Frequently Asked Questions

For UNHQ staff, please refer to the list of ESS/MSS Focal Points by Department in iSeek.  

For staff in the field please refer to the ESS/MSS Focal Point List under the Field Support Page.

A Senior Time Administrator is a staff member given the role to enter/edit Time requests on behalf of another staff member in their respective office, view absence balances of a staff member, and view the Team Calendar. A Senior Time Administrator is also provided limited access to ECC portal to make changes in time management data in the backend of the system to handle more complex working schedules such as shifts and night differentials (e.g. security, drivers, conference services, etc.), as well as make changes to time management data converted prior to Umoja Go Live (1 November 2015).  

A Secondary Time Manager is a staff member assigned by a Primary Time Manager to perform the same functions as a Primary Time Manager limited to the designated period of time.

An HR Partner is a staff member given the role to review and approve ESS/MSS requests submitted through the ESS/MSS portal and that require HR review and approval; e.g. changes in Personal Data such as marital status and nationality, Entitlement Requests such as adding/editing dependants, and Time Management requests such as certified sick leave, extended leave, etc. In the absence of a senior Time Administrator, HR Partners also make changes to data converted prior to Umoja Go Live (1 November 2015), and/or outside the approved time frames e.g. requesting an uncertified sick leave dating one month beyond the entry date. Please refer to the link provided for the list of HR Partners.  

An HR Administrator can perform actions on behalf of the SM on the portal, but cannot approve requests.

All staff members should have access to ESS/MSS.  Access for new staff is part of the on-boarding process. If for some reason you do not have access, you need to fill out an Umoja User Registration Form (for ESS users), and obtain HR partner signature, who will in turn forward to the Security Liaison Officer (SLO). The SLO will submit to Unite Service Desk at servicedesk@un.org for non-field offices, and to Local Service Desk for PK and SP Missions. Upon review and verification of signatures, the access will be added to your profile. Click HERE for more information.

Each month certain functions under the Self-Service portal are locked for a couple of days to enable payroll processing. While the payroll lock is in effect, some ESS/MSS functions have limited availability to prevent changes from negatively affecting the payroll process.  Likewise, HR Partners are not able to take certain actions during payroll lock for staff members in the ERP Central Component  (ECC) system.

Please note that payroll lock occurs monthly and the dates when ESS/MSS have limited functionality are communicated via email broadcast to staff at UNHQ, Peacekeeping Missions, and Office Away From Headquarters.  Users regain full ESS/MSS access as soon as the monthly payroll process has been completed. For more information on ESS/MSS functionalities that are available during payroll lock click HERE. 
 
Important to Note! Effective June 2019, staff and managers can take leave-related actions in Umoja Self-Service at any time for all absence and attendance types. While leaves can be requested and approved during the payroll lock, balances will be updated after the payroll lock period. For maternity leave, there is no change. During payroll lock, staff and managers can continue to request and approve maternity leaves that will be taken after the current payroll month.

You may record a new UN official email address after it is provided to you by the organisation.  Click on 'update/create' link next to the field and follow the steps.

You may request changes to your present nationality and/or nationality at birth, only if different from UN official nationality, by following the steps in the 'update/create' link next to the nationality field. While you have to attached supporting documentation (e.g. passport) in Umoja, you still need to present the original to the HR partner to certify the copy and place in your file.

You can not delete an existing address as the system keeps track of the history of staff members' addresses.  However, when you input a new address of the same type, e.g. a new mailing address, the system will automatically delimit the "valid until" date of the previous mailing address to one day prior to the start date of the newly created mailing address. Dates of addresses of the same type cannot overlap. 

Prior to the launch of Umoja, any staff members joining the organization were asked to complete a beneficiary designation form as part of the on boarding process. The form was signed in front of a witness (usually HR staff) and placed in the official status file. This information was not converted into Umoja as it is only available in hardcopy form, but the beneficiary information is still relevant.

Changes to bank details are done through the cashier’s office/treasury on the 20th Fl of the Secretariat building. You should go to the Cashier’s office with new bank details to submit the request for change - Form F48 (9-12).

