Time-Phased Order Point (TPOP): Reordering for Lumpy Demand
A time-phased order point (TPOP) swaps one static reorder level for a forward, week-by-week view of projected demand, on-hand and planned receipts — the same logic behind DRP. It earns its keep when demand is lumpy or seasonal, where a flat reorder point either stocks out or over-orders. When you need it, and when a basic ROP is the right call.
How to Calculate Reorder Point (Formula + Worked Example)
How to calculate reorder point comes down to one formula — (average daily usage × lead time in days) + safety stock. Here's the maths, a worked example with the numbers shown, where safety stock comes from, and the honest catch nobody tells you: a reorder point calculated once and parked in a spreadsheet quietly rots as demand and lead times drift.
Works Order Processing Software: What Stock and Accounts Tools Miss
Works order processing software runs the instruction to make or assemble something end to end — issuing materials against a bill of materials, booking the labour and time that went into the build, tracking work-in-progress on the floor, completing the finished item back into stock, and costing the job. Generic stock and accounts tools weren't built for any of that, which is why so many makers run works orders on a spreadsheet beside the software they already pay for. This buyer's guide covers what a works order actually is, what "processing" it really involves, why your stock and accounts systems can't do it, and when a right-sized works order system beats both the spreadsheet and a full MRP.
Purchase Order Tracking System: Closing the Open-PO Blind Spot
Raising a purchase order is the solved part. A purchase order tracking system covers the part that actually leaks — which POs are open, what's due when, what arrived short, and which suppliers are running late. Here's what tracking gives you that a PO log can't, and the point where a shared spreadsheet stops being enough.
Purchase Requisition vs Purchase Order: The Difference That Controls Spend
The difference between a purchase requisition and a purchase order is the difference between asking and committing. A requisition is the internal request that approves the intent to spend; a purchase order is the external instruction sent to a supplier. The requisition comes first — the PO is what an approved requisition becomes. Here's what each one is, who sees it, what it controls, and why blurring the seam between them is how orders go out that were never approved.
The Purchase Requisition Process: From Request to Approved PO
The purchase requisition process is the request-to-buy workflow that runs before any money is committed — raise the request, check the budget, route it to the right approver, escalate what's over a limit, and convert the approved request into a purchase order. This is the step-by-step version: what each stage does, what a good request captures, and exactly where the process leaks money when it runs on email and memory instead of a system.
Odoo vs Custom Software: The Buy-or-Build Decision
Odoo vs custom software isn't a fight between a good tool and a bad one — it's a trade between breadth you buy and fit you build. Odoo gives you a huge, mature suite and an ecosystem behind it; a custom operations system gives you an exact match to how you work and outright ownership. Here's an honest framework for the buy-or-build call — what each genuinely wins on, the costs and risks over time, and how to decide without over-buying or over-building.
Is Odoo Too Complicated? The Small-Business Reality
Is Odoo too complicated for a small business? Often, yes — not because it's bad software, but because it's a full ERP suite aimed at a business bigger than the one asking. This is an honest look at why Odoo feels heavy for SMEs, the config and admin curve nobody quotes you upfront, the middle ground most small businesses actually sit in, and how to choose without over-buying a suite you'll use a fraction of.
Odoo Manufacturing (MRP): When It's Too Much for a Small Maker
Odoo Manufacturing (MRP) is a genuinely capable production suite — multi-level BOMs, work orders, routings, capacity planning, shop-floor and quality apps. That depth is the point for a complex factory, and the problem for a small maker. This post covers what Odoo MRP actually does, the complexity threshold where it earns its keep, the setup burden it lands on a small shop, and the focused parts most makers actually need instead.