I am trying to use the MRP module as a what if scenario driver, but having little success. What would you do if you wanted to...
 
Enter five product numbers with various quantities, e.g.
 
10ea. 66-ZD-MD
10ea. MT-DS-MD
15ea. 86-10-0
 9ea.  86-00-1
20ea. MT-DS-01
 
and you need a report that will look at current open SO, WO, and PO numbers and stock UOH and show what shortages would occur.
 
I have run into two problems with the MRP module when trying to do this: first, it won't make suggestions for orders unless I have lead times, reorder points and quantities entered for all of my parts, and second, it will only run a report on part number ranges, not on a list of products like what I show above.
 
I tried entering a forecast for the list of products and then running MR-F, but I can't get a detailed and consolidated MR-G report for all five of the product numbers. On the other hand, I get an empty report when I run MR-H.  
 
Is there a way to run this kind of what if? Yes, I know we should be using the MRP module, but I don't see a day in the near future when I'd have time to enter MRP parameters for the few thousand parts that we use on a regular basis.

I've created my own what-if engine! yay...
 
I've created a dummy part and put my entire forecast into the BOM. Then I can run a BOM availability on the dummy part.
 
Now I have another problem... the BOM Availability report sucks! Every time it encounters a part in a BOM it makes an entry in the report. Instead of adding together all of the requirements for the same part number, it just makes two, or three, or a dozen separate lines with the same part number on it. Grr...

We have a modified BM-D that displays POs and PO releases with dates.  Example output below (use your imagination for the spacing...).  I'd really like to see this and more in a new BM-D.
 

Parent Part: AST80242         DUAL CARTRIDGE SEAL                Type: F
 
Location       Qty Requested      Qty on Hand      Qty on S/O     Qty to Pull   Qty to Build
----------     -------------     ------------     -----------     -----------   ------------
                      1.00             0.00             2.00            0.00           1.00
 
Component        T  Description                    Qty Needed  Qty on Hand Qty on SO\BO    Allocated Qty on PO/WO  Due Date PO Num Vendor
--------------- - ------------------------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------  -------- ------ ----------
AST10158        R ROTARY SEAL RING                      1.00         25.00        0.00          9.00       75.00   Total    On P/O
                                                                                                                                                                           25.00   12/08/05  97748 PURE
                                                                                                                                                                                50.00   07/13/06  97748 PURE
AST10263        A ROTARY ASSY/OB                        1.00         20.00        0.00          5.00        0.00
AST10636        R STATIONARY SEAL RING                  2.00         18.00        0.00         14.00       50.00   Total    On P/O
                                                                                                          25.00   06/28/05  97789 CARB
                                                                                                          25.00   10/20/05  97789 CARB
AST20391        R ROTARY HLDR ASSY/IB                   1.00         10.00        3.00          2.00        0.00
AST30297        R SLEEVE                                1.00         10.00        0.00          2.00        0.00
AST40221        R LOCK RING ASSY                        1.00         10.00        0.00          2.00        0.00
AST51016        M GLAND                                 1.00         11.00        0.00          2.00        0.00
AST60100        R SPRING .120 X .312                   33.00      15333.00        0.00        858.00        0.00
AST60107        R SCREW, BUTTON HEAD                    3.00        683.00        0.00         90.00        0.00
AST60111        R SCREW, SET, HALF DOG                  3.00        830.00        0.00        117.00        0.00
AST60150        R SCREW, SET                            3.00        220.00        0.00         42.00        0.00
AST60377        B PKG KIT 80 LG                         1.00          0.00        0.00          0.00        0.00 *
AST60420        R CTR BLOCK                             3.00        925.00        0.00         36.00        0.00
AST60585        R O-RING -234 VT                        1.00         23.00        0.00         10.00       50.00   05/23/05  97788 MANU
AST60587        R O-RING -236 VT                        1.00         30.00        0.00          5.00        0.00
AST60589        R O-RING -238 VT                        2.00         61.00        0.00         10.00        0.00
AST60590        R O-RING -239 VT                        3.00         60.00        0.00         23.00        0.00
AST60595        R O-RING -244 VT                        1.00         56.00        0.00          9.00        0.00
AST60700        R O-RING -234 EP                        1.00         31.00        0.00          5.00        0.00
AST60702        R O-RING -236 EP                        1.00         46.00        0.00          5.00        0.00
AST60704        R O-RING -238 EP                        2.00         47.00        0.00         14.00       20.00   05/23/05  97788 MANU
AST60705        R O-RING -239 EP                        3.00         48.00        0.00         15.00        0.00
AST60710        R O-RING -244 EP                        1.00         20.00        0.00          5.00        0.00
 
Maximum which can be built:        0.00