For new staff, submission of bank details are part of the on boarding process through the HR partner.

You can submit a request to add/modify a dependent by accessing any of the three portals in ESS: Personal Information, Entitlements, and Life and Work Events. To add a dependent, select one of the dependent types provided, e.g. spouse, child, step-child, sibling etc. and proceed with populating the information. You can edit information by clicking on pencil icon next to the dependent's name and making necessary changes, certify, and submit.  Once submitted the request will appear under requests in the "process area" awaiting HR partner review and approval.

When the children are between 18 and 21 years of age. Attach certificate for full time school attendance.

You cannot edit or delete an existing rental subsidy, except for expiration date. A new rental subsidy request needs to be created to reflect the needed changes

You need to curtail the end date of the existing rental subsidy request and create a new request reflecting the change(s) (e.g. the new rent amount). The start date of the new request will be one day after the end date of the previous request.

An entry for a duty station in Umoja is a prerequisite to starting a rental subsidy request.  First, you enter your duty station address under Personal Information portal > addresses; then go to the Entitlements Portal to enter the rental subsidy request. 

You can view and print your salary statements (as early as 1 Nov 2015) through Benefits and Payments portal > payment > display salary statement.

First add your new-born as a dependent through any of the following three portals: the Life and Work events portal, Entitlements, Personal Information. Remember to attach all supporting documentation.  The request will go through the workflow to the HR partner for review and approval. 

Once HR reviews and approves dependency and a personnel action is processed in Umoja, a new link will be triggered under the Benefits portal.  Click on the link and follow the steps to add your new-born to your insurance plans. Make sure to complete the process within 30 days.

Once HR completes the on boarding process, a link will be triggered under the Benefits portal.  Click on the link and follow the steps to select health and dental insurance plans.  You have the option to waive one of the plans, if not needed.  Make sure to complete the selection process within 30 days.  If the link is missing, please contact your HR partner.

Make sure to first add your family members as dependents through any of the following three portals: the Life and Work events portal, Entitlements, Personal Information. Remember to attach all supporting documentation.  The request will go through the workflow to the HR partner for review and approval.

You can enrol in Life Insurance in ESS only upon initial appointment with a contract duration of 6 months or longer. However, you are still required to submit the Life Insurance application in paper form.

Upon completion of on boarding a new link titled "Appointment Life" is triggered for a period of 60 days under Benefits and Payments portal > Benefits > Appointment Life.  To enrol, please click on the Appointment Life link and follow the steps per screens shown.

You can edit or delete your leave request from the leave overview link. Select the leave request and click on the pencil icon to edit, or trash icon to delete.

Please note that you cannot change the type of leave request e.g. Annual leave to uncertified sick leave. The initial request needs to be deleted (annual leave)  and a new request needs to be created with the different type of leave (uncertified sick leave).

Time frames for entering and or editing retroactive and forward leave requests vary depending on the type of leave. Please take a look at this table for the most commonly used leave requests. Kindly note that if you submit a future dated leave request prior to the configuration of the holiday calendar for that year, Umoja will re-evaluate your leave days once the holiday calendar configuration is complete. 

Your Time manager approves your annual leave.

Your Time manager approves your Uncertified Sick Leave (USL). 

1. Overtime is recorded for hours worked in excess of the scheduled workday or in excess of the scheduled workweek or time worked on official holidays, applying the following accrual rates:

• 1.0 accrual rate - for work done in excess of the scheduled work day on any working day of the scheduled work week for the time corresponding to the difference between the scheduled work day and eight hours of work on that day;
• 1.5 accrual rate - for work in excess of eight hours on any working day and for work on the sixth day of the scheduled work week;
• 2.0 accrual rate - for work done on Sunday or the seventh day of the regular work schedule, and on an official holiday

2. Subject to the exigencies of service, overtime shall normally be compensated as compensatory time off corresponding to the number of credited hours, to be taken at any time during the four months following the month in which the overtime work has been performed.

