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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2025-09-19
Create Headcount Forecast Plans

Create Headcount Forecast Plans

  • Approve a source headcount plan that was originally created using the
    Manage Workforce Planning Configuration
     task with the
    Use Plan and Execute Tasks
     option selected.
  • Configure the
    Headcount Planning
     business process and security policy in the Adaptive Planning for the Workforce functional area.
When your planning cycle is in progress and actuals have occurred, you can create a headcount forecast plan to either:
  • Adjust your current headcount plan according to the ongoing and changing needs of the organization.
  • Start your new planning cycle.
You can create a headcount forecast plan based on:
  • An approved headcount plan as the source plan.
  • The latest actuals.
We merge the To Be Hired (TBH) and existing position edits from the source plan with the latest actuals. You can include unexecuted TBH positions from the source plan with effective dates in both the past and the future.
You can create headcount forecast plans with or without events. When you create headcount forecast plans without events, we don’t send My Tasks items to planners that invite them to plan. You can add events later to invite planners. Example: You create a headcount forecast plan without events so that you can complete preliminary activities like loading targets or changing assumptions.
When you add an event to a headcount forecast plan, you create My Tasks items for both:
  • A plan controller who manages the business process event.
  • Plan participants who contribute to their parts of the plan.
These My Tasks items include links to forms for position data entry.
We distribute My Tasks items to plan participants with links to their parts of the plan based on:
  • Dimension access.
  • How you configure the
    Headcount Planning
     business process.
  • Organization structure.
  • Your users' roles in the supervisory organizations.
When participants create or edit positions for their parts of the plan, we display options to select based on:
  • The level and dimensions that you filter for on your workforce planning configuration manager. If you only include a subset of those levels and dimensions when you create the headcount plan, we display options based on the subset to planners.
  • Whether the users have access to this level.
When a planner submits on their My Tasks item, we send a My Tasks item to the next supervisory organization owner above that planner who has access to the headcount or headcount forecast plan.
  1. Access the
    Create Headcount Forecast
     task.
  2. Select your approved source headcount plan.
  3. Click
    OK
    .
  4. Create the headcount forecast plan:
    Option Description
    Include past unexecuted source plan TBHs
    Select to include unexecuted TBHs from the source headcount plan with effective dates in the past. We already include unexecuted TBHs with effective dates in the future.
    Lock Source Plan Executions
    Select to disable the ability to execute positions from the source headcount plan when you create this headcount forecast plan.
    We lock the source headcount plans from execution so that you only use the latest plan for position execution. You can only execute from headcount forecast plans after you approve them.
    If you don't select this check box:
    • We automatically lock source plan executions when you approve this headcount forecast plan.
    • You must manually reconcile your latest actuals with this headcount forecast plan before you submit. Otherwise, you might create duplicate positions when you execute using this plan because you might have already created the positions using the source plan.
    Forecast Date
    We automatically use the current date.
    From
    To
    Select the effective dates for:
    • Plan start date.
    • Plan end date.
    Top Level Hierarchy
    We automatically use the top-level hierarchy from your workforce planning configuration manager.
    Planning Organizations
    We automatically use the organizations from your source headcount plan.
    Reporting Currency
    We automatically populate this field with the default currency of the Workday tenant. Ensure that this currency matches the reporting currency of your Adaptive Planning model.
    Create an event for this headcount plan
    A headcount plan can contain multiple events, but you can only add 1 event at a time. Complete the
    Configure Headcount Forecast
     task again to add another event.
    Planning Organizations for This Event
    Select organizations that you included as
    Planning Organizations
     for this headcount plan.
    Include Subordinates
    Select to include all subordinate organizations underneath the planning organizations for this event.
    Example: For
    Planning Organizations for This Event
    , you select Cost Center 10.
    The organization hierarchy is:
    • Cost Center 10
    • Cost Center 10.1
    • Cost Center 10.1.1
    Each cost center has their own planner. When you select
    Include Subordinates
    , each planner receives a My Tasks item. When you keep
    Include Subordinates
     cleared, only the planner for Cost Center 10 receives a My Tasks item.
    View Participants
    Select to review the planners who will receive My Tasks items.
    Position Detail View
    Select to enable your planners to use a position-level grid to create and edit positions.
    You must select at least 1 view.
    Aggregate View
    Select to enable your planners to use these grids to update summarized headcount numbers for job profiles:
    • Headcount
    • Cost of Workforce
    • FTE
    Example: When you select the
    Software Engineer
     job profile on the filters, we display data like total
    Planned New Hires
     for each period in your headcount plan date range. Your planner can enter
    10
     for
    Planned New Hires
     in February and
    0
     for March.
    You must select at least 1 view.
    Organization View
    Select to enable your planners to use an organization chart to create and edit positions. We display the supervisory organization that the planner selects on the filter and all of the subordinate organizations.
    You must select at least 1 view.
    Routing
    The bottom-up and top-down routing methods require separate business process configurations. Ensure that your
    Headcount Planning
     business process is set up for the routing method that you select.
You can cancel the
Headcount Planning
 business process event and delete the:
  • My Tasks items for the shared participation controller and participants. We automatically consolidate My Tasks items for planners with multiple organizations.
  • Baseline version and working plan version associated with the headcount forecast plan.
If you cancel the business process event with the
Lock Source Plan Executions
 check box selected, the source headcount plan remains locked from executions.
While the business process is in progress:
  • If a reorganization occurs and the worker assigned to a plan participant role changes, we only remove the
    Headcount Planning Participant Detail Event
     from the My Tasks of the outgoing worker. We retain any saved changes made to the plan by the outgoing worker.
  • We lock the corresponding Adaptive Planning baseline version. We lock the plan version after the business process completes. If in progress plans exist from before 2025R2, you must manually lock the plan version.
To update the target KPI data that planners see above the headcount plan when they enter position data, reload your target KPI data after you submit. Otherwise, we display the same target KPI data from the source headcount plan.
Access the
View Headcount Plan Configuration
 report to view the:
  • Events on the headcount forecast plan.
  • Plan configuration.
  • Headcount forecast plan using the
    Open Headcount Plan
     button.
  • Status of the background jobs that keep this level in sync with Adaptive Planning. This status includes the status of version creation in Adaptive Planning.
  • Status of the plan.
You can also use the report to add events and complete the headcount forecast plan.