventionally an early review to set direction, a mid review to pressure-test the range against the plan, and a final review to lock it for buying. The cadence matters more than the count: reviewing on a rhythm keeps the range converging on time instead of being reopened late, when the only lever left is cutting good product for calendar reasons.

// Template

Line review agenda and sign-off template

By Line Board Editorial TeamPublished August 1, 2026Editorial policy

A reusable structure for the line review itself — who is in the room, what has to be true before it starts, a timeboxed running order, and the decision log and sign-off record that make the outcome stick.

Free to copy and adapt, no email required. For the method behind it, read how to run a line review.

The agenda in brief

Frame the review (5 min) → walk the range category by category (40–60 min) → cross-cutting colour and price-tier pass (15 min) → decide, with reasons recorded (20 min) → reconcile option count to the line plan (10 min) → sign off, assign owners, set the next date (10 min). The two slots teams most often skip are the framing at the start and the reconciliation near the end — and those are the two that determine whether the decisions hold.

// Participants

Who should be in the room

A line review works best as a small decision-making group, not an audience. Everyone listed as required should be able to commit on behalf of their function.

Line review participants and what each function brings
Function	Brings	Attends
Merchandising	Owns the range and the meeting	Required
Design	Owns the styles and the colour story	Required
Merchandise planning	Holds the range against option counts and the line plan	Required
Product development / sourcing	Feasibility, lead times, cost reality	For any review where cuts affect commitments
Finance	Margin and the open-to-buy envelope	Mid and final reviews
Buying / allocation	Downstream implications of the range	Final review
Leadership	Sign-off where it is theirs to give	Final review only

Merchandising

Brings: Owns the range and the meeting
Attends: Required

Design

Brings: Owns the styles and the colour story
Attends: Required

Merchandise planning

Brings: Holds the range against option counts and the line plan
Attends: Required

Product development / sourcing

Brings: Feasibility, lead times, cost reality
Attends: For any review where cuts affect commitments

Finance

Brings: Margin and the open-to-buy envelope
Attends: Mid and final reviews

Buying / allocation

Brings: Downstream implications of the range
Attends: Final review

Leadership

Brings: Sign-off where it is theirs to give
Attends: Final review only

// Prework

What must be true before the meeting starts

Every item here exists to prevent the same failure: a cross-functional group spending its first twenty minutes establishing which version of the numbers is current.

Board is current — every style added or cut since the last review is reflected, images refreshed where styles changed
Option counts recalculated after the most recent cuts, by category and in total
The line plan target and the current open-to-buy figure are to hand
Costs refreshed if sourcing has repriced anything in scope
Last review’s decision log and follow-up actions circulated, with their status
Anything still undecided is visibly marked as undecided on the board
Attendees told which categories are in scope so they can look before the room

The fuller version of this list is the line board checklist.

// Running order

The agenda

1. Frame the review

5 min

State which review this is (early, mid, final), what is in scope, and what has to be decided by the end. Name the target option count and the open-to-buy the range is judged against.

OutputShared understanding of what the meeting must produce.

2. Walk the range, category by category

40–60 min

Move through the board one category at a time with the whole season visible. Discuss the category as a group before discussing individual styles within it.

OutputCandidate adds, cuts, and rebalances captured per category.

3. Colour and price-tier pass

15 min

Step back from category and look at the range along the two axes that cut across it — the colour story, and the good / better / best spread.

OutputCross-category imbalances identified.

4. Decide

20 min

Convert candidates into decisions. Each cut is confirmed with a reason; each add is confirmed with the gap it fills. Watch the option count move as decisions land.

OutputA decided range and a completed decision log.

5. Reconcile to the plan

10 min

Check the resulting option count by category against the line plan. Accept the variance explicitly or reopen the specific category causing it.

OutputVariance accepted or a named follow-up.

6. Sign off and close

10 min

Record the sign-off, assign owners and dates to every follow-up, and set the next review date before anyone leaves.

OutputSigned-off range, owned actions, next date in calendars.

