End-users can get confused about the difference between;
MD04 – Stock/requirement List and
MD05 – MRP List.
MD05 will show only the situation as it was since the last MRP run. This transaction is suitable for reviewing the MRP run. Without taking into account new stock issues or receipts MD05 is ideal for evaluating your MRP parameters. Look at the stock date, this is the date of the last MRP run.
MD04 will show you the current stock situation taking into account all requirements and planned receipts. The stock date is always current (=today). This view is appropriate if you make procurement decisions in dynamic environments, i.e. requirement situation changed a lot since the last MRP run.
Example: MRP has run for a material on Monday early morning. The planner will not evaluate the procurement proposals until Monday afternoon. Customer service entered a large number of sales orders in the system, and the warehouse already shipped quantities. In this case I suggest the planner uses MD04 to get the most up-to-date planning situation. On top of that I would actually recommend the planner gets out of bed early and does the planning evaluation first thing in the morning. If a planner allows a lot of changes to happen, the procurement proposal out of MRP may not make sense anymore.