Every planning run starts here. Capture gross demand for a horizon as a sales plan or a production plan, or pull it straight from confirmed orders. Set schedules for the order and its finished parts, release the plan for the team to work to — and hand a clean demand record to MRP, which explodes it through the BOM and nets it against stock.
The sales and production plan is the demand input to the whole engine. It is captured against a horizon or pulled from orders, scheduled, released, and then read by MRP, which explodes it through the BOM and nets it against stock.
The sales plan captures gross demand for finished goods over a planning horizon. Type it against a forecast when you are planning make-to-stock, or seed it from confirmed orders and order acceptance when you plan to real, make-to-order demand. Mixed shops that build some goods to order and stock others handle both in the same plan — every line names a finished good, a quantity and a required date, which is exactly what MRP needs to start.
The production plan is the build view of the demand: the quantities you actually intend to manufacture. Run it in with-stock mode and the plan considers current inventory before it proposes anything, so you don't raise requirements for material you already have on the shelf. Planning without stock consideration treats the whole demand as a requirement; with-stock gives you a plan tuned to what is genuinely short, ready for the netting run to finish the job.
An order rarely wants everything on one day. The plan lets you define a schedule for the order and separate schedules for the finished parts within it, so a single order with staggered deliveries carries the right due date on each line. When the demand and the dates are set, you release or approve the plan. A released plan is the demand record everyone works to and the only thing MRP will read — so review happens before the engine runs, not after work orders are already out.
A released plan is not a report — it is the source record for everything downstream. MRP reads it, explodes each finished good through the bill of materials to gross requirements at every level, nets each item against stock and open supply, and splits the shortfall into purchase requisitions to buy and work orders to make. Because Fast Planning runs on the same platform as Fast Production and Fast Inventory, the plan reads live stock with no interface — the demand you entered here drives the whole plan without a single re-key.
Capture gross demand for finished goods over a horizon, typed against a forecast or seeded from confirmed orders and order acceptance.
Turn demand into the quantities you intend to make — the make view the netting run and work-order generation start from.
Plan mode that nets the demand against inventory on hand, so requirements are raised only for what is genuinely short.
Define a schedule for the order and for each finished part, so staggered delivery dates travel with the demand into MRP.
Approve the plan so it becomes the demand record the team works to — the only version MRP reads, gated for review first.
The demand plan as entered and exploded, reported through the Planning MIS so every requirement traces back to a plan line.
Planning from a monthly spreadsheet of orders loses the schedule, the stock position and the audit trail. Here is what a released plan changes. New to demand-driven planning? Read what is production planning software?
The sales plan captures gross demand for finished goods over a planning horizon — either typed against a forecast or pulled from confirmed orders. The production plan is the build view of that demand, the quantities you intend to manufacture. Both hold the demand that seeds MRP: for every finished good the plan says what quantity is wanted and by when, and that is what the engine explodes through the BOM and nets against stock.
Yes. Demand can be entered as a forecast for make-to-stock, or seeded from confirmed orders and order acceptance for make-to-order. When you plan against orders, each finished good and its schedule flow straight into the plan, so you are planning to real demand rather than re-keying it. Mixed shops — common in make-to-order and engineering plants — handle both in one plan.
With-stock is the plan mode where the run nets against current inventory. The plan considers stock on hand and open supply before it proposes what to buy and make, so you don't raise requirements for material you already hold. Planning without stock consideration treats the whole demand as a requirement; with-stock gives you a net plan tuned to what is really on the shelf, ready for the netting run.
Once the demand is entered and the schedules are set, you release or approve the plan. A released plan is the demand record the MRP engine reads: it explodes each finished good through the BOM, nets against stock and open supply, and splits the shortfall into purchase requisitions to buy and work orders to make. Nothing is planned against an unreleased draft, so review happens before the engine runs.
Yes. The plan lets you define a schedule for the order and schedules for the finished parts within it, so a single order with several delivery dates or several finished items carries the right due date on each line. Those dates travel with the demand into MRP and, downstream, onto the work orders and purchase requisitions the plan generates — where priority and Gantt scheduling take over.
Live demo on your own demand — your orders, your finished goods, your stock. See the plan seed a full MRP run. No generic slideshow.
