HR · Workforce planning · Component
The gap analysis
The difference between capability held and capability needed, with a decision attached to each gap.
The deliverable
What it is
The gap is arithmetic; the decision is not. Each gap can be built, hired, contracted or designed around, and the four have very different costs and timescales.
Surplus belongs in the same analysis. A capability the organisation no longer needs is a gap in the other direction, and leaving it unstated is how it persists for years.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
The gap
Capability needed minus capability held, per capability and per date.
3 attributes: Capability · Shortfall · Gap opens
LearnThe response
How each gap will be closed — build, hire, contract, or change the plan.
3 attributes: Route · Estimated cost · Owner
LearnThe surplus
Capability held that the plan no longer requires.
3 attributes: Capability · Excess · Disposition
Learn
Record surplus alongside shortfall. Most surplus is a redeployment opportunity that nobody sees because it is never written down.
The other components in workforce planning
The capability map
What the organisation can currently do, expressed as capabilities held by people rather than as a list of job titles.
LearnThe demand forecast
What capability the plan will require, over a horizon long enough that the organisation could still acquire it.
Learn