To use bill of materials information in analyzing material requirements and anticipated shortages, it is necessary to keep records of all planned orders. A planned order is a future demand for a given quantity of a final product, which must be filled by a specified due date. The Planned Orders data describe each planned order, listing the following information for each order:

The Planned Orders file for the BOM Web example is shown in Figure A.3. The planned order information is carried along to the indented bill of materials, and can be used to calculate material requirement schedules for the planned orders, as described in the section Shortage and Critical Path Analysis Reports.