Workforce Planning and Forecast Preparation

You can configure different time frames and granularity for the Plan and Forecast scenarios.

To configure the time frame and granularity for plans:

1. In Current Fiscal Year, select the current fiscal year.
2. From Period, select the current actual month. You need to update this value on a monthly basis.
3. From Plan Start Year, indicate if planners will plan in the current or next fiscal year.
4. Click Plan, and then the Years column to select the number of years to configure. For example, to configure the first five years of a ten year application, select 5 Years.

5. Select the planning basis for each year that you are configuring. If plans will be prepared at the same frequency each year, click All, and then select the frequency (for example, Monthly). If plans will be prepared at different frequencies in certain years, select the frequency in each year’s row. For example, to plan monthly in FY20 but quarterly in FY21, select Monthly in the row for FY20 and Quarterly in the row for FY21.

6. Click Forecast and repeat these steps to specify the forecasting basis.

   When you select Quarterly as the planning basis for Forecast for the first year, the provided valid intersections are set up so that forecast data entry is allowed only in the appropriate periods; quarterly forecast periods prior to the current month can't be updated. The substitution variable OEP_CurQtr is provided whenever you enable Quarterly planning.

   When you select Quarterly as the planning basis for Forecast for the first year, you can choose how the current quarter is determined, in cases where the current month is the last month of the quarter.

   When the current month is the last month of the quarter, select an option in Planning and Forecast Preparation for how the current quarter should be defined.

   • If you select Lock Current Period For Forecast, Strategic Workforce Planning uses the next quarter. For example, if the current month is March, when you select this option, Strategic Workforce Planning defines the Current Quarter as Q2.
   • If you clear Lock Current Period For Forecast, Strategic Workforce Planning uses the current quarter. For example, if the current month is March, when you clear (deselect) this option, Strategic Workforce Planning defines the Current Quarter as Q1.

   Note:

   • Lock Current Period For Forecast is available only when Quarterly is selected as the planning basis for Forecast for the first year.
   • You can select the option for Lock Current Period For Forecast for each module.

This configuration task sets all required substitution variables.

In Workforce and Strategic Workforce, rules, templates, and forms allow different planning years for the Plan and Forecast scenarios in each module.

Workforce and Strategic Workforce Planning business rules and templates use methods that read the start year and end year from the Planning and Forecast Preparation configuration task separately for the Plan and Forecast scenarios for each module.

Forms display based on the start and end periods for the Plan and Forecast using valid intersections. Valid intersections, OWP_Scenario Years and OWP_Scenario Years_Reporting, are created for Workforce to support the different year ranges for the Plan and Forecast scenarios.

Alternate hierarchies are created in the Account dimension to support differences in Workforce and Strategic Workforce. If both modules are enabled, the Account dimension is added to the appropriate valid intersections referencing these alternate hierarchies to distinguish between Workforce and Strategic Workforce accounts.

To create custom rules or templates for Workforce, use these functions rather than the &OEP_YearRange substitution variable:

• [[PlanningFunctions.getModuleStartYear("Workforce","ScenarioName")]]
• [[PlanningFunctions.getModuleEndYear("Workforce","ScenarioName")]]

Note:

Module name and Scenario name must be enclosed in double quotation marks.

Tip:

If you want to create or edit rules to customize your planning and forecasting tasks, you can use Planning Formula Expressions in your rules to call the configured time horizon information such as [[PlanningFunctions.getModuleStartPeriod("ModuleName","ScenarioName")]] and [[PlanningFunctions.isPlanStartYearSameAsCurrentFiscalYear("ModuleName")]].

Module names are not case sensitive and must be enclosed in double quotation marks:

• Workforce

• Strategic Workforce

See Scenarios in Designing with Calculation Manager for Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud.