# MRPeasy Materials Shortage: Plan Purchases Correctly > Source: https://netray.co/erp-help/mrpeasy-materials-shortage-purchase-planning-how-to > Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems. > Section: ERP Help ## Short answer MRPeasy compares the demand from customer orders and manufacturing orders with available stock, booked stock and open purchase orders, and flags what is short. To act on it, review the shortages, confirm item lead times and minimum stock levels, then create purchase or manufacturing orders and re-check planned dates. ## Kind how-to ## System small-erp ## Erp MRPeasy ## Module Purchasing / Production Planning ## Query MRPeasy materials shortage purchase planning ## Alternate Queries - MRPeasy how to see what to buy - MRPeasy shortage manufacturing order - MRPeasy planning lead time purchase order - MRPeasy booked vs available stock ## Applies To MRPeasy cloud manufacturing ERP, current web application. Menu names may vary slightly by plan and version. ## Steps ### How to turn shortages into purchases **Items:** - Open the customer order or manufacturing order showing a shortage and read which items lack coverage and for which dates. - Open each short item and compare in stock, booked (reserved) and expected quantities. Note what is booked by other orders. - Check the item's supplier lead time, minimum order quantity and lot size. Wrong values here produce wrong planned dates. - Create a purchase order for the shortage, selecting the supplier and checking the expected delivery date against the production start. - For made-in items, create a manufacturing order for the sub-assembly instead, and make sure its own routing and bill of materials are correct. - Set a minimum stock level on frequently used items so MRPeasy suggests replenishment before they become urgent shortages. - Receive purchase orders promptly and into the right stock location so available quantities stay accurate. - Revisit planned dates after changes. Moving one order can change coverage for others. ## Sections ### Available, booked and expected **Body:** The three numbers you need are in stock, booked and expected. In stock is physical quantity. Booked is quantity reserved by orders and manufacturing jobs. Expected is quantity arriving through open purchase orders and manufacturing orders. A shortage exists when demand on a date exceeds what stock plus expected supply can cover by that date. This is why dates matter as much as quantities. An item may be covered in total, but too late for the production start. A purchase order with a delivery date after the manufacturing order's start still leaves the order flagged. Fix the date, the supplier, or the schedule. ### Lead times drive everything **Body:** MRPeasy's planning uses lead times on items and routings to place orders in time. If a bought part has a lead time of two days in the system but the supplier really needs three weeks, every plan looks fine until the parts are late. Audit lead times for your top parts by actual receipt history, not by supplier brochures. For manufactured items, the planned duration comes from the routing operations and work station capacity. Unrealistic cycle times or missing work stations shorten planned dates and make shortages appear later than they should. ### Minimum stock and purchase suggestions **Body:** Minimum stock levels let the system flag items that fall below a threshold even when no order demands them, which is useful for consumables and fast movers. Set them from consumption and supplier lead time: roughly average usage during the lead time plus a buffer you can justify. Do not set minimums on everything. Over-flagging teaches planners to ignore the list. Reserve it for parts where a stockout stops production or where lead time is long. ### Common data problems behind false shortages **Body:** False shortages come from bills of materials with obsolete lines, wrong quantity per unit, unreceived purchase orders, and stock held in locations the order cannot use. Clean the bill of materials before blaming the planner. Another source is units: a part bought in boxes and consumed in pieces without a correct conversion creates demand or supply off by the pack size. Check conversion on the item before buying. ## Pitfalls - Ordering to the shortage quantity while ignoring minimum order quantity or lot size. - Trusting default lead times that no one has compared with real receipts. - Leaving received purchase orders open so expected supply is double counted. - Reading total quantity and missing that supply arrives after the production start date. - Fixing shortages by adjusting stock rather than fixing the bill of materials or receipt that caused them. ## Ai Angle An ERPray-style assistant grounded in a small ERP can list the orders at risk, the items short for each, the booked quantities that explain it and the open purchase orders with their dates, then draft the purchase orders for a planner to approve. It shows the data it read and respects the user's role. If MRPeasy's own planning view already gives you what you need for a small order book, use that. ## Faq ### What does booked mean in MRPeasy? **Answer:** Booked means quantity reserved for orders or production jobs, so it is no longer free for other demand even though it is still physically in stock. Available quantity is in stock minus booked, which is why free stock can look lower than on hand. ### Why is an item flagged short when I have a purchase order open? **Answer:** Most often the purchase order's expected date is later than the demand date, the quantity does not cover the full need, or the order is in the wrong state. Compare the delivery date with the manufacturing start and adjust supplier or schedule. ### How should I set minimum stock levels? **Answer:** Base them on average consumption during the supplier lead time plus a justified safety buffer. Apply them to parts that stop production or have long lead times, not to every item, so the replenishment list stays meaningful. ### Can MRPeasy plan sub-assemblies automatically? **Answer:** It plans from the bill of materials and routings, but you still decide and create the purchase or manufacturing orders in the system. Verify in your plan how much is suggested versus created automatically before relying on it. ## Search terms MRPeasy shortage, MRPeasy purchase planning, MRPeasy booked stock, MRPeasy lead time, MRPeasy minimum stock, MRPeasy manufacturing order planning, MRPeasy what to buy, MRPeasy bill of materials shortage --- Talk to an engineer: https://netray.co/contact?intent=erp_ai | Machine catalog: https://netray.co/agent/catalog.json