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Adaptive Planning
Last Updated: 2026-06-23
Org Design and Scenario Modeling

Org Design and Scenario Modeling

Preview Date: 2026-02-07. Production Date: 2026-03-14.
With this release, we introduce Org Design and Scenario Modeling, a new capability within Adaptive Planning for the Workforce. This feature enables workforce planners and HR business partners to model organizational changes in a secure, sandbox environment. You can create multiple "what-if" scenarios to restructure hierarchies, move positions, and modify attributes without affecting your live HCM data until you’re ready to execute.
You can visualize your current organization, drag and drop organizations and positions to model changes, and instantly see the impact on key metrics such as headcount, FTE, and workforce costs. Once you finalize a scenario, you can route it for approval using a new business process designed specifically for org modeling.
Watch the video:
 5m 40s

Business Benefits

This feature enables you to:
  • Quickly adapt your organizational structure to meet changing business needs by modeling various scenarios side-by-side.
  • View real-time updates to cost and headcount metrics as you model changes, allowing you to assess the financial and operational impact of restructuring immediately.
  • Share scenarios with key stakeholders and HR leaders for feedback and collaborative planning within a secure environment.
  • Gain immediate visual insights into management ratios and organizational depth through interactive charts and KPI cards.

Changes

Org Models and Scenarios Dashboard
We deliver a new
Org Models and Scenarios
 dashboard (secured to the
Manage: Org Models
 and
Participate: Org Models
 domains). This centralized hub enables you to view your models and scenarios shared with you. From here, you can launch the modeling interface, create new scenarios, and track status.
We add the
Create Org Model
 task (secured to the
Design Org Models
 business process) to initiate a new org modeling project. You can define the model name, effective date, organization hierarchy type, and top-level organization. You can access this task from the new dashboard.
We add the
Launch Org Model
 task (secured to the
Manage: Org Models
 and
Participate: Org Models
 domains) that you can use to open the visual modeling interface. You can access this task from the new dashboard.
User Interface and Visualizations
On the visual org modeling interface, we enable you to:
  • Click and drag organizations or positions to move them to different parts of the hierarchy.
  • Compare scenarios to view differences in headcount, cost, and structure side-by-side.
  • Copy models to create alternative versions of your plan.
  • Select multiple organizations or positions to perform bulk edits or moves.
  • Use related actions on org nodes to create subordinate orgs, edit orgs, inactivate or reactivate orgs, assign roles, create positions, or edit positions.
  • View key metrics like Total Workforce Cost, Headcount, FTE, Span of Control, and Layers. These metrics update dynamically as you make changes.
We display warning toast messages when you exceed the guidelines set by your administrator for:
  • Layers
  • Span of Control
We don't prevent you from continuing after you exceed these guidelines.
We display a loading indicator on your cursor after you click on the related actions menu for items in this modeling interface, and you're waiting for the related actions menu to appear.
Analytics View
We add these visualizations to the Analytics view:
  • Total Orgs
     key metrics card.
  • Distribution
     donut chart that displays the split of headcount across individual contributors (ICs) and managers.
  • Org Distribution
     donut chart that displays the split between orgs with no subordinate org layers and orgs with subordinate layers.
  • Org Health
     section with bars that display the number and percentage of orgs with span deviations, positions in excess layers, orgs with negative counts, and a link to view the guidelines.
We enhance the Analytics view by enabling you to:
  • Drill into charts. You can now click on chart segments (such as a span bar or position layer) to open a pop-up containing detailed information for that segment.
  • Filter visualizations across all tabs using your org selection.
On the
Org Structure
 tab, we now enable you to:
  • View your organization hierarchy in a sunburst chart. We also enable you to view the organization hierarchy using an icicle chart, which we now display as the default chart.
  • Select
    Span of Control
     in the
    Property
     filter to color chart segments by span of control category relative to your administrator's guidelines. We color segments using these categories:
    Micro
    ,
    Narrow
    ,
    Optimal
    , and
    Wide
    .
We rename these guideline-based bucket labels on the
Span of Control Distribution
 chart on the
Spans and Layers
 tab:
  • Below Guidelines to
    Micro
    .
  • Below Min Guidelines to
    Narrow
    .
  • Within Guidelines to
    Optimal
    .
  • Above Max Guidelines to
    Wide
    .
On the
Total Orgs
 key metrics card on the
Summary
 tab, we enable you to click the org change breakdown to view details for organizations that are:
  • In the baseline.
  • Newly created.
  • Inactivated.
  • Moved in.
  • Moved out of the selected org.
Security and Setup
We deliver these new domains (secured on the Adaptive Planning for the Workforce functional area):
  • Manage: Org Models
     that you can use to configure who can create org models and initiate the collaboration process.
  • Participate: Org Models
     that you can use to configure who can view and edit org models that they are invited to.
  • Set Up: Org Model
     that you can use to configure who can use the configuration tasks and edit the guidelines.
We deliver a new
Design Org Models
 business process (secured to the Adaptive Planning for the Workforce functional area) that you can use to configure who can collaboratively design org models and scenarios using shared participation.
Org Model Reporting
We deliver a new
Direct Parent from Organization
 report field on the Organization business object (secured to the
Public Reporting Items
 domain) that you can use to return the direct parent for hierarchical organizations or a singular container for content organizations.
We deliver these new report fields on the Headcount Plan Line Details business object (secured to the
Public Reporting Items
 domain) to support delta reporting:
  • Cost of Workforce Amount
  • Full Time Equivalent
  • Is Manager
  • Position Availability Date
  • Position Element
We deliver these new report fields on the new Planning Org Change business object (secured to the
Public Reporting Items
 domain) to support delta reporting:
  • Is Newly Created
  • New Parent or Container
  • Organization Entity
  • Plan Scenario
We deliver the
Position rolls up to Top Level Organization for Org Model
 report field on the Plan Executable business object (secured to the
Manage: Org Models
 and
Participate: Org Models
 domains) that you can use to evaluate whether positions roll up to the top level organization for your org model.

What Do I Need to Do?

Enable the new domains:
  1. Access the
    View Domain
     report and locate the new
    Manage: Org Models
    ,
    Participate: Org Models
    , and
    Set Up: Org Model
     domains in the Adaptive Planning for the Workforce functional area.
  2. Enable these domains and add the appropriate security groups to the View and Modify permissions. Examples: Add the Workforce Planner or HR Administrator security groups.
  3. Activate your pending security policy changes.
Configure the new business process:
  1. Access the
    Design Org Models
     business process definition.
  2. Add a Shared Participation step. Assign security groups to this step. Example: Assign the Org Model Owner security group.
  3. Configure the Approval step to route completed models to the appropriate approvers. Examples: Route to the HR Executive or Manager security groups.
If you want to use custom calculations for workforce costs, ensure you have configured the necessary calculated fields on the Headcount Plan Line Details business object. You can select these fields during the
Create Org Model
 task, which you access on the
Org Models and Scenarios
 dashboard.

What Happens if I do Nothing?

If you don't enable the new domains or configure the business process, the Org Design & Scenario Modeling features will not be accessible to your users. Existing workforce planning functionality will remain unchanged.

Change Log

Org Structure Icicle Chart and Summary Analytics
We update the Changes field to document the icicle chart and span of control coloring on the
Org Structure
 tab, updated span of control category labels on the
Span of Control Distribution
 chart, and org change details on the
Summary
 tab.
Preview Date: 2026-07-03. Production Date: 2026-07-31.
Analytics View Enhancements
We update the Business Benefits and Changes fields to document new charts and capabilities on the Analytics view.
Preview Date: 2026-05-01. Production Date: 2026-05-15.
Org Design and Scenario Modeling
We correct this note to clarify the Org Models and Scenarios Dashboard subsection of the Changes section.
Org Design and Scenario Modeling
We correct this note to clarify the What Do I Need to Do? section and add a link to Related Information section.
Warning Toast Messages
We update the Changes field to document new warning toast messages when you exceed Layers and Span of Control guidelines.
Preview Date: 2026-02-27. Production Date: 2026-03-14.
Loading Indicator
We update the Changes field to document a new loading indicator for your cursor after you click on a related actions menu.
Preview Date: 2026-02-27. Production Date: 2026-03-14.
Org Models and Scenarios Report Fields
We update the Changes field to document new report fields on these business objects:
  • Headcount Plan Line Details
  • Organization
  • Plan Executable
  • Planning Org Change
Preview Date: 2026-02-07. Production Date: 2026-03-14.