Optimizing Workforce Planning with Oracle Cloud EPM Planning
By David Pabst, Solution Architect and Oracle Ace Pro
This is the second installment in my series exploring the prebuilt modules included in Oracle Cloud EPM Planning. If you missed the first post on the Financials module, it covered how to streamline P&L, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow planning.
Oracle Cloud EPM Planning offers prebuilt, wizard-based modules to streamline budgeting, forecasting, and planning processes across key areas, such as Financials, Workforce, Capital, and Projects. These modules help organizations move beyond manual spreadsheet-based planning, offering structured and automated approaches to improve accuracy and save time.
In this post, I’ll dive into the Workforce module, which is specifically designed to optimize labor cost forecasting and workforce planning by focusing on headcount, compensation, and related expenses.
What Does the Workforce Module Do?
The Workforce module forecasts labor headcount and related expenses like salaries, inflation, bonuses, fringe benefits, and company-borne taxes. It uses your HR baseline data and enables dynamic scenario planning, making it easier to evaluate the financial impact of hiring, reductions, and other workforce changes.
Key Features of the Workforce Module:
Employee and Job Code-Level Planning: Calculate future headcount, FTE, and labor expenses while comparing against actuals. Plan by employee, job, or both.
Project Integration: Incorporate labor assignments into project planning to align resources and costs effectively.
Customizable Rules: Define earnings, benefits, and tax rules by country or legal entity, factoring in employee type (Exempt/Non-Exempt, Part-Time/Full-Time, Union/Non-Union).
Demographic Insights: Analyze the mix of employees by attributes like age, education, and other demographics.
Event-Based Planning: Account for individual employee events, including new hires, transfers, terminations, and leaves.
P&L Integration: Consolidate labor forecasts into your broader financial plan.
Is This Module Right for You?
The Workforce module is a good fit if:
You want your financial analysts and managers to forecast by employee and/or position.
Your team produces headcount bridge reports, showing starting headcount, new hires, and terminations to calculate ending headcount.
You coordinate with recruiting to align budgeted positions with open requisitions.
You have access to an employee roster with detailed attributes (e.g., pay rate, grade, department, exempt/non-exempt, union/non-union).
However, you may need an alternative approach if:
You have a large employee base (10,000+) and need faster, higher-level forecasting.
You need granular planning for hourly operational staffing, such as shifts in healthcare or manufacturing.
You need to incorporate sub-forecasting processes, like equity programs, long-term retention strategies, or acquisition earnouts.
Plan by individual employee.
How Does It Work?
The Workforce module simplifies and accelerates workforce planning by integrating HR data and automating calculations. Here’s how to get started:
Load Employee Data: Import employee data from your HR system or upload spreadsheets.
Define Rules: Configure compensation, benefits, and tax rules based on your organization’s structure.
Run Scenarios: Test the financial impact of workforce changes, such as hiring, salary adjustments, or restructuring.
Leverage Prebuilt Tools: Use prebuilt dashboards, reports, and input forms to streamline processes and improve decision-making.
See your actual + planned headcount levels and resulting expenses come together in a forward looking view.
A Flexible Foundation
Think of the Workforce module as a prebuilt planning spreadsheet for labor costs—but far more powerful and customizable. While it provides a robust starting point, you can tailor it to fit your organization’s unique needs by:
Adding custom calculations for specific payroll structures.
Extending dimensions to capture new organizational attributes.
Designing role-specific dashboards and reports.
Conclusion
Oracle Cloud EPM Planning Workforce module helps organizations optimize labor cost forecasting with an automated and structured approach. Whether you’re transitioning from spreadsheets or looking for a scalable solution, this module provides a quick start with room to grow.
Stay tuned for the next post in this series, where I’ll explore the Capital module and how it enables effective CapEx planning and management.
Additional Resources