MRP stands for material requirements planning. Stripped of the jargon, it answers three questions: what do we need to buy or build, how much, and by when?
MRP takes three inputs and produces a plan:
From those, MRP explodes each finished product down through its BOM, subtracts what you already have, and schedules purchase and work orders backward from the due date so material arrives when it's needed — not too early, not too late.
Without MRP, planning lives in spreadsheets and someone's head. You either over-buy (cash tied up in shelves) or under-buy (a line stops because one bracket is missing). MRP replaces the guesswork with a repeatable calculation that updates as orders and stock change.
One or two of those is normal. Several together mean planning has outgrown spreadsheets.
MRP is a capability; ERP is the system it lives in. In a modern manufacturing ERP, MRP isn't a separate tool — it reads the same BOMs, inventory, and orders the rest of the system uses, so the plan reflects reality and the resulting work orders and purchases post straight to the books.
Totaum runs production and real double-entry books on one platform — so the costing, planning, and reporting in this guide come from a single source of truth, not a sync between two systems.
MRP stands for material requirements planning. It converts demand, current inventory, and lead times into a schedule of what to purchase and build, and when, so material arrives as it's needed.
MRP is a planning capability — turning demand and stock into purchase and work orders. ERP is the broader system that includes MRP along with inventory, production, and accounting. In a modern ERP, MRP uses the same data as the rest of the platform.
Yes. Totaum includes material requirements planning in the Manufacturing tier, driven directly by BOMs, work orders, and inventory, with the resulting cost posting to the general ledger.