Workforce PlanningTo Customize or Not To Customize…

That is the Question

Deanna Sunde

Deanna Sunde

Oracle/Hyperion EPM Background

● Have implemented Hyperion products for 13 years

● Certified on Planning and Essbase

Finance Background

● Accounting and Financial management at Princess Cruises – 10 yrs

● MBA in Finance, CPA (Inactive), BS in Economics

User Group Participation

● President of ODTUG Hyperion SIG

● Graduate of ODTUG Leadership Program

● Planning Track Lead for KScope14 Presentation selection

● Speaker at many ODTUG and OAUG user conferences

● Member of SROAUG BOD for 6 years

Agenda

Best Practices

Assets and Accelerators

What is “Out of the Box”

What is NOT “Out of the Box”

Case Studies

Better to Use Workforce Planning “Out-of-the-

Box”

● Any Additional Configuration will Add to the Design

and Build Timeline and Budget

● “Out-of-the-Box” will Allow Opportunity to More

Easily Take Advantage of Enhancements in Future

Releases

● Over-Building Typically Costs More than the Benefit

Derived

To Configure or Not to Configure ...

Remember that Workforce Planning is NOT an

HR/Payroll System

Workforce Planning is used for Budgeting/Forecasting

the Future

It is not Meant to Track History

Do not Attempt to be Overly Precise, Look for “Close

Enough”

When Planning for a Small Number of Employees,

Planning can be Done by Named Employee

Best Practices for Workforce Planning

When Planning for a Very Large Number of Employees,

Plan by Job Code or a “Hybrid” Approach

● A “Hybrid” Approach Plans for Key Positions by Named

Employee and Other Positions by Job Code

● For Example, Forecast Head Office Staff by Employee and

Employees at Plants, Stores, Remote Offices by Job Code, Job

Title or Shift/Position

● Reduces Budget and Timeline

Best Practices (cont.)

Agenda

Best Practices

Assets and Accelerators

What is “Out of the Box”

What is NOT “Out of the Box”

Case Studies

Questionnaire

Design Document - Dimensions

Design Document – Business Rules

Design Document – Other Objects

Design Document - Integration

Sample Project Plans

Training Materials

Test Scripts

Security Design Documents and Matrix

Other

Agenda

Best Practices

Assets and Accelerators

What is “Out of the Box”

What is NOT “Out of the Box”

Case Studies

Workforce Planning is a special-purpose planning

module with pre-built functionality that encompasses

the most commonly used workforce planning practices.

The benefits of this is an automated process that helps

improve plan accuracy, predictability and accountability.

Workforce Planning includes predefined accounts, data

forms, SmartLists, context-sensitive menus, and

calculations.

What is “Out-of-the-Box”

Accounts for a US Company

● Salary accounts

● Payroll tax accounts (federal tax accounts only)

● Merit and Bonus accounts

● Insurance accounts

● Bonus and Merit Increases

● Employee expenses at the employee level (computers, travel,

etc.) or department level

What is “Out-of-the-Box” (cont)

Forms / SmartLists / Menus

Global Variables / Business Rules

Dimensions

● Planning required dimensions (Scenario, Version, Period, Year,

Account, Entity)

● Plus Employee dimension

Overtime in hours

Merit % - Global %, can override by employee

Bonus % - Global %, can override by employee

Turnover (Attrition) – Global %

What is “Out-of-the-Box” (cont)

What is “Out-of-the-Box” - Forms

What is “Out-of-the-Box” - Menus

What is “Out-of-the-Box” – Smart Lists

Smart List Values

ActionCX Approval, Rejected, Partially Approved, Transfer Out, Transfer In

EmployeeType Regular, Contractor, Temporary

FT_PT PT, FT

HealthPlan IndividualPlan, IndividualPlus1, FamilyPlan

Month Jan-Dec

PayType Exempt, NonExempt

Performance FailsToMeetExpectations, NeedsImprovement, MeetsExpectations,

ExceedsExpectations, FarExceedsExpectations

Position Assistant, Manager, Supervisor, Director, VP

SalaryBasis Annual, Hourly

Status Active, Departed, Disability, LeaveOfAbsence, Maternity, OnSabbatical,

TransferOut, TransferIn, Resigned

TaxRegion NoRegion, USA

What is “Out-of-the-Box” - Accounts

What is “Out-of-the-Box” – Accounts

What is “Out-of-the-Box” - Accounts

Manage Existing Employees Form

Manage Existing Employees Form (cont)

Manage Existing Employees Form (cont)

Manage Existing Employees Form (cont)

Manage Existing Employees Form (cont)

All of the compensation accounts, including taxes and benefits, will get recalculated based

on this change of status.

