Does Your Budget Support Hiring? 5 Ways to Check Using Budgeting and Forecasting Software
Budgeting and Forecasting Software – It Does More Than You Think
No one can predict the future – but savvy Budget Managers like you know how to weigh the odds.
Wondering whether your budget can support new hires? Get the insight you need. Customize your forecasts, planning forms, and report templates using Solver’s budgeting and forecasting software.
Quick Tip: Use Templates That Actually Work
Before we talk about which templates you might want to use for workforce planning, let’s take a minute to talk about the term templates. Most software companies use this term to refer to those inflexible, canned reports that everyone hates. We hate those darn things too.
Everyone knows companies are better off using strategic planning software that gives them the freedom to customize. Everyone also knows that creating a report, form, or forecast from a blank worksheet is a hassle.
With Solver, you get the best of both worlds. You have the 100% customization freedom you deserve, but you don’t have to start from scratch. Solver gives you the groundwork you need in our extensive library of ideas and examples. We call this library the Solver Showcase.
Now that we have that covered, let’s take a look at 5 Solver Showcase ideas. These are specifically designed to help Budget Managers like you plan for new hires.
5 Budgeting and Forecasting Software Templates That Help You Plan New Hires
Planning is complex. This list includes a range of strategic planning software tools to help.
The input forms empower you to enter ‘what if’ data and see what happens. The forecast forms help you look ahead, based on past performance. The report helps you double-check your plans before you finalize them.
1. Payroll Forecast Assumption Input Form
The Payroll Forecast Assumption Input Form eliminates manual data entry and improves your prediction accuracy because it automates your calculations for salary, tax, and benefits. (Thank goodness!)
This template also gives you the power to enter ‘what if’ scenarios and change them freely. With it, you can instantly forecast how those assumptions would change your payroll expenses in the coming months.
2. Payroll Budget Template
The Payroll Budget Template quickly generates departmental employee budgets for you. All you need to do is enter or adjust annual salaries, hours, and rates for your salaried or hourly employees. Of course, the template also automatically calculates all employee-related taxes and benefits for you too.
Using this template, you could potentially finish next year’s bottom-up annual salary, tax, and benefit budget in the time it took you to read this article.
3. Driver-Based Payroll Forecast Template
The Driver-Based Payroll Forecast Template helps you perform top-down planning in your budgeting and forecasting software, starting when you enter your total target payroll expense. The template makes it easy to break down that high-level number by each position, so you can adjust as needed at the individual or position level.
Are you consistently surprised by your (or your department heads’) tendency to over- or underspend on new hires? This is the template to turn to.
4. Payroll Budget Assumption Input Form
The Payroll Budget Assumption Input Form sounds a lot like #1 on our list here, but it differs in one very important way. This form also automates salary, tax, and benefit calculations to save you time, but it includes the detail you need for your annual budget.
Like #1, this form empowers you to enter your ‘what ifs,’ but these should focus on the annual budget process instead of a forecasting outlook.
5. Personnel Headcount Budget Report
The Personnel Headcount Budget Report is a tool in strategic planning software that helps you align your business plans with FTE staff levels for the coming year. This is because it integrates with your payroll budget to automatically derive monthly headcount per department.
Expandable rows show employee detail so you can dive deep into the numbers – or you can zoom out from the details to the big picture. High-level data includes total Filled and Open positions, and grand total headcount.
Real-World Example: See How One Company Uses Solver for Workforce Planning
Curious how templates can work together to make your job easier as a Budget Manager? Check out this real-world example from a Solver client.
In the video below, you’ll see how the client uses 4 templates to help them make new-hire decisions:
One template helps them see employee details, including associated revenue
Another provides the big-picture view and lets them zoom into granular details
A third displays all their payroll costs for understanding in less than 2 minutes
The last shows rolling trends for OpEx costs associated with employees
As you are watching the video, take a moment to consider how much time you would save on budgeting with this data at your fingertips. When you are ready for more ideas on how you could use budgeting and forecasting software at your organization, please tour the software.
Only Solver delivers a one-day rapid deployment, including free and instant access to $100K of value available on Day 1 in the Solver Marketplace. Solver is committed to helping you with all your advanced planning and reporting needs, so you can Accelerate Better Decisions – starting now.
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