Welcome to Workforce Planning

Welcome to the State of Iowa Workforce Planning Website sponsored by the Department of Administrative Services Human Resources Enterprise (DAS-HRE). This website is a compilation of the tools and resources on the various aspects of workforce planning that have been developed for Iowa state agencies. Though intended specifically for human resource management in the Executive Branch of Iowa state government (excluding Regents agencies), some of the contents may have wider application to other public agencies and organizations. The newcomer to workforce planning is advised to begin with the General Information segment, the State of Iowa Workforce Planning Guide in particular.

Workforce planning is part of the larger cycle of business planning organizations pursue to implement, maintain, develop, modify and even close down their operations. The cycle starts with the strategic plan, the organization’s vision of its operations. From that is extracted how the operation will work: customers, business lines, products, services, results, and processes. These components determine “the right work” to be done. From there, the organization determines how it will be structured to best do “the right work” and identifies the resources needed to accomplish that work.

Those “resources” include funding, facilities, inventory, and the people needed to do the work, the “right people” with the “right skills.” Budget, capital, purchasing, and technological planning all come into play at this point. Planning for the people needed to do the work is also an integral part of this phase. The end result?

Although we have tried to include all the resources you will need to do workforce planning, this is still a work in progress. If you have additional resources to suggest, please bring them to our attention at DASHRE.Webmaster@iowa.gov.