Starting April 2016, on the 25th of every month, Umoja will issue staff members’ Monthly Time Statement for their review and certification.  Each Monthly Time Statement will reflect the following:
• All Absence/Attendance requests that have been approved for the previous month;
• Leave balances as of the last day of the previous month;
• All leave requests that are pending approval for the Monthly Time Statement period.
You are advised to review and certify your Monthly Time Statement the soonest.

Scroll to the bottom of the Umoja active screen (and not the PDF copy of the monthly time statement) until you see the certification box. Check and save to complete certification.

You are advised to follow up on adjusting your leave balances in a timely manner to ensure certification of monthly time statements.
In order for the time statements to accurately reflect your leave taken during the previous month/cycle, it is critical for you to submit your leave requests on a timely basis and for the Time Managers to approve those requests before the 25 of every month for the monthly Time Statement.  In brief:
Staff members need to ensure that all leave requests they can submit on their own in ESS are entered in a timely manner, and follow up with  Senior Time Administrators or HR partners on leave request entries that require their assistance;
Managers need to ensure that all Absences/Attendances routed for action for their staff be duly approved/rejected as necessary in ESS before the 25 of every month

You record attendance for:
CTO accrual
Overtime
Stand-by/on call
Attendance Compressed
Telecommute
Official Business
When Actually Employed (WAE)

You can find your organizational details under Home > User Map portal.

You need to contact the Umoja Organisational Management Focal Point in your respective office to liaise with the Umoja team to update the mapping to reflect the right Time Manager.

Go to Home > User Map portal, select Secondary Time Manager (STM), and click on create.  Three fields need to be populated: time frame delegating the STM, organizational unit, and name of the STM. 

Umoja is an administrative reform initiative for the United Nations Secretariat that includes a thorough streamlining of UN business processes. At its core, it is an implementation of SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.

Umoja will provide a simplified and real-time approach to the Organization’s management of finances, resources and assets. By 2016, the United Nations Secretariat will have transitioned to Umoja as its central administrative tool, leaving behind multiple and fragmented legacy systems such as IMIS, Mercury, Sun, and many others.

Umoja is not an acronym. Its name means “unity” in Swahili, and, appropriately, the solution represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the United Nations to: upgrade its technology, tools and practices to those appropriate for the 21st century; comply or exceed international industry standards such as IPSAS; streamline fragmented administrative processes, to allow Managers and Staff to focus on important work rather than red-tape; and, finally, unify multiple IT and computer systems and platforms to avoid delays, waste,  and frustration.

Umoja will:

Renew the way the UN manages human, financial and material resources, bringing the organization up to accepted common standards

Enhance decision-making by linking programmes and operations with the allocated resources

Reduce the average time required for administrative processes, by streamlining, integrating and automating business processes

Increase efficiency by reducing the amount of staff time spent on manual processes while enhancing accountability on internal controls

Enable the implementation of IPSAS by the Secretariat

UN staff will not just be learning a new system, but more effective and efficient ways to work. Staff members will be freed from repetitive and redundant tasks, enabling them to devote their energies to providing value-added services. In addition, staff will be able to update personal information, complete benefits enrollment, view leave balances, submit travel requests and expenses, and check payments – all online.

The Umoja solution will:

• Provide all Secretariat offices with an integrated transactional system.

• Replace or integrate numerous existing legacy systems such as IMIS, Mercury and Sun.

• Reduce time and resources spent on manual, paper-based processes.

• Increase time and resources directed toward programmes that make a difference in the lives of UN beneficiaries.

• Equip UN staff with modern technology and enhanced skills.

Umoja will enhance accountability, transparency and internal controls for all types of resources. It will help improve decision making and planning capabilities by providing up-to-date and accurate reports and data. Additionally, Umoja will enable managers to exert tighter financial planning and controls and ensure compliance with public sector standards such as IPSAS.

The Umoja solution represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the United Nations to:

• Upgrade its technology, tools and practices to those appropriate for the 21st century
• Comply or exceed international industry standards (e.g. IPSAS)
• Streamline fragmented administrative processes, to allow Managers and Staff to focus on value-added work rather than red-tape;
• Unify multiple IT and computer systems and platforms to avoid delays, waste and frustration.

