SAP Business One MRP Wizard Returns No Recommendations: Checklist
SAP Business One MRP wizard returns no recommendations
Also searched as
- SAP B1 MRP run no order recommendations
- SAP Business One MRP item not showing in recommendation report
- SAP B1 planning method MRP procurement method buy make
- why is MRP not suggesting purchase orders in SAP Business One
Short answer
When the MRP Wizard in SAP Business One produces an empty recommendation report, the cause is almost always data, not a bug: the item has Planning Method set to None, the scenario excludes the demand documents, the planning horizon is too short, or existing stock and orders already cover demand. Work through item planning data first, then the scenario, then the document selection.
Applies to: SAP Business One 9.x and 10.0, SQL Server and SAP HANA, MRP Wizard and Order Recommendation Report
MRP no-recommendation checklist
- 1Open Inventory > Item Master Data for a missing item and go to the Planning Data tab. Set Planning Method to MRP, not None.
- 2On the same tab, set Procurement Method to Buy or Make. Without it, MRP cannot decide between a purchase and a production recommendation.
- 3Check the demand exists: confirm the sales orders, forecasts or production order components are open, have the correct delivery or due date, and are in the warehouse the scenario includes.
- 4Open Material Requirements Planning > MRP Wizard and check the scenario: warehouses selected, planning horizon (from and to dates), and whether to include existing inventory and open orders.
- 5In the document selection step, ensure Sales Orders, Production Orders, Forecasts and Minimum Inventory Level are ticked as demand sources, as relevant.
- 6Check Lead Time, Order Interval, Order Multiple and Minimum Order Quantity on the item. A very long lead time can push the need date before today, which changes how it is presented.
- 7Run the wizard, then open Material Requirements Planning > Order Recommendation Report and filter on the item, not on the whole company.
- 8If still empty, compare On Hand, Committed and Ordered per warehouse in the item's Inventory Data tab to see whether supply already covers demand.
Item planning data is the first filter
MRP only plans items that opt in. The Planning Method field on the Planning Data tab of the item master has two values that matter: MRP and None. An item left on None is silently skipped, which is the single most common reason a user sees no recommendation for an item they just created.
Procurement Method decides whether the recommendation is a purchase order (Buy) or a production order (Make). For Make items, MRP also explodes the bill of materials, so child components receive their own recommendations. If the BOM is missing or not marked as the active one, the parent shows a recommendation but the components do not.
Also check that the item is not frozen or marked inactive, and that it is actually stocked in the warehouse the scenario covers. An item whose stock lives in a warehouse outside the scenario looks like it has no demand.
Scenario and planning horizon
A scenario stores the warehouses, the date range, and the inclusion choices for the run. If the scenario was cloned from an older run, its dates may end before your demand. A sales order due in March will not be planned by a scenario that stops in February.
Be deliberate about the options for existing inventory and open orders. Including them is correct for a net-requirements run. Excluding them gives a gross plan, which can produce more recommendations than you want, and in some cases the opposite confusion when users expect gross but get net.
Rerunning a wizard does not edit the old results. Each run creates a new recommendation set, and the report shows whichever run you choose. If you are looking at an older run, nothing new will appear.
Supply already covers demand
A correct, empty result is possible. If on hand plus open purchase orders plus open production orders cover requirements, MRP has nothing to recommend. Confirm by comparing the item's On Hand, Committed and Ordered values, with Available computed as on hand minus committed plus ordered.
Minimum inventory level matters too. If you rely on it as a demand source and the field is zero, no safety-stock demand is generated, so an item sitting just above zero looks fine to MRP.
SELECT T0."ItemCode", T0."WhsCode", T0."OnHand", T0."IsCommited", T0."OnOrder",
(T0."OnHand" - T0."IsCommited" + T0."OnOrder") AS "Available"
FROM "OITW" T0
WHERE T0."ItemCode" = '[%0]'Data quality traps
Two dates cause trouble: documents with delivery dates in the past, which MRP treats as already due, and documents with no delivery date at all. Clean these before a run if the plan looks strange.
The user running the wizard needs authorization for the MRP functions and for the warehouses concerned. Check Authorizations if the report opens but shows fewer lines than a colleague sees.
Common pitfalls
- !Leaving Planning Method on None for newly created items and then searching for a bug.
- !Forgetting to select the warehouse that actually holds the stock or the sales order demand.
- !Reusing an old scenario whose planning horizon ends before the demand.
- !Reading an older recommendation run instead of the latest one.
- !Setting Make without an active bill of materials, so no component demand appears.
- !Expecting MRP to recommend when available stock already covers demand.
How an ERP-grounded AI assistant handles this
An assistant grounded in your SAP Business One data, such as ERPray, can check the whole list in one pass: which items have Planning Method set to None, which have Buy or Make unset, and where open orders already cover demand. It reads the item master and OITW stock, shows the query it ran, and answers 'why is there no recommendation for item X' with the specific field to change. It does not run the wizard or create purchase orders by itself, because those writes go through human approval.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I set an item to be included in MRP?
Open the item in Inventory > Item Master Data, go to the Planning Data tab, and set Planning Method to MRP. Then set Procurement Method to Buy or Make. Items with Planning Method set to None are skipped by the MRP Wizard entirely.
Why does MRP recommend a purchase for a Make item?
Check the Procurement Method on the item. If it says Buy, MRP recommends purchase orders even if a bill of materials exists. Set it to Make to get production order recommendations and the exploded component demand from the BOM.
Does MRP create the purchase or production orders for me?
Not automatically. The wizard builds recommendations in the Order Recommendation Report, and you choose which to convert into documents. That review step is where planners adjust quantities, vendors and dates.
Why are my recommendations different on each run?
Net requirements change whenever stock, orders or dates change, and scenario options determine how existing inventory and open orders are treated. Compare the scenarios used for each run before assuming the logic is wrong.
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