Headcount Planning is a module inside Planning & Analysis (the workspace formerly called Financial Workspace) that lets HR, Finance and managers plan their future workforce together in one place. Instead of managing hiring plans in disconnected spreadsheets, you create a planning period, collect headcount requests from department leads, review and approve them, and end up with a single approved hiring plan, with live cost forecasts and a direct link into Recruitment.

This article explains what Headcount Planning is, who uses it, and where to find it.

Who is it for

Three roles interact with a planning period:

• Owner (HR, Finance, or C-level). Creates and manages the period, sets the request window, and reviews and approves requests. The person who creates a period is automatically its Owner.
• Headcount Planner (typically a VP or department head). Submits headcount requests for their team during the request window.
• Collaborator (Editor or Viewer). Has limited access scoped only to the employees they already manage. Editors can edit headcount for their direct reports; Viewers can see it but not change it.

Where to find Headcount Planning

To access it:

1. In the sidebar, go to Finance.
2. Open Planning & Analysis (shown as Financial Workspace until the rename).
3. Select Headcount Planning.

If no periods exist yet, you'll see a zero state inviting you to create your first one with a New period button.

How a planning period works, end to end

1. An Owner creates a planning period and chooses who the Headcount Planners are.
2. The Owner schedules the request period, the window during which planners can submit. This can be scheduled for later or launched immediately.
3. Each Planner receives a task, opens the period, and adds their requests: new hires, backfills and terminations.
4. When the request window closes, the period moves to To be reviewed and the Owner gets a task to review.
5. The Owner approves or rejects the requests. Approved positions form the approved hiring plan.
6. Approved positions move into hiring and are tracked with statuses Not started → In progress → Hired, connected to the Recruitment module.

Period statuses

• Scheduled — the period exists but the request window hasn't started.
• Requests open — the request window is currently open.
• Under review — the request window has closed and the Owner needs to review.
• Ongoing — the planned period is currently ongoing, no actions possible.
• Closed — a past or discarded period; no actions possible.