In part one of our interview with Bashir Bashir, Director of Workforce applications at Anaplan, we discussed how Workday is a strong HR system of record, but planning in Workday Adaptive often confines HR teams into finance-first processes that often miss the workforce nuances HR needs to plan effectively.
In part two, we focus on how Anaplan integrates with Workday HR, the types of planning scenarios it enables, and examples of outcomes HR and finance teams are already achieving together. If you missed the earlier post, read part one here.
Q: Is planning in Adaptive the same as planning in Workday? How is the experience different in Anaplan?
Bashir: Planning in Adaptive feels like stepping into a finance tool — the structure, terminology, and layout all reflect that. Customers often say they immediately notice that finance-first shift when moving from Workday HCM to Adaptive.
Q: How is Workday integration with Adaptive different from a Workday integration with Anaplan?
Bashir: Many assume Adaptive lives inside Workday — it does not. Adaptive is a stand-alone solution. It is part of the Workday ecosystem, but not part of the core HR and finance system of record. Adaptive is the reason that “the power of one” tagline went away.
A good example of this is when data is moved from Workday into Adaptive; in doing so, it must fit a finance structure, forcing HR teams to compromise. Anaplan was built for position planning and management, so the structure already mirrors common enterprise HR systems of record, in this case Workday HCM. We purposely designed our application with leading HR systems in mind. Not the other way around.
Q: Can you describe how data flows from Workday into Anaplan to support workforce planning processes?
Bashir: Data flows are bidirectional. One system of record for HR data is Workday while Anaplan consumes that data for planning. But that's not where we stop. We want to make sure that we're talking to that system of record, so we push back approved changes. This integration ensures HR teams avoid manual data exports and reconciliations.
Q: Which aspects of planning gain the most from this integration?
Bashir: Everything from headcount and expense forecasting to talent-gap analysis and workforce-scenario modeling becomes faster and more accurate. For example, HR can look into shifting roles between regions for a six-month period or run a restructuring scenario in minutes and immediately see cost and capacity impact. With Adaptive, you have to rely on finance to rebuild the model; with Anaplan, HR owns it.
Q: How can integration of Anaplan and Workday improve collaboration between HR and finance during planning cycles?
Bashir: Anaplan gives both sides a single connected model. Instead of debating whose spreadsheet is right, finance and HR can use Anaplan and Workday together, rally around one dynamic plan, creating transparency and improving that collaboration.
Q: Can you give us an example of measurable outcomes you have seen with organizations using both Anaplan and Workday?
Bashir: Of course. We've seen organizations reduce their workforce planning cycles by up to 50%, improving not only the time to build the plan, but also its accuracy by double digits.
If you're in a finance-first planning environment, you're going to get less accuracy and more human error because HR planners are not going to be as engaged as they typically are in a dedicated application, built just for them. So now you have engagement and adoption.
Cycle times are down. Accuracy is up. Reconciliation is a thing of the past. The gains are a faster, more confident decision-making organization when you implement Anaplan solutions.
Bashir Bashir
Q: How does the ability to model multiple workforce scenarios sharpen an organization’s response to change and growth?
Bashir: I believe this is where Anaplan stands out as the strongest planning engine on the market. And we've been doing this longer than anybody as a platform. Our purpose-built Operational Workforce Planning application can respond to economic shifts, tariffs, plans for growth, and downstream cost effects to all of these external and internal changes. AI is a great example of something causing major capacity issues: how is this going to impact our talent and our ability to deliver on our goals? The power to model multiple scenarios is critical to success.
Q: How complicated is the implementation of Anaplan’s Operational Workforce Planning application from an HR perspective?
Bashir: That’s a valid concern for HR. They don't have the time and luxury to do long deployments. We designed the Anaplan Operational Workforce Planning application to deploy rapidly, so organizations can be live and using the application in a matter of weeks.
With the right, cleaned-up data, teams can see reports and position plans within two weeks. Most customers then configure and extend the application over an additional four to six weeks to fit their unique needs.
Q: What about data consistency, change management, and user adoption?
Bashir: Anaplan sits alongside our customers throughout this journey. We provide amazing user guides, training, and built-in application instructions. The interface is intuitive, purpose-built for HR, and tailored to different personas like HRBPs and the management they support, talent acquisition leaders, FP&A and compensation teams.
This helps reduce the kind of steep training curve you often see with tools like Adaptive. Because our application is designed with HR in mind, adoption is high. Change management is simpler, too, because Anaplan fits seamlessly alongside your existing Workday HCM investment — we’ve already anticipated your day-to-day needs.
The Anaplan Operational Workforce Planning application, on the other hand, is designed and built specifically for HR and uses their language. You gain a workforce planning experience that feels familiar to a Workday user, but with the planning flexibility and functionality you’d expect to see.
Bashir Bashir
Q: Beyond HR system preferences, what’s the biggest challenge in engaging Workday customers?
Bashir: Probably convincing them that Anaplan is not just a finance tool and showing just how deeply invested we are in HR and workforce planning. We have dedicated teams, purpose-built applications, and years of expertise focused solely on HR use cases.
We speak HR’s planning language — not just finance’s — and we design scenario planning and analysis solutions based on real-world experience with Workday customers. That’s one of our big differentiators.
Q: What advice would you give to HR leaders considering a Workday–Anaplan integration?
Bashir: Whether you are a CHRO or a workforce planner, think about where you need flexibility. If your plans change often or you rely heavily on finance for modeling support, Anaplan gives you the control and agility you’re missing, while still playing perfectly with your Workday HCM investment.
Q: Any final thoughts? Why should Workday customers choose Anaplan?
Bashir: Workday is an outstanding system of record; But planning is a different discipline.
That is the reason I rejoined Anaplan — it offers a best-in-class planning engine. When you pair it with Workday, you can align talent, costs, and strategy in one connected view. That's how you are able to go from siloed departments to moving in sync, and from reactive to truly strategic workforce planning.
