Plan Creation and Structure

Create a plan that is best suited for your workforce planning needs.

Overview

You can create a plan in the following ways:

• In Studio: This method allows you to create and configure managed plans in a project. Plans created in Studio are called managed plans because you can work in a project to predetermine the scenarios that are available, decide the segmentation and timeline of the plan, and configure security to limit plan visibility. For more information, see Create a Managed Plan.
• In the solution experience: This method allows you to create and configure plans in the Plans room. Plans created in the solution experience are not managed in projects and can be created on the fly. You can edit the plan structure after plan creation and plan visibility cannot be limited. For more information, see Create a Plan.

Below is a table summarizing the differences between the plan creation methods:

Action	Managed Plan (created in Studio)	Plan (created in the solution experience)
Create Scenarios	Scenarios can be created in the following ways: Managed scenarios created in Studio. Scenarios created in the solution experience.	Scenarios can only be created in the solution experience.
Edit Plans	You cannot add dimensions or segments once a plan has been published.	You can add dimensions or segments after a plan has been created.
View and Download Plan Activity	Only a user with full access to the plan population and plan items can view and download plan activity.	Any user that has access to the plan can view and download plan activity.
Copy Plans	You can copy a managed plan in the following ways: In Studio, you can copy a managed plan. In the solution experience, only a user with full access to the plan population and plan items can copy a managed plan. This will convert it to a regular plan, and security configurations will not apply to the copied plan.	Any user that has access to the plan can copy a plan.
Configure Security	You can configure security for each segment and plan item through permissions.	You cannot configure security for each segment and plan item.
Share Plans and Assign Subplans	When you share a plan or assign subplans through the collaboration project workflow, users will only see the plan data that you have granted them access to in their permissions. Plan values they do not have access to will be blank.	When you share a plan or assign subplans through the collaboration project workflow, users can see everything in the plan regardless of the security filters and data access they have for the solution experience.

About the plan structure

The main plan is the overall view from which subplans can be generated. When creating the main plan, you have the choice between a freeform or fixed plan structure.

Freeform plan

In a freeform plan, subplans can have a different structure than the main plan. When filling out the subplans, managers at lower levels will be able to add additional segments that they want to plan for. However, the main planner will not be able to analyze aggregated values for these added segments. Due to the differences in the plan structure, segments across the main plan and subplans cannot be combined to generate aggregated values. For example, if the Job Family segment was only included in a subplan, the main planner will not be able to analyze the Headcount grouped by Job Family in Explore. Freeform plans provide greater flexibility for subplanners to create detailed plans based on the needs of their line of business, but does not provide the main planner a comprehensive view of the entire plan.

Fixed plan

In a fixed plan, the main planner chooses the segments that subplanners can plan for during plan creation. This means subplanners will not be able add additional segments or change how the plan is structured. With the same structure across the main plan and subplans, the main planner can create an Exploration Snapshot to generate aggregated values for all included segments. For more information, see Exploration Snapshots. Fixed plans provide the main planner with a comprehensive view of the entire plan and enhanced analytic and monitoring capabilities, but limit the flexibility of subplanners.

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