International Public Sector Accounting Standards (“IPSAS”) is an internationally accepted accounting protocol that the UN Organization will fully comply with by 2014, following the recommendation of the General Assembly in 2006.

Compliance with IPSAS will ensure that UN accounting practices are aligned with industry best practices, enabling enhanced financial transparency and accountability, improved decision making resulting from more detailed financial information, improved consistency and comparability of financial statements across offices and duty stations and full and easy access to more comprehensive information on costs and expenses.

The UN has gradually moved from its own set of accounting standards (UNSAS) towards the adoption of the new internationally accepted standard in order to make its financial and reporting system more effective and transparent.

To read about IPSAS standards and learn how and why the UN is complying with IPSAS, please visit http://ipsas.un.org (UN network only).

The Umoja solution and IPSAS go hand in hand. Using SAP as the new Enterprise Resource Planning software across the UN Secretariat will further ensure that the UN complies with IPSAS standards in all its financial transactions once Umoja has been deployed.

The Umoja team is working closely with the IPSAS implementation team within the UN Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Accounts (OPPBA) in all of its preparatory activities for deployment of the Umoja solution.

SAP is the name of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software at the core of the Umoja solution. Umoja will be using multiple types of SAP Software. Our core processing systems are based on SAP ECC 6.0 and SAP Netweaver 7.3.

SAP will provide a financially integrated and robust centralized system which will allow the UN to better manage its resources, assets and finances.

Additionally, beginning in 2014, Umoja Extension 1 began rolling-out the Employee Self-Service (ESS) and Management Self-Service (MSS) components of SAP, otherwise known as "self-service portal" for UN Staff to manage Personnel and Travel Entitlement requests with less paperwork and delays. 

A ‘blended learning’ approach is used to deliver training. To accommodate different learning requirements and facilitate knowledge transfer, the Umoja training programme integrates:

1. Computer-Based Training (All UN Staff)

2. Instructor-Led Courses (Umoja end users only)

3. Simulation Learning (Umoja end users only)

4. Job Aids (Umoja end users only)

5. Hands-on Practice Sessions (Umoja end users only)

For Umoja Foundation, Computer Based Training consists of Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 courses:

• Level 1 courses are introduction/overviews of how different functional areas work in Umoja.

• Level 2 courses are navigation courses that guide users through the fundamentals of getting around the Umoja system.

• Level 3 courses are advanced, transactional-level and intended to be studied in an instructor-led environment. The courses also contain links to simulations which can only be viewed while browsing on the UN network.

Level 1 and 2 courses are prerequisites for the advanced Level 3 courses. All UN Staff can view Level 1 and Level 2 courses (for Foundation only) in the Training section of this website. However, Umoja end users must complete course assessments for Level 1 and 2 courses via inspira in order to be certified and complete their prerequisite requirements for Level 3 courses.

Level 3 courses are available to Staff identified as Umoja end users. Staff Members with specific Enterprise Roles in Umoja will receive instructions on course requirements and their Instructor Led Training schedule approximately 4-6 weeks prior to deployment in their location.

Unite Identity is a unique ID number that allows OICT to map users to Umoja. It is more unique, sophisticated and secure than your staff index number or email address. Receiving your Unite Identity credentials and activating them to log in to the Umoja Dashboard is the first step to accessing Umoja Production Systems.

• Compliance with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), a modern standard of accounting.

• Automation of financial processes with better controls: the system automatically checks for sufficiency of funds before a requisition can be made, payment process is initiated when a good is received in the system, payment of invoices requires entry of receipt and automated “3-way matching” of Goods Receipt, Invoice and Purchase Order Bank accounts, funds, assets, and other key data centrally stored and shared across the entire Organization Managers will have direct access to real-time financial information and other programme/project data and reports.

• Business processes: moving away from working practices which vary by location to a single way of delivering administrative services using a single source of data, with improvements gained in speed and efficiency.

• Faster, simpler processing of administrative transactions with more employee self-service features.

• Staff satisfaction: moving towards more coherence and increased consistency across the Organization, and away from time spent on routine administrative tasks.

