Workforce Planning Process

Use this article to understand the full Workforce Planning lifecycle before creating or reviewing a workforce plan.

Workforce Planning process overview

Workforce Planning follows a controlled lifecycle. The process starts with Admin configuration and ends when approved plans are published for reporting and analysis.

The lifecycle is:

Configure roles and rates.
Map roles to financial accounts.
Create a budget or forecast plan.
Add workforce entries.
Enter monthly headcount.
Generate budget or forecast values.
Submit for review.
Review and collaborate.
Approve or reject.

10. Publish for reporting.

Each stage builds on the previous stage. If setup is incomplete, planning users may not see the correct roles, rates, accounts, or generated values.

Stage 1: Admin configuration

Before users can create workforce plans, Admins configure the planning foundation.

Admins define:

Workforce roles
Annual rates or base compensation
Role descriptions
Role-to-account mappings
Distribution percentages

This setup controls how cost is calculated and where financial values are posted.

Why this stage matters

A workforce plan is only as accurate as its setup. If role rates are incorrect or accounts are missing, generated budgets may not reflect the intended financial structure.

Stage 2: Plan creation

A Budget Process Owner creates a new budget or forecast and opens the Workforce Planning tab.

The Budget Process Owner defines the planning context, such as:

Budget or forecast name
Year
Type
Planning type
Optional variables such as CPI and LPI, where applicable

After the plan is saved, the Workforce Planning tab becomes available for workforce entries.

Stage 3: Workforce entry creation

A workforce entry represents a planned workforce cost line.

The Budget Process Owner selects the required fields, including:

Role
Cost center
Entity
Expense type
Employee or vendor, where applicable

Once the entry is saved, Yarken applies the selected role’s base compensation and prepares the row for monthly headcount input.

Stage 4: Monthly headcount entry

Headcount is entered by month. The user can open the detailed view to see monthly columns and enter the number of resources planned for each month.

As headcount is entered, Yarken calculates workforce cost and generates related financial values based on configuration.

Example

If a role has an annual base compensation of 1,200,000 and the user enters 1 headcount for March:

Monthly cost = 1,200,000 ÷ 12 = 100,000
March workforce cost = 100,000 × 1 = 100,000

Stage 5: Submission for review

When the Budget Process Owner is ready, the plan is submitted to Budget Contributors or Cost Center Owners for review.

After submission, editing may be restricted for the Budget Process Owner depending on workflow state. This ensures that contributors review a stable version of the plan.

Stage 6: Contributor review and collaboration

Budget Contributors review the assigned budget or forecast from the Cost Centre Budgets & Forecasts area.

Contributors can:

Review workforce entries for their cost centers.
Validate monthly headcount.
Check employee or vendor assumptions.
Add comments.
Edit permitted items.
Submit the plan back for approval.

Comments help maintain context and reduce back-and-forth outside the system.

Stage 7: Approval or rejection

The Budget Process Owner reviews submitted plans and decides whether to approve or reject them.

Approve the plan when:

Headcount assumptions are valid.
Cost center ownership is correct.
Account-level impact is acceptable.
Budget or forecast values align with planning goals.

Reject the plan when:

Headcount needs correction.
Cost distribution is wrong.
Cost center or entity is incorrect.
The contributor needs to revise assumptions.

Stage 8: Publishing and reporting

After approval, the plan can be published to the selected model for reporting and analysis.

Published workforce data can support:

Financial reports
Dashboards
Budget versus forecast analysis
Workforce cost reporting
Cost center review
Account-level analysis

Status tracking

Workforce Planning uses statuses to show where a plan sits in the workflow.

Status	Meaning	Typical user action
Draft	Plan is being created	Add or edit workforce entries
In Progress	Plan is under review	Contributors review and submit updates
Approved	Plan is finalized	Publish or use for reporting
Canceled	Plan is discontinued	No further planning action