New Hires Form

New Hires Form (cont)

New Hires Form (cont)

Again, all of the appropriate calculations based on start date, grade, etc. are

calculated.

An additional level of approval by HR is required in this case – when more than 3

FTEs are hired. (example of validation, not out-of-the-box, but configurable).

New Hire Expenses

Employee-related expenses by individual employee or can be planned at a

department level.

Compensation Adjustments

Employee Expenses Summary

Headcount and FTE

Employee Information

Begin vs End

Budget vs Target

Department Level Expenses

Department Level Headcount

On Manage

Existing Employee

Status Form

Transfers Out

Transfers In

Transfer (both in

and out)

Transfers

Reconcile Transfer Report

Reconcile Employee Transfer

Tax Rates

Turnover

Agenda

Best Practices

Assets and Accelerators

What is “Out of the Box”

What is NOT “Out of the Box”

Case Studies

Data for Payroll Tax Rates and Limits

Data Load – from Oracle HR, ADP, etc.

Data Seeding

Integration with Financial Statement Plan Type (Export,

XWRITE, XREF)

TBH Integration using Requisition Numbers and

HR/Payroll Systems

Data is NOT “Out-of-the-Box”

Additional Custom Dimension(s)

● Department/Cost Center, Product, Project, etc.

Additional Accounts

● Salary accounts in additional to Exempt/Non-Exempt

● Accounts for state payroll taxes and non-US payroll taxes

Changes to Account, SmartList, Menu Names, Aliases

Update Forms and Business Rules

● Additional Periods/Years (i.e. 5 year plan, multi-year rolling

forecasts, etc.)

● Admin form for salary midpoints by Job Grade

● Ability to Select an End Month for New Hires

● Automatically determine exempt or non-exempt and hourly or

annual based on whether salary or hourly is selected

● Business Rules – tune for performance

Typical Configuration Changes

Merit Increase and Bonus Overrides (either in $ or %)

Multiple Bonus Plans and record in different accounts

FTE calculation – every customer tends to use a

different calculation

Attrition %

● $ adjustment

● By department/cost center or entity

Reports

● Forecast vs Budget and vs Prior Forecast to Assist with TBH

Reconciliation

● Exception Reports for Forecasted Headcount Greater Than

Budget

Typical Configuration Changes (cont)

Custom Completion Process using Data Forms instead

of Approval Process

Custom Process for Long Range Planning (3 year

plan/5 year Plan) either within Workforce Planning or a

separate Planning application or Plan Type

Allocations

Typical Configuration Changes (cont)

Agenda

Best Practices

Assets and Accelerators

What is “Out of the Box”

What is NOT “Out of the Box”

Case Studies

Global Organization – Approximately 40 Countries,

Workforce Planning in USD

Workforce Planning Licensed, but Configured to the

Company’s Needs

Dimensions

● Core Planning Dimensions + Employee

● Cost Center

● Division

● Job Level

● Shift

● Labor Type (Attribute)

Case Study #1 – Computer H/W Manuf.

Different Forms for Each Country, with Different Business

Rules on Each for Payroll Taxes and Benefits

2 Sets of User Forms for New Hires

● Superuser (Divisional Budget Manager) – Can Modify Headcount

and Midpoint After the New Hire is Added

● User (Planner)

Security Controlled Separately Between Workforce,

Capital Asset Planning and Financial Applications –

Separate Scenarios Used But All in One Application

Case Study #1 – Computer H/W Manuf.

