The Workforce Planning area has seen an explosion of data in the past decade, a happier climate than when I first entered the scene some years ago. One of the key issues that I see as I talk about Workforce Planning is that many of the people who are in control of the developing the Strategic Workforce Planning framework have very little understanding of Operational Workforce Planning. This is often due to the fact that key decision makers in the Workforce Planning space come from a ‘soft-science’ (i.e. HR or Recruitment) rather than a ‘hard-science’ background (i.e. Finance or Analytics).

Operational Workforce Planning can be described as ‘narrower in context and shorter term than strategic Workforce Planning. Operational Workforce Planning involves the systems and processes adopted and evolved to enable strategic Workforce Planning through the production of the evidence required for executive decision-making on workforce matters. Operational Workforce Planning should initially be process based and focused on simple tools, templates and techniques. Once established and practiced, these tools, templates and techniques can become more sophisticated and linked to existing or new IT systems to enable Workforce Planning to be integrated into normal business practice [¹].

If you consider that the Strategic Workforce Planning framework is your Business Process Review (alternately your Business Requirement Specification) then your Operational Workforce Planning forms the main component of your Business Solution Design. Without the first the second is misguided and ineffective.

Key considerations for Operational Workforce Planning fall into five main areas; they are data sources, static data, dynamic data, data governance and reporting. A few thoughts on each:

Data Sources that should be included in your inventory should include:

• ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning applications (i.e. SAP, Oracle & PeopleSoft to name a few). Is an integrated IT based system used to manage internal and external resources including tangible assets, financial resources, materials, and human resources. The two biggest players SAP & Oracle provide comprehensive HCM solutions (generally for the 5,000 FTE market and above).
• HRIS – Human Resource Information Systems (i.e. Chris 21 and Aurion in Australia). Standalone application which looks after predominately payroll, benefits, work-time, recruiting, training, performance and ESS (Employee Self-Service). All of the components of a HRIS can be devolved to specialist applications, such as a Talent Management System etc.
• Finance – If you don’t have an integrated ERP then like HRIS you must consider adding the standalone Finance applications to your list.
• HCM – Human Capital Management applications (i.e. Inform Insight & Aruspex to name a few). These are often analytic systems which interrogate core systems and utilise their data.
• WFM – Workforce Management Systems or Professional Services Automation applications (i.e. Kronos, ADP & Ceridian to name a few). These are your time and motion systems and a rich source of Workforce Planning data. Also note that SAP and Oracle also provide WFM functionality as part of their offerings at a cost.
• CRM – Customer Relationship Management (i.e. Salesforce.com). CRM technology is not just the application that holds your clients details but often provides very good data around your upcoming revenue streams.
• PPM – Project & Portfolio Management systems (i.e. MS Project, Primavera & SharePoint to name a few). Integrates scheduling, cost control, budget management, resource allocation, communication, quality management & administration systems, which are used to deal with the complexity of large program development.
• Surveys.

Static and dynamic data are important considerations because they are the core that will feed your reporting which is the most obvious outcome of Operational Workforce Planning.

Put simply, static data is the system information which does not change when it is questioned. The basics include but are not limited to staff establishment, headcount, FTE, age, gender, status, payroll, superannuation, benefits, location’ working arrangements (i.e. FT, PT, contract, casual, volunteer, seasonal etc.), job-groups and so on.

Dynamic data are the data elements that can be input or deleted efficiently without significant cost of amending your data structures in your core systems. Some of my colleagues refer to this as cross tabulation and most ERP, WFM and HCM solutions utilise core static data tables to form the basis for their reporting via dynamization. Examples of this might be turnover costs, vacancy projections, stability analysis, engagement ROI reporting etc.

Data governance is crucial to creating a Business Solution that will work yet it is the most misunderstood of the processes required for success. I was lucky to be involved with a leader in this area during my time with Mincom but his approach is too convoluted for this blog and I’ll lose my audience. Happily, as I was scrolling through the Systemic HR archive recently I came across an article from October of 2010 which summed up data governance concisely (the link to this article will be appended to the end of this blog if you are interested).

Data Governance basically consists of three things:

1. How we make decisions about data,
2. How we define the data,
3. How we execute processes that involve data. [²]

Finally, the last consideration of your Business Solution Design is your reporting. Reporting is the absolute bread and butter of a good Workforce Planner so when designing your solution you must commence the journey with the end in mind. Most of the data sources mentioned previously come with a comprehensive array of reporting tools or modules and these should be considered in the first instance as long as they tie in with the available data (both static & dynamic) and the data governance.

There are many roads to Jerusalem and there are many working parts to consider when turning your Strategic Workforce Planning framework into an Operational Workforce Planning solution.  Planning in the areas of data sourcing, data types, data governance and reporting prior to implementation is a sound investment and well worth your consideration.

Good luck on your journey.


[¹] Sloan, Julie. The Workforce Planning Imperative JSM, 2010. ISBN 978192103375 (pbk.)
[²] Dubs. "Understanding HR Data Governance". Systemic HR. http://systematichr.com/?p=1683. Retrieved February, 25 2011.