MAKE TO ORDER · REQUIREMENT
How does the sales order define an MTO requirement?
An MTO requirement is a customer-specific planning signal, not simply a sales-order line. SAP must determine whether the item and schedule line create individual demand and what financial and supply treatment follows.
PROCESS ROLE
Read the requirement decision
Start with the sales-order item and schedule line: material, configuration, quantity, requested date, item category and schedule-line category establish the commercial event. Requirements determination then uses that context together with the material strategy group to select a requirements type and class. The class determines whether and how the requirement transfers to planning, its individual or collective treatment, account assignment, availability behaviour and costing relevance. The evidence that transfer of requirements happened is not the order header: it is the selected requirement control and individual requirement visible in the planning segment.
DECISION MODEL
Separate the controls that determine the result
Each layer owns a different part of the MTO outcome. Diagnose the layer that made the decision.
Commercial document control
Item category and schedule line determine whether the item is relevant for availability, requirements transfer, delivery and movement.
Requirement control
Strategy group, requirements type and requirements class decide individual/collective treatment, transfer, account assignment and cost behaviour.
Master-data boundary
Material, plant, configurable BOM and valid dates must support the commercial promise; shared PP/MRP setup remains in P2M.
OPERATIONAL FLOW
What happens in SAP
Read the sequence as one connected business event, not as isolated transactions.
Record the customer need
Create the item and schedule line with material/configuration, requested quantity and date.
Select requirement treatment
Item category, schedule line, strategy group and determination select requirements type and class.
Expose demand to planning
The schedule-line requirement becomes an individual planning demand when the selected class allows transfer.
Re-state the requirement
Quantity, configuration or date changes update the demand and require an explainable replanning response.
DESIGN & CONTROL
What shapes the result
These controls work together; a locally correct setting can still produce the wrong end-to-end outcome.
Commercial document control
Item category and schedule line determine whether the item is relevant for availability, requirements transfer, delivery and movement.
Requirement control
Strategy group, requirements type and requirements class decide individual/collective treatment, transfer, account assignment and cost behaviour.
Master-data boundary
Material, plant, configurable BOM and valid dates must support the commercial promise; shared PP/MRP setup remains in P2M.
DIAGNOSTIC EVIDENCE
What proves the result
Use document, planning, logistics and Finance evidence together; one screen rarely tells the full MTO story.
Sales-order item and schedule line, requested versus confirmed quantities/dates, item and schedule-line categories.
Material strategy group, determined requirements type/class, transfer status and individual planning segment.
MD04 demand, customer reference, change history and resulting MRP proposal or exception.
MTO SCENARIO
Trace one customer requirement
A customer orders a configured motor. The item and schedule line determine an MTO requirements type/class; the individual requirement appears in the sales-order segment. When the customer changes the mounting option and date, the changed demand—not a generic forecast—drives replanning.
- Individual demand is visible
- Requirement type/class is explainable
- Changed demand retains the customer reference
See how the customer reference moves across Sales, planning, production, inventory, delivery and Finance.