Strategic Workforce Planning
Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) lets you set a target headcount per unit, compare it with current staffing and see how many people are left to hire.
Strategic Workforce Planning (menu label SWP, marked Beta) helps you define your target organisation, track how each part of the company is staffed and anticipate upcoming openings. For each unit of your organisation (for example each department or each work location), you set a target headcount. OpenAleph compares it with the people currently in that unit and shows what is filled and what is still to hire.
Before you start
- The module must be included in your company's plan (see Modules and licences). If you don't see SWP in the Apps section of the navigation menu, your company may not have it enabled: ask your admin or your OpenAleph account manager.
- The module is available to managers and above. Employees don't see it in the menu; if they open an SWP link, they get the Restricted Access page. See Roles and access.
- It uses your company's people attributes (organisational units and work location), set up by admins in Settings › People attributes (see People attributes), and the attribute values filled in on each employee's profile (see Employee profile).
Key concepts
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Configuration | Company-wide setting, made by an admin, that picks the Primary organizational unit and the Secondary unit. |
| Primary organizational unit | The main level used to organise workforce planning, for example "Department" or Work location. OpenAleph creates one plan per value of this unit (one plan for each department, for example). |
| Secondary unit | The sub-level used to break down each plan, for example "Team" or "Job family". Targets are set per value of this unit. |
| Plan | The workforce plan of one primary unit value (for example, the "Sales" department). It has a status, targets and members. |
| Target headcount | The number of people you want in each secondary unit value of a plan. Their sum is the plan's target (Total roles, Structure opening). |
| Filled | The number of active employees who currently have that unit value on their profile. |
| To hire | Target minus filled. When filled is higher than the target, the unit is over target / Over-staffed. |
| Filled rate | Filled as a percentage of the target. |
| Status | Active (the plan applies now) or Upcoming (the plan opens at a future Opening date). A plan with no target yet is Not configured. |
Note: Members are counted from the attribute values on employee profiles. Deactivated employees are never counted. If a count looks wrong, check the employees' attributes in their profiles.
Who does what
| Action | Manager, Manager creator, Scoped admin | Admin, Super admin |
|---|---|---|
| Open SWP and see plans | Only the plans of the units they belong to themselves | All plans of the company |
| See a plan's overview and members | Yes, for their plans | Yes |
| Set status, opening date and targets (Edit structure) | Yes, for their plans | Yes |
| Export members of a plan | Yes, for their plans | Yes |
| Configuration (choose primary and secondary units) | No | Yes |
| Export workforce planning (all plans) | No | Yes |
Typical workflow
- An admin opens SWP and clicks Configure your structure to choose the primary and secondary units (Configure workforce planning).
- OpenAleph creates one plan per primary unit value. They appear on the dashboard as Not configured.
- For each plan, an admin or manager clicks Configure, sets the status and the target headcount per secondary unit (Set targets for a plan).
- Everyone follows the dashboard (The SWP dashboard) and each plan's details (Plan details).
- When needed, export a plan or all plans to Excel (Export workforce planning).
Pages in this section
- Configure workforce planning: choose the primary and secondary units (admins).
- The SWP dashboard: company figures, plan cards, search.
- Set targets for a plan: status, opening date and target headcount per unit.
- Plan details: recruitment overview, charts and list of members.
- Export workforce planning: Excel exports of one plan or all plans.
Good to know
- Scenarios: the module has one current configuration and one plan per unit value. There is no scenario or version comparison.
- Mobile: SWP is available in the web app (the pages adapt to smaller screens). It is not in the OpenAleph mobile app.
- Beta: the module is in Beta, so screens may evolve.
Still stuck?
Our team answers every question. Tell us what you are trying to do and we'll walk you through it. Contact support