Main Responsibilities and Required Skills for Planning Analyst
A Planning Analyst is a professional who performs operations planning tasks and analyzes the operations metrics. They assist in preparing the expense forecast and annual budget. In this blog post we describe the primary responsibilities and the most in-demand hard and soft skills for Planning Analysts.
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Main Responsibilities of Planning Analyst
The following list describes the typical responsibilities of a Planning Analyst:
Administer
Administer Departmental Budgets.
Advise
Advise internal departments in implementing policy compliance processes.
Analyze
Analyze and continually improve planning parameters within planning tool (JD Edwards or similar).
Analyze and visualize large data sets.
Analyze data for rail and transit operations.
Analyze information, evaluate and resolve complex issues in changing and often ambiguous environment.
Analyze potential impact of forecast and production schedule changes.
Analyze reports and query database from CCMA, agent attendance line and WFM Software.
Assess
Assess the market to keep our studios up to date on what's going on externally.
Assist in / Assist with
Assist in planning, designing, executing, controlling & analyzing joint SOF training & exercises.
Assist in preparation of vendor 3-year plans for merchant market.
Assist in preparing presentations and reports.
Assist in preparing the expense forecast, annual budget and analysis for key R&D functions.
Assist in responding to various data calls related to ONR-sponsored projects.
Assist in the development of action plans to deal with aged and slow selling inventory.
Assist the International Sales team successfully deliver budget and forecast.
Assist with budgeting and forecasting across multiple lines of business.
Assist with budget preparation and cost control.
Assist with detailing service planning procedures and cross functional processes.
Assist with recommending product mix for optimal sale results.
Assist with special projects and other duties as assigned.
Automate
Automate reports and data feeds for service planning tools.
Build
Build optimized schedules to effectively drive business goals while minimizing labour wastage.
Capture
Capture meeting notes, outcomes and actions.
Challenge
Challenge assumptions, timelines and costs from previous plans.
Collaborate with
Collaborate with Innovative 3Mers Around the World.
Communicate
Communicate and manage out of stocks.
Communicate regularly with business executives.
Communicate the schedule and deadline of deliverables to all stakeholders.
Communicate with vendors regarding inventory availability and forecasting.
Compare
Compare anticipated and actual results and identify areas of improvement.
Conduct
Conduct analyses of external agencies and other utilities to establish organizational best practices.
Consolidate
Consolidate financial information and present key performance elements vs.
Coordinate
Coordinate and manages all required IT regulatory filings.
Coordinate Sublease updates – reviews / renewals.
Coordinate with Corporate Planning to highlight production scheduling issues that impact VAS.
Coordinate with the CFO and the executive team on long-term financial planning.
Create
Create analysis of flight schedules, determine optimal yearly periods for all resource reassessments.
Create and maintain workflows used for operations planning.
Create and monitor process KPI s and diagnostics to assure continual improvement efforts.
Create & maintain reports and dashboards.
Create new service parts planning processes as the service business evolves.
Create reports and variance analyses that speak to the precision of the forecasts.
Deploy
Deploy the single agreed plan to all functions.
Design
Design, manage and control all data analysis tools.
Determine
Determine financial consequences of alternative methods, plans and strategies.
Determine recommendations to achieve the organization s financial objectives.
Develop
Develop aircraft galley diagram plans for any change to in-flight product.
Develop and implement new tools and processes, dashboards, scorecards.
Develop and manages diversified agricultural and timberland portfolios for a global client base.
Develop and recommend best practices for the material flow systems and procedures.
Develop a solid understanding of sales trend analysis to integrate into transfer approval logic.
Develop emerging strategies to grow market segment share.
Develop financial models to analyze customer proposals and provide financial feedback.
Develop lasting relationships with great people.
Develop long term forecasts which can act as the basis for strategic and financial planning.
Develop observation and training plans.
Direct
Direct ad-hoc support to CFO and NMC on management reporting and Group financial analysis.
Drive
Drive & modulate budgeting & forecasting process for multiple departments within the organization.
Drive systems and process improvements.
Embed
Embed Zero-based budgeting practices using BI tools.
Ensure
Ensure customer compliance to negotiated agreements.
Ensure schedules are generated on a timely manner to maximize effective allocation of resources.
Ensure that annual budget meets CCCI defined volume and financial goals.
Ensure that the divisional forecast is completed within the timeframes.
Establish
Establish allocation and execute process across to order fulfillment.
