Requisition worksheet vs planning worksheet in Business Central: which should purchasing use?

If your company only buys and transfers stock, purchasing should use the requisition worksheet in Business Central. If you also manufacture or assemble, run the planning worksheet for the full plan and send its purchase lines to the requisition worksheet, so buyers work from one list without touching production planning.

What is the difference between the two worksheets?

Both worksheets use the same planning engine and the same item settings. The difference is scope: the requisition worksheet plans only items replenished by purchase or transfer, while the planning worksheet runs the master production schedule (MPS) and material requirements planning (MRP) across every level of your bills of materials.

Microsoft describes the requisition worksheet as the main planning page for wholesale companies, where the only supply orders are purchases and transfers. The planning worksheet is the main page for manufacturing and assembly, where planning can also suggest production and assembly orders.

When should a purchasing team use the requisition worksheet?

Use the requisition worksheet when your job is buying, not scheduling production. It shows only purchase and transfer suggestions, it handles drop shipments and special orders, and it keeps buyers out of production planning lines they should not change.

A typical buyer routine looks like this:

1. Search for Requisition Worksheets and open your batch.
2. Choose Calculate Plan. Set the starting and ending dates of the planning horizon, and filter by item or location if you buy in groups. (Microsoft documents these fields for the planning worksheet's Calculate Plan page.)
3. Review each line's Action Message: New, Change Qty., Reschedule, Resch. & Chg. Qty. or Cancel. Edit or delete lines you disagree with.
4. Select Accept Action Message on the lines you want to act on.
5. Choose Carry Out Action Message to turn the accepted lines into purchase orders.

Set the ending date with lead times in mind. Microsoft notes that a horizon that is too short leaves long lead-time items unordered, and one that is too long wastes review time on demand that will change. The horizon should cover your total lead time.

The requisition worksheet is also where you fill drop-shipment and special-order lines: the Drop Shipment and Special Order actions use Get Sales Orders to pull the relevant sales lines in.

When do you need the planning worksheet instead?

You need the planning worksheet when you make or assemble anything. Only the planning worksheet explodes production bills of materials, so it knows that a sales order for a finished product creates demand for every purchased component inside it.

The planning worksheet also offers two calculation modes. Calculate Regenerative Plan deletes the existing planning lines and replans every item from scratch. Calculate Net Change Plan replans only items whose demand, supply or planning parameters changed since the last run, which is faster but needs a full plan as its baseline. Microsoft suggests a regenerative plan weekly or after big changes, and net change daily.

Can you use both worksheets together?

Yes, and Microsoft recommends it when different people own production and purchasing. Run the planning worksheet for the full plan, then use Carry Out Action Message with the purchase option set to copy proposals into a chosen requisition worksheet template and batch. Planners create the production orders; buyers review and release the purchase lines in their own worksheet.

Microsoft's own example is a weekly regenerative plan for production combined with a daily requisition worksheet for purchasing replenishment. Since the 2026 release wave 1 update (generally available April 1, 2026), worksheet batches can also be sent for approval before lines are turned into purchase orders; see our guide to the Business Central purchase order approval workflow.

Where does Order Planning fit?

Order Planning is the manual option. It lists unplanned demand, such as sales order lines and production components, and you decide how to supply each one, line by line. Nothing is proposed automatically.

It suits make-to-order work, one-off demand, and items with no reordering policy, because items without a policy are skipped by both worksheets. If you have many such items, set a reordering policy instead; our guide to choosing a reordering policy explains which one.

What do both worksheets have in common?

Both depend entirely on item setup. Neither worksheet suggests anything for an item with a blank Reordering Policy, a missing lead time gives the planner nothing to schedule the order date from, and neither one builds a forecast from your sales history unless you maintain a demand forecast yourself. If Calculate Plan returns nothing, work through our checklist for a requisition worksheet that shows no suggestions.

Where does ReorderOwl fit?

ReorderOwl is an option for teams that want purchase suggestions without first tuning planning fields on every item. It reads sales history, stock on hand, open purchase orders, vendors and lead times from Business Central, forecasts each item from up to three years of sales, and answers "what should I order from this vendor?" in ChatGPT, with an Excel workbook that explains every line.

It drafts the purchase order, which is saved in Business Central only after you confirm it. Nothing goes to a vendor until someone on your team sends it. The connection is built and tested against Business Central test systems, and we connect it to yours with you during setup. See ReorderOwl for Business Central, or the side-by-side in Business Central planning vs ReorderOwl.

Frequently asked questions

Can the requisition worksheet create production orders?

No. The requisition worksheet plans only items replenished by purchase or transfer. Use the planning worksheet for production and assembly orders.

Does the requisition worksheet have a net change plan?

The requisition worksheet has one calculation action, Calculate Plan. Calculate Regenerative Plan and Calculate Net Change Plan are actions on the planning worksheet.

How do I move purchase suggestions from the planning worksheet to the requisition worksheet?

Run Carry Out Action Message on the planning worksheet and, for purchase orders, choose to copy the proposals to a requisition worksheet template and batch instead of creating the orders.

Do I need the planning worksheet if I only buy and resell?

No. Microsoft describes the requisition worksheet as the main planning page for wholesale companies whose supply orders are only purchases and transfers.

Why doesn't Carry Out Action Message create every line?

Lines with warnings, such as Emergency, Exception or Attention, come with Accept Action Message cleared so you review them first. Lines that are not accepted stay in the worksheet.

Sources

1. About planning functionality, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01
2. Supply planning, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01
3. Run full planning, MPS, or MRP, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01
4. Design details - Planning parameters, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01
5. Approve requisition worksheets and item journals, Microsoft Learn (2026 release wave 1 plan), accessed 2026-10-01