Direct Replenishment

  • Published on Apr 28, 2026
  • 7 minute(s) read
  • AF
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Feature Overview

Direct Replenishment is Reverse Planning's manual supply creation journal. It gives planners a way to create purchase orders, production orders, transfer orders, or assembly orders by working directly in a journal — without first running an automated MRP calculation. The journal looks and behaves like Simple MRP: items appear as lines with full inventory context, and the planner enters or calculates quantities before carrying them out to the Planning Worksheet. The difference is the intent and trigger: Direct Replenishment is for situations where the planner knows what they want to order and simply needs an efficient, context-rich interface for doing so.

This makes it useful for ad hoc replenishment, emergency orders, planning based on non-standard criteria, or scenarios where the standard MRP logic is too restrictive. Because the calculation is still driven by a Planning Template, the planner can use Item Filter Templates and SKU Filter Templates to scope the journal to specific vendors, locations, or item groups — then manually review and decide what to order rather than relying on automatic triggers.
Primary page Reverse Planning – Direct Replenishment
Primary use Manual, context-rich supply order creation
Shares with Simple MRP Planning Templates, Order Quantity Templates, Date Templates, Item Filter Templates, Planning Worksheet, Carry Out Action Message
Key difference from Simple MRP No automatic inventory-level trigger — the planner controls what gets ordered

Getting Started

  1. Open Reverse Planning – Direct Replenishment from the BC search menu or the Reverse Planning cockpit.
  2. Click Calculate Direct Replenishment. The request page shows the active Planning Template for Direct Replenishment.
  3. Select or configure the template. For Direct Replenishment, consider using Always Insert Supply Lines on the template so that lines appear for all items in the filter rather than only those below a trigger level.
  4. Set item or location filters if needed.
  5. Run the calculation. The journal populates with lines showing inventory context for each item.
  6. Review the lines. Enter Quantity to Order manually on the lines you want to order, or click Suggest Quantity to Order to calculate based on an Order Quantity Template.
  7. Set Accept Action Message on lines to include in the carry out.
  8. Click Carry Out Action Message. Accepted lines are moved to the Planning Worksheet.
  9. Open the Reverse Planning – Planning Worksheet to create the actual purchase, production, or transfer orders.

Related Features

Direct Replenishment shares the full Planning Template infrastructure with Simple MRP — all template features (Item Filter Templates, SKU Filter Templates, Order Quantity Templates, Date Templates, automation flags, categories, copy, refresh) work identically in both journals. The Planning Worksheet is the shared downstream journal where carried-out lines from both Simple MRP and Direct Replenishment land. Sales Order Handling is accessible from Direct Replenishment for reference. The Rolled Up Lead Time calculation is also available from within the journal.

Shared features with Simple MRP

The following features work identically in Direct Replenishment and Simple MRP. For full setup instructions and user stories, see the Simple MRP article:

  • Planning Template configuration — all template fields (calculation period, demand/supply types, trigger settings, date formulas, automation flags) apply equally to Direct Replenishment templates (Simple MRP US-02 and US-03)
  • Order Quantity Templates — Suggest Quantity to Order, Calculate From/To, order modifiers, rounding, Past Planning Policy (Simple MRP US-04 to US-07)
  • Date Templates — date triggers for suggested order dates (Simple MRP US-05)
  • Item Filter Templates — filter items by any item field (Simple MRP US-08)
  • SKU Filter Templates — filter by Stockkeeping Unit fields (Simple MRP US-23)
  • Calculate per Location and per Variant — one line per item/location/variant combination (Simple MRP US-09)
  • Item Availability views — Event, Period, Variant, Location, BOM Level, Lot, Unit of Measure from any journal line (Simple MRP US-19)
  • Graphical Inventory Profile — visual inventory chart per line (Simple MRP US-17)
  • Factboxes — Item Demands, Item Supplies, Calc. Inventory, Item/SKU Planning per line (Simple MRP US-17)
  • SKU Card — open SKU card directly from a journal line (Simple MRP US-17)
  • Rolled Up Lead Time — calculate and use cumulative lead times (Simple MRP US-20)
  • Planning Template categories, copy, and refresh — organise, duplicate, and refresh templates (Simple MRP US-21 to US-25)
  • Chain templates and auto-run — Auto run next Template, Auto run Suggest Qty, Auto run Carry Out (Simple MRP US-11 to US-13)

User Stories

The user stories below cover what is specific to Direct Replenishment. For stories covering shared template and journal features, see the Simple MRP article.

