> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getnovaplan.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Headcount Changes

> A timeline of every hire, exit, transfer, and comp change across the org.

Headcount Changes is the org's people timeline: hires, exits, transfers, and compensation changes across any period and scope, so you can see exactly how the team evolved and why headcount cost moved.

## What It Shows

<Steps>
  <Step title="Set the period and scope">
    Choose the date range and narrow to a department, an entity, or the whole company.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Read the events">
    Each row is a single people event: a hire, an exit, a transfer, or a comp change, with the employee and the effective date.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Tie it to cost">
    Pair the events with the cost movement to see which specific changes drove headcount spend up or down.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Event Types

| Event       | What it captures                                  |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| Hire        | A new employee starting, by department and entity |
| Exit        | A termination, with the effective date            |
| Transfer    | A move between departments or a reorganization    |
| Comp change | A change to an employee's compensation over time  |

## Why It Matters

When headcount cost moves, this is where you see the why behind it: the specific people and events that drove the change, ready to pair with a [headcount brief](/reporting/briefs) for the written story.

## Common Questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="An employee landed in the wrong department. Why?">
    Department should always resolve by department ID, not by name. When a name lookup is used and the HRIS has the ID and name out of sync, a person can land in the wrong department. The fix is to key on the ID.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A termination is not showing up. Where is it?">
    A termination only appears once the people snapshot that carries the termination date has synced. If the date is missing, the source feed has not yet been reflected; confirm the latest sync landed.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do open positions show here?">
    This timeline is about actual people events. Open and planned positions live in headcount planning; this surface focuses on hires, exits, transfers, and comp changes that actually occurred.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I see only one department's changes?">
    Yes. Scope the view to a department or parent department, and the timeline narrows to the events for that part of the org.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## If the Numbers Look Off

* If a recent change is missing, it usually has not synced from the HRIS yet rather than being absent.
* If cost moves but no event explains it, widen the period; the driving event may sit just outside your selected range.

<Tip>
  For the dollar decomposition behind a headcount move (rate, FTE, volume, fringe, mix, FX), generate a [headcount brief](/reporting/briefs) and read it with the [Variance Guide](/reporting/variance-guide).
</Tip>