Evaluate
Evaluate potential excess inventories considering forecast, seasonal trends, and DC capacity.
Execute
Execute allocation and replenishment of both basics and fashion.
Execute inventory reservations for key managed programs to ensure they have dedicated inventory.
Execute timely payments and accrual monthly accrual reviews.
Facilitate
Facilitate and coordinate the demand planning process for assigned customers.
Focus on
Focus on providing clients with comprehensive financial planning solutions.
Forecast
Forecast inbound / outbound inventory to drive in-stock and to manage DC / store payroll.
Forecast the revenue stream of products in the portfolio and take actions to close revenue gap.
Gather
Gather and evaluate business information, occupancy, and real estate market data.
Generate
Generate other reports or analysis.
Identify
Identify and implement process improvements.
Identify opportunities to enhance timeliness and quality of reports through automation.
Identify ways to improve the Galley Planning process and the service offered to customers.
Identify and capture and document continuous improvement opportunities.
Inform
Inform PMs of any irregularity with deliverables and financial gaps.
Initiate
Initiate and participate in BU and supply chain improvement processes.
Inspire
Inspire others, creates vision and strategy, energizes others.
Lead
Lead build plan discussion with Business Unit based on demand and inventory target.
Lead / participates in the design, implementation and management of core business / group processes.
Lead, participate and / or facilitate the daily schedule adherence meeting.
Lead the annual budgeting process for company and departmental budgets.
Learn
Learn and become a key user of the SAP BPC financial planning tool.
Liaise with
Liaise within the State Street global finance network with regard to allocation methodologies.
Maintain
Maintain and develop knowledge of the market sector, relevant policies, and legislations.
Maintain and help develop weekly, monthly and seasonal reports.
Maintain clear and concise communication with various matrix partners.
Maintain demand planning system.
Maintain long term financial plan.
Maintain service parts planning systems.
Maintain strong working relationships with key suppliers and cross-functional teams.
Maintain the master production plan in ERP system.
Make
Make safety the number one priority.
Manage
Manage all reporting requirements.
Manage changes and updates to the Company's budget / forecast model.
Manage multiple conflicting priorities at any given time.
Manage purchase order process flow (among other supply planning related clerical tasks).
Manage real time monitoring of agents and notification of unscheduled agents.
Manage specific projects respecting deadline required.
Manage structure cost budgeting, reporting and analysis processes.
Manage supply chain to balance demand versus supply to meet company objectives.
Manage the annual budget planning and recommend a course of action.
Monitor
Monitor key forecast metrics with the objective to continuously reduce forecast error.
Monitor & measure the health of the business through identifying and deploying success metrics.
Monitor system functions and assure proper interfaces between systems.
Oversee
Oversee and ensure standardized processes and procedures are documented, understood and followed.
Oversee the process documentation for Demand Planning KPI and Reports.
Own
Own the Global HQ P&L with the support of the Global Financial Planning Manager.
Participate in
Participate in budgeting (for departments and projects).
Participate in Category & Business Unit (BU) S&OP, prepare minutes and actions including follow up.
Participate in on-aircraft scheduled maintenance task validation activities.
Perform
Perform audits to ensure accurate and timely management of SAP / Workday and workforce data.
Perform consolidated gap analysis on initial forecasted plan vs actual.
Perform demand plan accuracy analysis and updates performance reporting.
Perform detailed analysis to ensure diversity of supply while maintaining / lowering costs.
Perform economic analysis and modeling of funding alternatives.
Perform operations planning tasks.
Perform other duties as required.
Perform other related duties and responsibilities, on occasion, as assigned.
Perform other tasks and activities as deemed necessary by the JADE HELM exercise cell leadership.
Perform the drafting of policies / procedures, as required.
Perform various financial analysis, such as reconciliations and variance analysis.
Prepare
Prepare and analyze the operations metrics of each process.
Prepare daily, weekly, and monthly demand plans for a set of Fulfilment Centres.
Prepare monthly headcount and labor analysis.
Prepare routine and ad hoc utilization summaries to be distributed to internal stakeholders.
Prioritize
Prioritize and execute ad-hoc data analysis to assess activities.
Provide
Provide accurate and timely reports.
Provide activity and status reports to management.
Provide ad-hoc analysis as requested by senior management.
Provide analysis for forward looking financial and business-related projects.
Provide back up materials resource planning duties.
Provide detailed bill of materials analysis by site.
