The quick answer
Go to Transactions > Demand Planning > Item Demand Plans and choose New Manual Item Demand Plan. Pick the Subsidiary, Location and Item, set View to Weekly on the Demand grid, set a Start Date and End Date, type a Quantity for each week and save. In this example eight weekly quantities of 30, 30, 30, 35, 35, 35, 60 and 60 are saved for Dock Cleat Set at Harbor Warehouse. The Item Demand Plan by Item report then shows 125 for October and 190 for November.
The screenshots show sample data. Person and operating-company names are fictional. Use your own records and values when following the steps.
Before you start
Demand Planning has to be enabled, and your role needs permission to create item demand plans and run the report. The item must use the Time Phased replenishment method and be valid for the location you choose, and the Item list on the plan only offers eligible items. An assembly item also needs Work Orders enabled. Subsidiary is required in OneWorld, and Location is required with Multi-Location Inventory. Only one demand plan can exist for the applicable item, subsidiary and location combination, so an item that already has a plan there needs an edit, not a new manual plan.
Weekly rows start on the company's First Day of Week preference, which is Sunday in this example. Menu paths can differ by role and enabled features.
01. Open a new manual plan
Go to Transactions > Demand Planning > Item Demand Plans. The list shows the plans that already exist. Here that is Hull Fender Pad at Harbor Warehouse and Winch Strap Kit at Bayview Annex. Dock Cleat Set has no plan yet. A manual plan lets you type demand yourself instead of calculating it from history, so choose New Manual Item Demand Plan.
02. Choose the item and location
Select Subsidiary Northbrook US and Location Harbor Warehouse, then choose Item Dock Cleat Set from the list, or type its name and press Tab. Unit of Measure only appears and fills in when Multiple Units of Measure is enabled, so leave it as it is. Memo is optional.
03. Type the weekly demand
Set View to Weekly. The grid changes from months to weeks, and the column heading changes to Weekly Calculated beside Quantity. Enter Start Date 10/04/2026 and End Date 11/28/2026, then leave the field. Eight weeks are listed, starting 10/04, 10/11, 10/18, 10/25, 11/01, 11/08, 11/15 and 11/22. If the start date falls mid-week, the first row begins on the first day of that week, and a mid-week end date makes the last row run to the end of its week.
Type a Quantity for each week: 30, 30, 30, 35, 35, 35, 60 and 60. The two 60s stand in for a planned promotion. Weekly Calculated stays blank because no projection was run. The October weeks add up to 125 and the November weeks to 190. Choose Save.
NetSuite returns to Item Demand Plans with a confirmation that the plan for Dock Cleat Set at Harbor Warehouse was saved. The new row's Last Projection Method is empty, as expected for a plan that was typed and never projected.
04. Total the plan in the report
Go to Reports > Demand Planning > Item Demand Plan by Item. With Date set to this month, 10/01/2026 to 10/31/2026, the report groups items by location. Harbor Warehouse shows Dock Cleat Set at 125 and Hull Fender Pad at 40, and Bayview Annex shows Winch Strap Kit at 22. The 125 is the four weeks that start in October: 30 + 30 + 30 + 35.
Set From to 11/01/2026 and To to 11/30/2026 and choose Refresh. Date changes to (Custom), and Dock Cleat Set shows 190, the four November weeks: 35 + 35 + 60 + 60.
Check the result
- The saved plan appears on Item Demand Plans with an empty Last Projection Method.
- For 10/01/2026 to 10/31/2026 the report shows 125 for Dock Cleat Set at Harbor Warehouse.
- For 11/01/2026 to 11/30/2026 it shows 190.
Common questions
What is the difference between Quantity and Weekly Calculated?
Quantity is the demand figure planning uses, and a planner can type it. Weekly Calculated is the system's projection from a calculation. On a manual plan nothing was calculated, so Weekly Calculated stays blank.
What does the View field on the Demand grid change?
It sets the time bucket: Monthly takes one quantity per month, Weekly one per week. Daily shows a row for each week with up to seven day columns. Weekly and Daily rows follow the company's First Day of Week preference. Choose the bucket you plan in before typing quantities, because the rows shown change with it.
Why does the report show a different total than I expected?
The report adds a period's Quantity when that period's start date falls inside From and To. The report does not split a weekly quantity across months. In the account tested, a range of 10/01/2026 to 10/08/2026 counted the week starting 10/04 even though it ends 10/10, and a range starting 10/07 left that week out. If a total looks off, check the weeks at the edges of the range.
Does saving a manual demand plan create orders?
No. It saves demand only. Classic item supply planning uses the plan's Quantity when the item's Demand Source at that location is Forecast from Demand Plan, and the item supply plan has to be generated again after demand changes. An account that plans with MRP includes the plan through its supply plan definition, then refreshes the planning repository and runs MRP. Planned orders from either route are recommendations until someone submits them.
What happens if I calculate a plan for the same item and location later?
NetSuite asks whether to keep or replace what is there. Do Not Overwrite Current Quantities refreshes the calculated values and keeps typed quantities. Overwrite Current Quantities replaces them, so review the plan first.
Can I load demand plans from a CSV file instead?
Yes. Item demand plans can be imported with Import CSV Records. A weekly file uses one column per week, with headings like Weekly Quantity:10/4/2026, and each date has to be the first day of your company's week. Keep one period type, weekly, monthly or daily, in a file. Adding a plan fails when one already exists for that item, subsidiary and location, so test with a small file first.