Workforce Planning with Workday Adaptive Planning: 5 Key Lessons Learned from Manufacturing Customers

The manufacturing industry is a complex landscape, with workforce planning being one of the critical aspects that can make or break a company's success. In helping manufacturing customers deploy and optimize Workday Adaptive Planning, the Invisors team has learned that the manufacturing industry has many unique traits that drive complexity in its system configurations. We’re sharing some of the vital strategies we’ve identified for ensuring success and providing much-needed value for your organization.  

# 1 |   Solve for Decentralized International Planning by Consolidating Top-Down Planning + Benefits Requirements Early On

One significant hurdle in deploying a Workforce Planning model for a multinational manufacturing company is that many customers leverage decentralized planning across their international business segments. This complexity arises from the existence of different sets of benefits assumptions, planning in local currencies, and constant currency and foreign exchange reporting. One major key to success in international decentralized planning for these types of customers lies in consolidating top-down planning and benefits requirements across locations as early as possible. By addressing discrepancies and unifying planning objectives in the initial stages of a project, companies can minimize delays and optimize resource allocation. 

# 2 |      Prioritize Change Management for a Large International User Base 

Workforce Planning involves collaboration between the Global Leadership and local finance leaders to determine planning requirements. Aligning on a standardized planning process across countries and managing changes efficiently is crucial for ensuring smooth operations. The key lies in striking the right balance between a consistent planning approach and addressing specific country-level needs. Incorporating the manufacturing planners who will be the system end-users into the deployment process from the outset is crucial for seamless adoption. Providing Proof-of-Concept demo builds during the Initiate Stage allows users to get acquainted with the planning tools and gain confidence in using them effectively. This approach facilitates smoother onboarding and faster integration into the planning ecosystem. 

# 3 |    Tackle Granular Custom Security Requirements by Leveraging Dimensional Access Rules + Associations in Adaptive 

Manufacturing companies often have complex organizational structures with numerous dimensions such as projects, products, and locations. For many customers, these dimensions require specific security configurations to control access at a granular level. Ensuring the right individuals have appropriate access to sensitive data is a critical concern. This complexity calls for robust security measures to safeguard sensitive information while enabling the necessary collaboration and planning activities. Workday Adaptive Planning offers a powerful security engine through access rules and associations, enabling companies to define access controls at different levels and locations. By leveraging these capabilities, manufacturing organizations can enforce data security without hindering collaboration, ensuring that sensitive information remains protected. 

# 4 |    Prioritize Alignment on Level Structure Design Across Locations 

 To accommodate various financial aspects like currency conversion, reporting, and planning requirements, it is essential to prioritize alignment on the Adaptive Planning level structure design across all locations. By establishing a uniform framework, manufacturing companies can streamline planning processes, facilitate meaningful cross-location comparisons, and derive valuable insights for better decision-making. 

# 5 |    Emphasize Workforce Planning Data Cleanup 

Clean and accurate data is the backbone of effective workforce planning. Manufacturing companies must emphasize data cleanup initiatives, ensuring that the information used for planning is reliable and free from errors. This process involves periodic data audits and implementing data quality measures. 

Workforce Planning in the manufacturing industry presents unique challenges that require careful consideration and strategic solutions. Deployment consultants can streamline the process and set the customer up for success by utilizing many of Workday Adaptive Planning’s powerful tools, and by strategically involving customer resources to ensure alignment across the organization.  

Sometimes seeing things in practice helps. Read how Invisors deployed Workday Adaptive Planning to help these clients transform results.