Conference and Event Management (CEM)

Introduction

The Secretariat manages thousands of conferences and events of different types. The processes are currently managed in various duty stations using different solutions; many processes are not automated or globally harmonized across the entities. The Umoja project and the process owner (the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management) are collaborating to provide an integrated suite of applications for an end-to-end solution for managing conferences and events.

A meeting participant management (MPM) solution has been rolled out in Geneva, using Indico - an open-source software. Indico has been approved as the enterprise solution for meeting participant management and will be deployed gradually to more Secretariat entities.

At UN Headquarters, a One-Stop-Shop (OSS) solution was deployed by DGACM in March 2018, enabling Member States and other clients to use a self-service web portal to request venue and meeting services in DGACM-managed conference rooms. Meeting management resources and UNHQ service providers can review requests and interact with the client to clarify requests and confirm room availability and cost of services. An illustrative screen shot is included below from the solution, which will be rolled out to OAHs and Regional Commissions and integrated with Umoja, including Indico.

What's New?

MPM supports online self-service registration, accreditation approvals, event-specific websites for communicating with participants and sharing event documentation, the printing of temporary security badges and the provision of passes on mobile devices, among other things. Planning and budgeting for conferences and events will be done using UE2’s Strategic Planning, Budgeting and Performance Management (SPPM), which makes it possible to link major conferences and events to strategic goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals.

What's Next?

Phase 2 of the solution is being developed to expand the service catalogue to include additional service providers outside the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management, such as the Facilities Management Service of the Department of Management, which provide meeting services for special events, exhibits, receptions and concerts, and to provide a single invoice for meeting services at United Nations Headquarters. The system will then be rolled out to the regional commissions and will be integrated with Umoja, including the meetings participant management system.