A method for the effective planning of all the resources of a manufacturing company. Ideally it addresses operational planning in units, financial planning in money, and has a simulation capability to answer what if questions. It is made up of a variety of functions, each linked together: business planning, master (or production) planning, master production scheduling, material requirements planning, capacity requirements planning and the execution systems for capacity and priority. Outputs from these systems would be integrated with financial reports such as the business plan, purchase commitment report, shipping budget, stock projections in money etc. Manufacturing resource planning is a direct out-growth and extension of material requirements planning (MRP-1).

A more well defined type of MRP, which includes operational planning in units, financial planning in dollars and simulation capability to answer "What ifs?". Some of the functionality most often found in MRP II systems: Production Planning and Scheduling, Shop Floor Control, Job Costing, Financial Management, Time and Attendance, Forecasting, Order Processing, Performance Measurement