Umoja Times - December 2010 released

In this issue of Umoja Times:

1. End of year message on Umoja's progress by Paul van Essche, Umoja Director
2. Join Umoja online @ Umoja NET

Umoja moves into its new “green home”

As noted in the July 2010 issue of the "Umoja Times", the Umoja team has been on the move since 2007. Some members of the Team have relocated six times over the past 18 months! Thus, after several moves - the most recent of which split the team into different buildings - the Umoja team is settling into its new office space on the 24th floor of the Mobil Building at 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue.

Now the team has a work space that truly reflects the Umoja work ethic

• transparency and openess
• cross-functional collaboration
• making the best use of the Organization's resources
• transformation of the best of what "is" into a better "to be"

Umoja' new address:

150 E 42nd Street
24th floor
(between Lexington and 3rd Avenue)

Learn more about Umoja's new "green home" from iSeek:

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New York's newest office facility an example of efficiency and "Greening the UN"

When entering the United Nations' newest office facility in the Mobil Building on East 42nd Street in New York, the first thing you see are long rows of desks lining the corridors. Images from the early days of the UN come to mind.

Since the 1950's, the UN has undergone successive organizational reforms and adapted its office environments to changing working practices. As if to prove the saying "there is nothing new under the sun", the specific needs of the Umoja team have called for the reconstruction of what looks like an office environment of a half-century ago. The design and space layout support highly collaborative and non-linear working methods with constant interaction among staff and allow Umoja to leverage the broad cultural diversity of their team. While meeting the user needs, the design also maximizes space utilization.

It all began when the Facilities Management Services (FMS) in the Department of Management (DM) was approached to find new space for the expanding Umoja team. From several available options, the Mobil building's 24th floor was chosen because of its open plan configuration. Following the efforts of the Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) and the Procurement Division (PD) in DM to secure the lease, on 15 August FMS started to turn the plans into reality. After receiving the keys, the office was constructed and the project fully completed in a record six weeks.

Not only is the new office tailor-made for its users – it also fulfils the goals of "Greening the UN" and follows the General Assembly mandate to maximize the reuse of furniture and fittings in a cost-efficient manner. Carpets, lights, tables and chairs are reused, offering considerable savings to the Organization. Unused work desks dating from 1950s were transported from the Secretariat building to the Mobil building. The new office has also been fitted with items such as telephone booths from the 3rd floor of the Secretariat building, salvaged from disposal initially foreseen during the renovation.

Umoja started moving in on 27 September and within a few days the whole team was on site and operational, thrilled with its new office and fittings. For more pictures of the construction and refurbishing process, please click here.

FMS would like to express a special thanks to all our colleagues from the Department of Safety and Security (DSS), the Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT), OLA, PD and Umoja who helped make this challenging project a reality.

A special mention goes to FMS project manager Francisco Solino and to: Steve D'Alessio, Abdual Ben-Farhat, Mario Castro, Claudio Conti, Thomas Cortijo, Aklilu Dawit, Eduardo Diaz Sosa, Preyapan Ekpitakdamrong, Karim Elsaadi, John Finnegan, Robert Fischer, Orville Forbes, Glenn Giron, Linda Gomes, Carl Gonsalves, Juan Guerrero, Steve Jacobs, Milton Kerr, Michael Korsanos, Gerard Lawlor, Carlos Montequin, T.Myint, Sverrir Petursson, Richard Ryan, Claudio Santangelo, Roman Silwowski, Yuvasida Thol and Al Vanegas.

To learn more about Umoja, please click here.

For a map of the UN locations in New York, please click here.

Published on iSeek on Wednesday, 20 October 2010, New York

From the Director - October 2010

Paul van Essche, Umoja Director, has published an update on Umoja's progress.

Join Umoja online - Umoja NET

Umoja, the UN Secretariat’s administrative reform initiative, is changing the way we work. Supported by a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Umoja will help to integrate and improve management of the Secretariat's human, financial, and physical resources. Achieving such an important reform means involving all of Umoja’s stakeholders – from Subject Matter Experts to senior executives.

What Umoja NET is…

The Umoja team is making use of a modern, web-based collaborative tool called “Umoja NET”, to help involve its diverse group of stakeholders across the global Secretariat. Umoja NET gives stakeholders direct online access to:

• interact with the Umoja Team,
• view design documents,
• participate in events,
• join discussion forums, and
• provide feedback about the Umoja "to be" processes.

Umoja NET brings the world of Umoja to your desktop.

Working in unity…on Umoja NET

Umoja NET helps coordinate Umoja's outreach efforts. For example, from September to December 2009, over 450 staff members representing 25 different duty stations, participated in 147 detailed design sessions. During those sessions, participants helped the Umoja team develop streamlined processes that are responsive to the current and future needs of our Organization. All contributions were documented and compiled into process maps and solution presentations for each "to be" process.

Umoja NET helped the Umoja team coordinate participation and make the event schedules available online. Participants were able to log into "My Umoja" and view their personal schedule with event information, dates, descriptions, and locations.

The first release of solution materials was published this summer on Umoja NET. Stakeholders viewed these materials in their own virtual workspace in My Umoja. Subject Matter Experts from around the globe logged in to view the processes they helped design and to provide feedback through an online process survey. Their feedback is helping the Umoja team finalize the processes for review and acceptance by the responsible parties.

Umoja NET stakeholders personalized, up-to-date information. We will continue to leverage web-based technologies to engage Umoja’s stakeholders in a cost-effective manner. We hope all Umoja stakeholders will continue to contribute the same level of hard work, dedication, and enthusiasm.

UN staff can visit the Umoja website to request an Umoja NET account: http://www.unumoja.org.

Umoja is the way forward for a renewed and more effective UN Secretariat. Together we can build a better UN.

Re-published on iSeek on Friday, 22 October 2010, New York (EN FRANÇAIS)

Umoja Times - July 2010 released

In this issue of the Umoja Times:

1. Umoja reaches key milestone, signing agreement with SAP
2. Solving the process puzzle
3. Umoja hosts workshop for DFS in Brindisi
4. On the road with HR leaders