US-01: Create a supply order for a specific item without running an MRP calculation

As a Purchasing Planner
I want to open a journal pre-loaded with context information for a specific item or group of items and create a supply order from it directly
So that I can place an emergency or ad hoc purchase order with full inventory visibility without triggering a full MRP run

Setup:

  1. Open Reverse Planning – Direct Replenishment.
  2. Click Calculate Direct Replenishment. Select a Planning Template that has Always Insert Supply Lines enabled.
  3. Set an item filter for the specific item or vendor group.
  4. Run the calculation. The journal shows lines for all matching items with current inventory, open orders, and reorder parameters.
  5. Enter a quantity in the Quantity to Order field on the relevant lines.
  6. Set Accept Action Message and click Carry Out Action Message.
  7. The line is moved to the Planning Worksheet where the purchase order can be created.
US-02: Use Suggest Quantity to Order to calculate the replenishment quantity

As a Purchasing Planner
I want to have the system calculate how much to order based on reorder parameters — bringing inventory up to the reorder point, safety stock, or maximum inventory level
So that I get a consistent, parameter-driven quantity suggestion even when doing manual replenishment

Setup:

  1. In the Direct Replenishment journal after running the calculation, click Suggest Quantity to Order.
  2. The system applies the linked Order Quantity Template logic: reads the Calculate From setting (Lowest Inventory, End Inventory, etc.) and the Calculate To setting (Safety Stock, Reorder Point, Maximum Inventory, etc.) and fills in the Quantity to Order field for each line.
  3. Order modifiers (Minimum Order Quantity, Maximum Order Quantity, Order Multiple) are applied if enabled on the Order Quantity Template.
  4. Review and adjust the suggested quantities before carrying out.
US-03: Replenish items from a specific vendor using an Item Filter Template

As a Purchasing Planner
I want to open the Direct Replenishment journal pre-filtered to all items from a specific vendor or vendor group
So that I can review all items for that vendor together and create purchase orders for all of them in one session — as a virtual vendor order form

Setup:

  1. Create an Item Filter Template that filters items by Vendor No. (or any other item field combination).
  2. Link the Item Filter Template to the Planning Template for Direct Replenishment.
  3. Run Calculate Direct Replenishment. Only items matching the vendor filter appear.
  4. Review inventory levels and enter or suggest order quantities.
  5. Carry out to the Planning Worksheet and create purchase orders from there.
US-04: Review inventory context for each item before deciding whether to order

As a Purchasing Planner
I want to see current inventory, open sales orders, open purchase orders, reorder parameters, and projected end inventory for each item alongside the quantity I am about to order
So that I can make an informed decision about whether to order and how much — rather than ordering blind

Setup:

  1. In the Direct Replenishment journal, each line shows: Inventory, End Inventory, Lowest Inventory, Lowest Inventory after Forecast, Lowest Inventory after Planning, Qty. on Sales Order, Qty. on Purchase Order, Qty. on Prod. Order, Safety Stock, Reorder Point, Reorder Quantity, Maximum Inventory, and Lead Time Calculation.
  2. Use the right-hand factboxes (Item Demands, Item Supplies, Calc. Inventory, Item/SKU Planning) for a period-by-period breakdown.
  3. Click Graphical Inventory Profile (if installed) to see a visual inventory chart for the selected item.
US-05: Convert replenishment lines to a Flexible Forecast

As a Demand Planner
I want to convert Direct Replenishment journal lines — specifically lines with a Quantity to Order filled in — into forecast entries
So that the replenishment decisions feed into the demand forecast for the next planning cycle

Setup:

  1. In the Direct Replenishment journal, select the lines to convert (or use all lines with Quantity to Order filled in).
  2. Click Convert to Forecast. The system writes the quantities as demand forecast entries using the Flexible Forecast publisher event.
  3. Flexible Forecast must be installed and enabled for this action to be available.

Field Reference

Direct Replenishment uses the same Planning Template, Order Quantity Template, Date Template, Item Filter Template, and SKU Filter Template infrastructure as Simple MRP. The field reference for those templates is documented in the Simple MRP article.

The journal line fields are identical to Simple MRP, with the same inventory columns (Inventory, End Inventory, Lowest Inventory, Lowest Inventory after Forecast, Lowest Inventory after Planning, First Date Below Zero, First Date Below Safety Stock, First Date Below Reorder Point), supply and demand columns (Qty. on Sales Order, Qty. on Purchase Order, Qty. on Prod. Order, Planning Qty.), and planning parameter columns (Safety Stock, Reorder Point, Reorder Quantity, Maximum Inventory, Lead Time Calculation, Replenishment System, Vendor No.).

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