Reorder Level and Requirements Planning (MRP/MPS)
This screen tells you which items you need to buy, transfer or manufacture before you run out of stock. AdmCloud projects each item's stock towards a future date (taking into account what you already have, what's on its way in, what you've already sold and, if you manufacture, what you're going to produce and consume) and compares it against the Reorder Level configured on each item-location. When the projection falls below the reorder level, the item shows up on the list with the recommended quantity to order.
What is it and what is it for?
The Reorder Level is the minimum quantity of an item you define, per location, to know when it's time to restock. AdmCloud doesn't just look at physical stock on hand: it calculates a Projected Stock that adds and subtracts, towards the date you indicate, the following movements:
- Current stock of the item at the location.
- Plus what's already on the way in open Purchase Orders pending receipt.
- Plus, if you manufacture, the Finished Products in Production Orders pending to be built.
- Minus, if you have Demand Planning enabled, what it forecasts you'll sell.
- Minus, if you manufacture, the Raw Material you're going to consume in production (including what your Demand Plan pulls through the Bill of Materials).
- Minus, if you have the Maintenance module, what's reserved on Maintenance Plans.
- Minus what's committed on Sales Orders pending dispatch.
When that projection falls below the Reorder Level, AdmCloud automatically calculates a Quantity to Order and, if the item has a preferred vendor, its price and currency, so you only need to review it and generate the matching document (Purchase Order, Location Transfer Request or Production Order).
The Reorder Level, the Reorder Quantity and the Delivery Days (the preferred vendor's transit time) are configured per item and per location, on the Item record's Locations tab.
The three planning modes
The same screen works in three different modes, depending on what you're planning:
- Items to Order (standard mode): the normal purchasing restocking mode, available with the Inventory module. It shows items to purchase and, if you have Demand Planning or the Advanced Purchases module, lets you generate their Purchase Order directly.
- Material Requirements Planning (MRP): aimed at manufacturing; besides raw material to purchase, it shows Finished Products under construction and the Bill of Materials breakdown exploded from your Demand Plan. Requires the add-on MRP and MPS module of the Enterprise edition.
- Master Production Schedule (MPS): plans production against actual Sales Orders instead of a forecast; it lets you generate Production Orders (not Purchase Orders) and, if your company enabled it, offers the additional Per Order view with the detail of every Sales Order, customer, sales rep and delivery date. Requires the add-on MRP and MPS module of the Enterprise edition.
How to use it
- Open the Items to Order screen (or MRP/MPS, whichever you have access to) and pick one of the four list variants from the links at the top: By Location, By Item, Summarized or Per Order (the latter only in MPS, if enabled).
- Adjust the filters you need: Subsidiary, Item Class, Location, Item, Brand, Family, Vendor, Shipment Port and the projection's Date To (today by default). You can also check "Only show items that are purchased" or "Only show items that are sold" to narrow the list.
- Review the Projected Stock column against the Reorder Level: items showing up on the list are already below their minimum, or will be before the date you entered.
- Adjust the suggested Quantity to Order, the Vendor (if the item doesn't have a preferred one) and the Purchase Price if needed, before generating the document.
- Check the items with the selection checkbox and use the matching button: Purchase Orders Generation, Generate Location Transfer Request or Production Orders Generation, depending on your modules and the current mode.
- From the standard mode you can also open the Report link to export the list to PDF or Excel.
The four ways to view the list
- By Location: one row per item-location combination; ideal for deciding purchases or transfers warehouse by warehouse.
- By Item: groups every location of the same item under one heading, with a subtotal of the quantity to order; useful to see an item's full situation at a glance.
- Summarized: consolidates every location of each item into a single line, with no breakdown; meant for a quick executive review.
- Per Order (MPS only, if enabled): shows, for every Sales Order pending dispatch, what needs to be built, along with its customer, sales rep, priority and estimated delivery date, letting you pick the Bill of Materials and the attributes to use in production.
Main capabilities
- Automatically generates Purchase Orders for the selected items, grouped by vendor.
- Generates Transfer Requests between locations when the shortage can be covered by moving stock from another warehouse, if your company has the Inventory Transfers module.
- Generates Production Orders in MRP and MPS modes, with the matching Bill of Materials.
- Shows, next to the "Production Orders Creation" link, a shortcut to Production Scheduling if your company has the Production Lines module.
- Every link on the table (item, location, stock, vendor, sales order, customer) takes you straight to the related record or transaction, without having to search for it again.
- Exports the list to PDF or Excel from the standard mode's report, with its own filters and landscape orientation.
Key fields
| Field | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Reorder Level | Minimum projected stock quantity that triggers the restocking recommendation. Configured per item and per location. |
| Reorder Quantity | Additional quantity configured on the item-location, added to the Reorder Level to calculate how much to order at once, avoiding very small and frequent purchases. |
| Delivery Days | Transit time of the item's preferred vendor, informational, for planning ahead. |
| Current Stock | Physical stock on hand at the location when the report is generated. |
| PO Pending Receipt | Quantity pending receipt from open Purchase Orders (not closed nor rejected). |
| Sales Orders Pending Dispatch | Quantity already committed to customers on open or partially dispatched sales orders. |
| Demand Plan | Quantity your Demand Planning forecasts you'll sell between today and the report date. Only with the Demand Planning module. |
| Finished Products Under Construction / Raw Material to Consume | Quantity pending on open Production Orders, both what's being produced and what's being consumed. Only in MRP and MPS modes. |
| Maintenance Plans | Quantity reserved on Maintenance Plans between today and the report date. Only with the Maintenance module. |
| Projected Stock | The final result of adding and subtracting all of the above; the value compared against the Reorder Level. |
| Quantity to Order | Suggestion calculated by AdmCloud, editable before generating the document. |
| Vendor / Purchase Price / Currency | Data from the vendor marked as preferred for the item; editable if none is assigned. Not shown in MPS mode. |
| Shipment Port | The item's import origin point; the list is grouped by this value. |
Availability, plans and conditions
- This feature requires the Inventory module active in your company; without it, the screen shows a "not available on this edition" message.
- The Material Requirements Planning (MRP) and Master Production Schedule (MPS) modes additionally require the add-on MRP and MPS module of the Enterprise edition; without it, those modes are not available.
- The Demand Plan column and filter only show up if your company has the Demand Planning module active.
- The button to generate Purchase Orders appears if your company has the Demand Planning module or the Advanced Purchases module.
- The button to generate Transfer Requests requires the Inventory Transfers module.
- The Maintenance Plans column requires the Maintenance module (standard and MRP modes only).
- The link to Production Scheduling requires the Production Lines module.
- The Destination filter requires the Transportation Management (TMS) module; the Sales Territory filters require that feature enabled on sales transactions.
- The Per Order view, within MPS mode, only shows up if your company turned on that specific feature.
- Access is controlled with the "Items and Services" permission of the user group.
- For performance, the list shows a maximum of the first 500 items; use the filters to narrow the result if you need to see more.
Tips and common mistakes
Before generating the Purchase Order, review the suggested Quantity to Order and Purchase Price: both are editable right in the table, so you can adjust them without leaving the screen.
If, when generating the Purchase Order, AdmCloud tells you that one or more selected items don't have a vendor assigned, set a preferred vendor on the Item record, or pick one manually in the Vendor column before continuing.
If an item you expect to see doesn't show up on the list, check that its Reorder Level is set on the matching location: an item with no reorder level (or set to zero) will never generate a purchase recommendation.