Provide Financial Modelling, Analysis, Research and Decision Support.
Provide guidance to resource and operational teams using statistical analysis.
Provide leadership to the on-site contractor team.
Provide monthly variance analysis and forecast in the area of Ops Finance including.
Provide ongoing coaching and training to other professionals in Wealth Management Services.
Provide ongoing operational analysis of call center operations and advance planning.
Provide PPV targeting, tracking and asset velocity.
Provide railway operations resources and interacting with internal and external stakeholders.
Provide regular and ad-hoc reports and analysis for management as required.
Provide regular reporting to track project progress and funding.
Provide supply chain feedback on product priorities.
Provide support as necessary for pricing of local and / or cross border RFP's.
Provide support to Scrum Masters on use of MIS and Planview applications.
Publish
Publish weekly, monthly and seasonal recaps to support the sales team.
Research
Research and analyze operational data.
Research to determine root cause working closely with the Merchant team and provide recommendations.
Resolve
Resolve any depot distribution discrepancies.
Review
Review and process Project Number Requests (PNRs).
Review the impact of aircraft design changes on MSG-3 analyses.
Run
Run and maintain various customized reports and daily monitoring of KPI's.
Select
Select the country where you are applying for employment, and review.
Set
Set detailed cost centre budgets on a department level.
Stay current with
Stay current with financial planning standards and practices.
Strategize
Strategize and execute initial inventory releases to Stores.
Support
Support analysis international business strategies and opportunities.
Support decision making on allocation in case of supply constraints.
Support development and integration of strategy content for annual corporate reviews.
Support for other finance functions.
Support leadership with time-critical tactical data analyses.
Support merchandising system processes.
Support one-off requests, typically involving analyzing data.
Support product forecast process.
Support production planning and manage transition planning for first to second generation products.
Support the building and maintenance of the organizational structure within SAP / Workday.
Support the development of business cases to drive program improvements.
Support the development of short, medium, and long-term demand forecasting.
Support the functional heads of departments with all financial issues.
Support the rolling forecast, updated the actual, budgets, and forecast information.
Take
Take responsibility for our actions and learn from our mistakes.
Think
Think creatively and proposes new solutions.
Track
Track actuals vs plan, and provide monthly outlook reports.
Track and measure results across digital marketing campaigns and the website.
Train
Train and mentor junior staff.
Understand
Understand the commercial drivers of the FS performance to provide commercial insight.
Use
Use and maintain the operations (demand) forecast in Tables Manager 1 (TM1).
Use expertise and analytical skills to evaluate refinery performance against appropriate benchmarks.
Validate
Validate site pricing through implementation of a common cost review and pricing process.
Validate the factors that determine the forecasts.
Work with
Work alongside Global and European business intelligence analysts to implement these improvements.
Work as the liaison between demand planning, forecast stakeholders and forecast users.
Work closely with Brewery materials management and scheduling personnel.
Work closely with Demand Planner on process improvement projects.
Work under the guidance and supervision of the Director Demand Planning.
Work with IT witness team and LOB partners to identify continuous improvement opportunities.
Work with Project Manager / Lead in all aspects of the overall project.
Work with Senior IT leadership to develop rate case strategy.
Work with supply planning in the management of ATP dates for all customers.
Work with the CFO and other COOLA leaders to analyze the Company finances and operations.
Work with the Scrum Master to ensure Project Forecasting accuracy.
Most In-demand Hard Skills
The following list describes the most required technical skills of a Planning Analyst:
Planning
SAP
Tableau
R
Forecasting
Economics
Demand Planning
Data Visualization
MS Office
Power BI
Python
Scheduling
CPA
MS Outlook
Troubleshooting
Analytical Diagnostic
Call / Contact Center Operations
Financial Planning
Forecasting & Staffing Process
Genesys Systems
Most In-demand Soft Skills
The following list describes the most required soft skills of a Planning Analyst:
Written and oral communication skills
Analytical ability
Problem-solving attitude
Organizational capacity
Interpersonal skills
Attention to detail
Work independently with little direction
Time-management
Planning
Presentation
Creative
Teamwork
Meet deadlines
High level of accuracy
Adapt in a fast pace environment
Attitude
Eager to learn and improve him / herself
Self-motivated person with "get it done
Work under pressure and with changing priorities
Leadership
Multi-task
Self-motivated
Team player
Adaptable to changes
Collaborative
