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Headcount is usually the largest line in a software company’s plan, so Novaplan models it as real people and real open roles, not a single lump number. This tutorial walks the full path: start from your current team, add the roles you intend to hire, and project fully loaded cost across your forecast window.

Watch the demo

The headcount walkthrough shows snapshot, open positions, and loaded cost in action.

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Before you start

  • A connected HRIS feed (see Connect your data), so your snapshot reflects your real team.
  • A budget version selected, with its forecast window set to the months you want to plan.

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Build the plan

1

Review the snapshot

Open Planning, then Headcount and look at the people snapshot. This is your current team as of the latest HRIS sync: roles, departments, sites, start and end dates. It is the foundation every projection builds on, so confirm it looks right before planning forward.
2

Check fully loaded cost

Each person carries a fully loaded monthly cost, not just base salary. Novaplan layers on the comp and fringe components so the number you plan with is the number that hits the P&L. Open an employee to see the components broken out.
3

Add open positions

Move to the open positions surface and add the roles you plan to hire: title, department, site, start month, and cost. These are future people who do not exist in the HRIS yet, so they live as planned positions until they are filled. Add one row per role you intend to open.
4

Adjust an individual without touching the rest

When you need to change one person (a memo, a corrected department, a one-off cost adjustment), edit that single row. Novaplan keeps single-row edits isolated, so changing one cell does not propagate to everyone you happened to have selected.
5

Run the forecast

Run the headcount forecast. The engine projects each person and each open position across your window, ramps new hires in from their start month, and tapers anyone with an end date. Open positions count in the months they are active, not in every month.
6

Read the Overview

Open the Headcount Overview to see the projected team and cost over time: planned hires and exits, headcount by department, and the loaded cost trend. This is the view you will return to every month after syncing fresh actuals.

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How it reaches your dashboards

You plan headcount as people and positions in the domain universe, but every P&L and budget-vs-actual report reads the GL universe. Headcount derives into the GL automatically: when the forecast runs, each person-month becomes the corresponding GL postings. You never re-key a number, and a dashboard built on the GL always reflects your latest headcount plan.

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Common questions

Locked versions are frozen snapshots, but you can copy a newly arrived employee into a locked snapshot so backfilled people are not stranded outside the plan. The copy is tagged as such, so provenance stays clear.
The GL can include accruals, contractor spend, and recruiting fees that the per-employee model does not. That gap is the difference between the two universes, not an error. See Core concepts.
Yes. Costs are shown in your base currency, translated at the version’s rates, so totals add up correctly across regions.

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What you should see

A projected team across your whole window, fully loaded cost per month per person, planned hires and exits charted on the Overview, and all of it flowing into the GL so your P&L is already current.

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Next

Plan revenue

Now build the topline that pays for the team.

Build a brief

Turn a headcount variance into an executive brief.