Long Range Planning at a higher level – required new

forms and business rules

Budgeting done using “Hybrid” approach

● Classified Salaries by Title

● Unclassified Salaries by Job Grade Code

Reprojection (Forecast) – workforce planning not used

● Seeded with data from Budget or Previous Forecast

● Users would input data for changes in $’s – no special workforce

calculations

Case Study #2 – Utility Company

Case Study #2 – Drivers

Classified Job Title Rates

Unclassified Zone Rates

Case Study #2 – Drivers (cont)

Case Study #2 – Plan for Employees

Case Study #2 – Add New Hires

Case Study #2 - Overtime

Case Study #3 – Insurance Co.

Licensed Workforce Planning; in Same Application a

Financials

Workforce Planning Used for Budget but not Forecast

(Budget $’s Seed the Forecast)

Dimensions

● Core Planning Dimensions + Employee

● Position Type (Broker, Staff, Sponsored Broker or Sponsored

Staff)

● Data Type (Seeded, user input for increases/decreases,

override, calculated values, GL adjustment and other

adjustments)

● Legal Entity (Attribute linked to Entity)

● For Existing Employees, Employee ID Shown, but not

Employee Name

Case Study #3 – Insurance Co. (cont)

Merit Increase - Ability to Override Administrator

Entered % with a $ Amount

Bonus - Ability to Override Administrator Entered %

with a $ Amount

Smart List Position Type

● Values: Broker, Staff, Sponsored Broker or Sponsored Staff

● Change Existing Employee’s Position Type with a Right-Click

Menu (this ran a business rule to populate the Position Type

dimension properly)

Smart List for Tax Region for State Payroll Taxes

Sponsored Employee Plan %’s (cost split)

For New Hires Enter Start Month and End Month (Date

Change for Sponsored Brokers)

Case Study #3 – New Hires

Case Study #3 – Review Employees

Case Study #3 – Completion

Workforce Planning Licensed; in Separate Application

From Financial Application (Large, Global)

Dimensions

● Core Planning Dimensions + Employee

● RptCurrency (All Input in Local, Translation done in Financial

Application)

● Department

Some “Out-of-the-Box” Accounts were Removed, Other

Accounts Added

Employee Related Expenses Such as Travel part of

Financial Application

Case Study #4 – Nutrition Suppl. Co.

Existing Employees by Sequential Number (Names

included in Smart Lists)

Admin Form for # of Working Days in Month

Benefits and Payroll Tax Drivers by Country

Bonus %’s by Job Level by Country

Current Staff Form Excludes Compensation Information

Case Study #4 – Nutrition Suppl. Co.

Case Study #4 – Payroll Tax Rate

Case Study #4 – Bonus %

Case Study #4 – Current Staff

Case Study #5 – Large Financial Inst.

Core Planning Dimensions + FTE (Job Title and Job

Grades) + Employee

Separate Applications Due to Security and Number of

Users

Multi-Year Forecasting (5 years) with Forecasting Done

on a Monthly Basis

Existing Salaries Trended Out From Most Recent

Month’s Actuals

● NOT by Named Employee or Job Grade or Position/Job Title

● User Has the Ability to Enter Adjustments

Case Study #5 – Large Financial Inst.

● Merit Increase

● Entered by Admin at Global Level

● Ability for the User to Override at the Entity Level

● Cumulative Merit Increase in a Separate Merit Account

● Benefits Rate Entered by Admin at Global Level

New Hires Added by TBH (by Job Title or can Select a

Generic Job Grade)

● Uses Midpoints Entered by Administrator

● Ability for the User to Override at the Entity Level and by

Individual TBH

● Attribute Attached to Job Title to Lookup the Midpoint

● Attribute Attached to Job Title to Lookup Whether Exempt or

Non-Exempt

Case Study #5 –Forms

Case Study #5 – User Drivers

Case Study #5 – Existing Employees

Case Study #5 – New Hires

Validations for: Form not Saved, Missing Salary, Term Employee and Exempt Selected

Administrator Seeds at Start of Each Monthly Forecast

as “No” or “Inactive”

User Selects Status (No, Yes or Inactive)

User Saves Form

● Flag is Saved to the Database

● Data is Copied into Main Financial Application (XWRITE)

Case Study #5 – Staff Planning Complete

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Contact Information

deannasunde@gmail.com

Blog: deannasunde.com

Twitter: @deannasunde

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/deanna-sunde-2343564