Headcount planning tied to the P&L.

Headcount planning is the process of deciding how many people the business needs, in which roles, when they start, and what they cost. In Cube, the plan connects to your HRIS, payroll, and GL, so every role carries its fully loaded cost into the P&L.

Headcount planning focuses on the number of roles, their timing, and their cost. Workforce planning is broader and also covers skills, structure, and long-term talent needs. Cube handles the financial side of both in one governed model tied to the P&L.

Connect the plan directly to your HRIS, ATS, and payroll so hires, exits, and comp changes load on a schedule instead of through exports. Cube calculates fully loaded cost by role and month, and recalculates as soon as actuals land.

The best headcount planning software connects HRIS, payroll, and GL data in one model, calculates fully loaded cost by role and start date, supports hiring scenarios, controls access to salary data, and traces every figure to the employee record. Cube does this as the Agentic FP&A Platform, in the spreadsheets, decks, and chat tools your team already uses. 

Look for live connections to your HRIS, ATS, payroll, and ERP; fully loaded cost by role; start-date and ramp modeling; hiring scenarios; approval workflows for new roles; field-level access so salary data stays private; and audited security such as SOC 1 and SOC 2. Also check whether department heads can work in Excel or Google Sheets, since that decides adoption. 

Map employees, departments, and cost centers to one shared structure, then compare planned cost to payroll and GL actuals each month. Cube maps the HRIS, payroll, and the GL into one governed model, so a gap shows up with the roles that explain it.

Fully loaded cost is the total cost of an employee: base salary plus benefits, employer payroll taxes, bonuses, commissions, equipment, and software. Cube calculates it per role and month, so every hire lands in the plan at its real cost.

You need current employees and comp from the HRIS, open roles and offers from the ATS, payroll and benefits costs, and GL actuals by department. Cube connects to hundreds of source systems, including Workday, ADP, Greenhouse, and NetSuite.

Apply an expected attrition rate by department, based on history, and plan backfills with realistic time to hire. In Cube, attrition is a visible driver you can adjust by scenario, and its effect flows through headcount, cost, and cash.

Most teams update headcount monthly, after payroll closes, and review hiring plans quarterly. With Cube, the HRIS and payroll sync on the schedule you set, the plan recalculates as soon as they land, and FP&Agents flag material changes overnight.

Yes. Cube uses role-based permissions, so department heads see their own roles and totals while salary detail stays with HR and finance. They can check numbers in Cube Web, Excel, Google Sheets, Slack, or Teams, from the same governed source.

No. Your HRIS and payroll remain the systems of record, and Cube works alongside them. Teams keep working in Excel or Google Sheets, with live, governed numbers from Cube flowing into their spreadsheets and edits publishing back to the model.

It should be audited and access-controlled. Cube is SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type 2 audited, with SSO and SAML support, role-based permissions, encryption in transit and at rest, and a full audit trail on every driver, mapping, and plan change.