// Decision log

Record every add, cut, and rebalance

Copy this structure into whatever the team already uses. The column that earns its place is Reason — it is the one that stops a cut being quietly reinstated three weeks later when assortment work surfaces a gap.

Line review decision log structure
Column	What goes in it
Style	Style name or code, as it appears on the board and in the plan
Category	Category, and class where the range needs it
Decision	In, cut, rebalanced, or still open
Reason	Why — the field that makes the decision defensible later
Impact on count	What this does to the category’s option count
Owner	Who actions it
Date	When it must be done by

Style

What goes in it: Style name or code, as it appears on the board and in the plan

The sign-off record

Sign-off should be given by a named person and recorded, not inferred from the absence of objection. Capture, at minimum:

Line review sign-off record fields
Field	Detail
Review	Season, review stage (early / mid / final), date
Range as signed off	Total option count and count by category
Variance to plan	Accepted variance against the line plan target, or the follow-up if not accepted
Signed off by	Named person and function
Conditions	Anything signed off conditionally, and on what condition
Still open	Styles carried forward undecided, with the date they must be resolved
Next review	Date, scope, and what must be true before it

Review

Detail: Season, review stage (early / mid / final), date

Range as signed off

Detail: Total option count and count by category

Variance to plan

Detail: Accepted variance against the line plan target, or the follow-up if not accepted

Signed off by

Detail: Named person and function

Conditions

Detail: Anything signed off conditionally, and on what condition

Still open

Detail: Styles carried forward undecided, with the date they must be resolved

Next review

Detail: Date, scope, and what must be true before it

// Honest note

Adapt the timings, keep the sequence

The minute allocations here suit a full range review of a mid-sized apparel line; an early directional review is shorter and weighted toward the walk, and a small range will not need two hours. What is worth keeping regardless of size is the order — frame, walk, cross-cut, decide, reconcile, sign off. Reviews that drift usually did so because deciding started before walking finished.

// Summary

A line review is a decision forum, not a status update — everyone required should be able to commit for their function.
Prework is what keeps the meeting on judgement instead of reconciliation; a stale board wastes the room’s time evenly.
Walk the range category by category first, then take a cross-cutting pass on colour and price tier.
Record every decision with a reason — the cut rationale is what stops decisions being reversed during assortment.
Close with a named sign-off, owned follow-ups, and the next review date set before the room breaks up.

// Related resources

See the Platform →

// FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What should be on a line review agenda?: Six slots: frame the review and state what must be decided; walk the range category by category with the whole season visible; take a cross-cutting pass on colour and price tier; convert candidates into decisions with recorded reasons; reconcile the resulting option count against the line plan; and close with sign-off, owned follow-ups, and the next review date. The walk is the longest slot and the framing is the one most often skipped.
How long should a line review be?: Around two hours for a full range review is typical, weighted heavily toward walking the range. The variable is range size and how many categories are genuinely in scope — reviewing four categories properly beats skimming twelve. If the meeting is running long consistently, the usual cause is a board that was not review-ready, not an agenda that is too short.
Who signs off a line review?: Whoever owns the range commercially — commonly a merchandising director or VP, with planning confirming the range fits the plan and finance confirming margin where it is in scope. The important thing is that sign-off is given by a named person in the room and recorded, rather than assumed from the absence of objection.
What is a decision log in a line review?: A record of every add, cut, and rebalance with its reason and owner. It matters most for cuts: assortment work later regularly surfaces a gap, and without the record the fastest fix is to reinstate a style that was cut for a good reason — quietly undoing the review’s work. The log is the deliverable that makes a review stick.
How many line reviews should you run per season?: Most teams run several rather than one — conventionally an early review to set direction, a mid review to pressure-test the range against the plan, and a final review to lock it for buying. The cadence matters more than the count: reviewing on a rhythm keeps the range converging on time instead of being reopened late, when the only lever left is cutting good product for calendar reasons.

// See it in RetailNorthstar

See how a line board works when it is connected to the plan. Canvas — the visual line board inside RetailNorthstar — links the board to open-to-buy, the assortment, sizing, purchase orders, and production, so the board stays live instead of going stale.

See the Platform →Book a Demo →