Headcount - Planning Page

Use the Headcount Planning page to create and modify your headcount plan by forecasting headcount needs for the plan period.

To access the planning page, click Start Planning from the Create a Plan page or click Go to Plan from the Headcount Planning page.

Plan Name

The name of the plan.

Details

Click Details to view a pop-up that displays the plan due date and plan period.

Due Date

The plan due date. "Due Date Not Specified" displays if no date is configured.

Subplans

Click SUBPLANS to assign and manage subplanners working on smaller sections of the plan. See Assign Subplans.

Submit Plan

Click Submit to move the plan from the active status to completed status. The plan now displays in the Completed Plans section on the Headcount Planning page. You cannot re-open or modify a submitted plan.

Summary/Year Tabs

The time horizon is separated into the following tabs that display headcount, FTE, and cost for the selected year:

  • Summary tab - Displays all years in the plan.
  • A tab for each year in the plan.
  • Current Year tab - If the plan creator extended the plan to a period before the plan’s start date, an additional Current Year Tab appears which allows managers to update their near-term headcount projections for the remainder of the year (before Year 1, etc.).

Show Targets

If the plan creator enabled the Targets feature, Show Targets, displays a scorecard of how the plan compares to the targets.

Headcount Graphic

A graph showing headcount for the time period of the selected tab appears above the grid. Click Hide Graphs to hide the graph.

Chart View of Plan

Plans appear as a real-time chart in addition to the grid format. The chart can make it easier to quickly spot patterns, trends, or other anomalies.

Hover over the various colors in the chart to view the area of hierarchy represented by the color.

The X axis represents the timeline displayed in the grid. Each color in the chart represents the child organizational units (OU) under the top level of the plan hierarchy.

Plan Table

The plan table display information that allows you to forecast each position instance over the plan period. The information that appears is based on the Show options you select.

Show Options

The Show options define what appears in the plan table. The following options are available:

  • Views
    • Headcount - Displays the projected headcount view for each position instance. You cannot edit Headcount as it is derived from FTE; any FTE greater than 0 means Headcount is 1.
    • FTE - View and edit FTE values for each position instance for any position in any time increment. Edits automatically carry into future periods.
    • Cost - View the cost associated with a position or position instance. The cost fields cannot be modified directly in the table. Cost is adjusted based on changes to FTE, or if Cost Override is enabled, the user can edit within the Position Details side panel. The FTE cost is calculated by multiplying the cost of a full-time position. For example, if FTE is changed to 0.5, then cost is halved.
  • Currency - The selected currency. If the positions in the specific area of organization include multiple currencies, then all positions will be converted automatically to the Base Currency outlined in the Exchanges Rates file in Cost Model Manager. If all the positions have the same Local Currency, the user can choose to display the costs in either that single Local Currency or the Base Currency.
  • Filter - Filter the positions in the table by type. Options are:
    • Position Hierarchy - Display all positions, along with the Manager hierarchy. This is the default view.
    • Incomplete Positions – Display positions that are missing "Required" attributes in cases where a "Required" attribute is also "Restricted,". Restricted means that only users in the Plan Administrator or Plan Owner roles can complete them. This is commonly used by organizations that want to control position costs centrally instead of letting planners define costs.
    • New Positions - Display positions created in the plan, as opposed to positions that existed in the organization when the plan was created.
    • Becoming Manager - Display positions that existed in the organization at the time the plan was created and that have been assigned subordinate positions within the plan.
    • New Managers - Display new positions created within the plan and also have subordinate positions.
  • Incumbent - Display the incumbent (user) in the show results.

Primary planners and co-planners see all position instances within the area of the organization in the plan that was assigned to them or in the plan they created themselves.

By default, all values in the starting increment are assumed to carry forward to all future increments in the plan.

Each time the plan is opened, the table displays the top level position instance, with the first level below expanded.

Any values in the "Entire Organization" and "Direct Reports" rows cannot be modified. Any value in a row with the word "Reports" in it cannot be changed. FTE can only be changed for a specific position instance.

Org/Position

This section displays the hierarchy of the position instance. The direct reports are the group of positions that report directly to the position above it. Indirect reports display below direct report grouping and are considered direct and indirect reports of a direct report. You cannot edit values in the rows for "Direct Reports" or "Indirect Reports."

Position Instances - FTE

When viewing FTE from the Show option, the table displays each segment of the time horizon as a separate column. You can only edit the position instance rows. These rows are colored in red or green. The values in the "Direct Reports" or "Indirect Reports" rows cannot be modified.

