How to Clear Material Allocations for Completed Production Orders in Acumatica
In manufacturing operations, not every production order follows the ideal flow. Sometimes, production is marked as completed even though the materials were never fully issued—or perhaps not issued at all. While Acumatica allows this flexibility, it also means that material allocations may linger in the system, even though the production process is already marked as done.
These residual allocations can lead to confusion—especially when they begin to show up in inventory planning as active material demands. This can mislead planners, trigger unnecessary purchase suggestions, and ultimately cause inaccurate inventory forecasts.
Fortunately, Acumatica provides a straightforward way to resolve this.
Why This Happens
When a production order is completed without issuing all required materials, Acumatica doesn’t automatically clear out the reserved material allocations. The assumption is that you may still want to issue the materials after the fact. But in scenarios where those materials are no longer needed, it becomes necessary to manually finalize their status so they’re not considered in planning or MRP runs.
How to Resolve It
If you're seeing leftover material allocations on completed production orders, you can remove them using a built-in option: Set Materials Status to Completed.
Here’s how it works.
Step-by-Step: Completing Material Allocations Manually
- Open the Production Order
Navigate to the production order that’s already marked as Completed. This is typically done from the Production Orders screen in the manufacturing workspace. - Go to the More Menu
In the top-right corner of the screen, open the More dropdown menu.
3. Click on "Set Materials Status to Completed"
This action tells Acumatica that the material requirements for this production order are no longer expected to be fulfilled. It finalizes the allocation and effectively closes the loop on material demand for this job.
What Happens Next
Once the materials are set to completed:
- Material allocations tied to the production order are cleared.
- The production order no longer contributes to material demand in inventory planning.
- Any inventory planning suggestions that were triggered by this order will automatically adjust to exclude it.
This keeps your MRP and replenishment recommendations clean and accurate, preventing over-purchasing or misleading demand forecasts.
Final Thoughts
In real-world production, flexibility is essential—but so is accurate planning. If your operations occasionally complete production orders without issuing all materials, it’s important to follow up by closing out those material allocations. Acumatica’s Set Materials Status to Completed action makes this easy and ensures that your planning engine reflects only what truly matters.
For any business relying on MRP or planning reports, this one small step can make a big difference in maintaining clean and trustworthy inventory data.