Bradken Workforce Planning App

Bradken, one of Australia’s leading manufacturing and engineering organisations with a global presence, is undergoing a digital transformation to modernise internal processes, enhance collaboration, and foster innovation. Each year, Bradken leaders are required to plan their workforce needs and forecast budgets—a process that previously took up to 12 weeks, relying on manual data exports, Excel spreadsheets, and lengthy email chains. This approach lacked consistency, visibility, accountability and efficiency. Bradken partnered with us to design a centralised, user-friendly, integrated and secure platform that streamlines the process, improves data accuracy, and provides real-time insights for better, faster decision-making.

WFA consolidates Bradken’s workforce and budget forecasting into a central platform, catering to multiple user types and data access needs. Using a design thinking and agile approach, we leveraged Mendix - the leading low-code platform - to deliver the solution in just four months. Through discovery workshops with key stakeholders, we mapped the current state, identified pain points, and iteratively built prototypes for continuous feedback and rapid adjustments. WFA includes modules for workforce planning, employee and roles selection, budget calculation, reporting, and integration with HR and security systems. Furthermore, the simple design mimics familiar systems, ensuring greater adoption and ease of use.

WFA has transformed Bradken's workforce planning, reducing planning cycles from 12 weeks to just 3 weeks and is being used by Bradken leaders across the world. By consolidating data, automating manual tasks, integrating systems and improving collaboration, WFA reduces risks associated with sensitive data, ensures accountability for timely and accurate planning and generates reports with just a single click. The organisation chart feature allows users to visualise their team’s forecasted composition. The comparison tool allows leaders to compare past forecasts with the current one, providing a better understanding of their team’s progress and enabling them to make proactive data-driven decisions.

WFA provides the following key features: Workforce Planning Creation – Allows Bradken to initiate a new workforce planning cycle, specify dependencies such as salary increase rates used to calculate budgets and key deadlines to ensure planning is performed in a timely manner. Centralised directory - Based on a user’s role and access level, they can access current and past workforce plans Organisation Chart Visualisation – Allows users to see their team’s projected composition, making it easy to plan for future staffing needs Budget Comparison Tool – Provides leaders with a clear understanding of how their teams are tracking by comparing previous forecasts with the current one, enabling proactive adjustments and data-driven decision-making. Automated Reporting – A click to generate reports that consolidate data automatically based on access level, reducing manual work. HR System Integration – Seamlessly integrates with existing HR systems, eliminating the need for manual data exports and ensuring consistent, up-to-date information. User Access Integration Management – Allows secure single sign-on, role-based access to sensitive data, maintaining confidentiality while fostering collaboration between HR, Finance, and leadership. Intuitive User Interface – Features a simple design that mimics familiar systems, ensuring quick adoption by end-users.