To modify the FTE value:

  1. Click the desired cell in the corresponding FTE row and time horizon column.
  2. Delete the value or backspace over the value.
  3. Enter the new value. The acceptable values are 0 and 1 and any value in between within two decimal points. Decimal points round up. To enter a decimal, enter 0.[decimal number]. The value and color of the current and all subsequent cells in the row changes to green if the value is 0.01 or greater, and it changes to red if the value is 0.
  4. Click away from the cell to automatically update the table with the new value.

Positions Added to Plan Indicator

An asterisk symbol displays in the position row to indicate that the position was added to the plan and was not a position that existed in the snapshot when the plan task was created.

Position Options Drop-Down

A drop-down option displays to the right of the position title in the left-side column to enable you to take the following actions:

Click SAVE to add the position instance to the plan. The new position instance will appear in the plan under the Direct Reports section for the option selected in the Manager field.

View Incumbent and Division OU

You can hover over an item in the Hierarchy column to view the incumbent (user) and the Division Organizational Unit (OU).

Annual Cost

This column displays the sum of the cost of the position instances for all increments in the year displayed. The cost will adjust based on changes to headcount and FTE or other position attributes as defined by the costing model that you uploaded. For example, if you change the headcount from 1 to 0 for a position instance, then the cost will decrease (likely to 0 but is dependent upon how costing is configured) based on the removal of headcount.

Viewing and Editing Position (Instance) Attributes

If you click a cell within the Plan Years for a given position, a small button will appear next to the cell, which opens the Position Details panel. This panel displays details of the position at that time increment. Some of the position details are read-only (i.e., Position Title, Incumbent, Job Title, etc), while others are always editable (i.e., FTE) or possibly editable depending on the configuration of the particular plan.

The position title and place in the time horizon displays at the top of the panel. The following additional fields and information displays for existing position instances:

  • FTE - The FTE value is the percentage of full-time that each position instance requires. This is a required field. The acceptable values are 0 and 1 and any value in between within two decimal points. Decimal points round up. To enter a decimal, enter 0.[decimal number].
  • Headcount - Enter a value of 1 or 0. You cannot edit the headcount as it is derived from FTE: any FTE greater than 0 means that the headcount is 1.
  • Location - If this is enabled as editble by the plan creator, you can typethe criteria into the predictive search field. Matching values display in a drop-down below the field. Click a matching value to select it and add it as the attribute. The values that are available are the Location OUs in the portal or the options that were defined during implementation of Headcount Planning. The selected location will apply to the selected increment and all subsequent position increments in the plan. For example, if you change the location to Los Angeles in the second month of a 2-year plan, then months 2-24 will have the location of Los Angeles.
  • Division - If this is enabled as editble by the plan creator, you can typethe criteria into the predictive search field. Matching values display in a drop-down below the field. Click a matching value to select it and add it as the attribute. The options that are available are the Division OUs in the portal or the options that were defined during implementation of Headcount Planning.
  • Cost Center - If this is enabled as editble by the plan creator, you can typethe criteria into the predictive search field. Matching values display in a drop-down below the field. Click a matching value to select it and add it as the attribute. The options that are available are the Cost Center OUs in the portal or the options that were defined during implementation of Headcount Planning.
  • Grade - If this is enabled as editble by the plan creator, you can typethe criteria into the predictive search field. Matching values display in a drop-down below the field. Click a matching value to select it and add it as the attribute. The options that are available are the Grade OUs in the portal or the options that were defined during implementation of Headcount Planning.
  • Cost - This must be enabled as editable by the plan creator. This displays the cost value for the position instance or FTE. The cost will adjust based on changes to headcount and FTE. For example, if you change the headcount from 1 to 0 for a position instance, then the cost will decrease (likely to 0 but is dependent upon how costing is configured) based on the removal of headcount.

Targets

If the Targets feature was enabled at plan creation, you can click TARGETS to assign and manage Targets for you subplanners. See Headcount Plan - Targets.

Position Costing

For portals that enable cost override, the cost of a position can be configured in the plan. See Headcount Plan - Position Costing.

Edit Plan

Planners can edit their entire plans, even while they have subordinate managers working on subplans, as though everyone is working off of the exact same plan. This allows the senior planner to be able to edit any area of the plan, regardless if there is a subplan assigned.