Umoja will operationally track all items that we need to track as equipment master records, irrespective of value. Items procured against materials that have an indicative value above the capitalization threshold (either $5,000 or $20,000 depending on nature and financial volume) will be capitalized and financially tracked through a fixed asset master record and on the balance sheet. 

The Umoja Funds Commitment is certified by the Travel Unit's Certifying Officer, then it is approved by a Finance Approving Officer

Please direct inquiries about budget reporting to the Finance LPEs (Local Process Experts) who will address the request.

There is no need to create a Pre-Commitment. Travel funds may be committed directly with FMZ1 (doc type 45).

Finance/Procurement.

When creating the shopping cart, you will not see the specific buyer, but the group of buyers assigned to the purchasing group. You can view this group from the 'Item Data' tab under the SC item details: 

- Under 'Organization' (you will see a defaulted purchasing group)

- Clicking on the link 'Show Members' will show the list of Buyers associated with this purchasing group

Click on the "Team Carts" query, and then click "Refresh."

Ensure that the "Show my team carts" checkbox is checked, then click "Apply" and "Refresh."

In this case, the Shopping Cart has two levels of approvals. Go to the Shopping Cart, tab approval and you will notice that another level of approval is required.

In your Workflow Overview screen, click on the paper icon to the right of the refresh button. This will bring up a menu where you can select "Manage Substitution Rules." These rules will allow you to delegate your tasks while you are on leave, for a specific timeframe or indefinitely. 

Uncertified sick leave (maximum 7 days leave with pay) may also be used by staff to attend to family-related emergencies. Should a staff member utilize this option, they are required to make every effort to inform their supervisor in advance of the proposed leave and of its duration. However, if this is not possible, he or she shall provide the required information on the first day taken as emergency family leave. In cases of death or emergency of an immediate family member and additional time off is required, a staff member may apply for Special Leave (without pay) for a maximum duration of two weeks plus necessary travel time.

Certified sick leave of more than seven days and up to 20 days during the annual cycle requires certification without diagnosis from a licensed medical practitioner. After 20 days during the annual cycle the medical certification must include the diagnosis and you submit the certification with the diagnosis to your Medical Service.

A staff member on sick leave shall not leave the duty station without the prior approval of the UN medical officer who may in special circumstances, approve the request from a staff member when the competent medical facilities are not available in the duty station or when the staff member requires accompanying family care during the treatment.

If you have a spouse at the time of separation, your spouse need not be a dependent spouse; upon your separation with the Organization, the repatriation grant should be authorized at the dependency rate, provided your spouse is your household member who was installed with you at your duty station.

Retired staff members who are above their mandatory age of separation can be employed by the Organization on temporary appointment or as an individual contractor or as a consultant. Please consult the HR Handbook for details on the conditions that apply. When such employment is approved, it can begin only after at least three months has elapsed since the date of retirement.

All staff members are expected to separate on the mandatory date of their retirement. In very exceptional circumstances, retention in service of staff members beyond the mandatory age of separation may be approved by the SecretaryGeneral only when it is in the interest of the Organization.

Rest and recuperation is due only at duty stations designated for payment of rest and recuperation. The frequency of rest and recuperation depends on the duty station where you are serving: 1) Every 6 weeks in extremely dangerous locations and war/conflict areas 2) Every 8 weeks at all non-family and restricted duty stations 3) Every 12 weeks at duty stations with a high level of hardship (D or E).

When the UN provides free transportation to the official R & R destination and the staff member decides to travel to an alternate destination, it will be at the staff member’s own expense. When free transportation is not provided, if you choose to travel to a location other than the official R & R destination, the Organization will pay the lower of either (a) the cost between the duty station and the official R & R destination or (b) the cost between the duty station and the place to where you have chosen to go for R & R.

The rental subsidy stops at the beginning of the period of SLWOP and resumes on return to duty. The SLWOP period is not counted towards the normal maximum sevenyear period of the rental subsidy in Europe and North America. If the period of SLWOP is less than one full month you will not receive payment of rental subsidy for that month.

A staff member holding a temporary appointment who is considered internationally recruited, according to staff rule 4.5, shall be eligible for the payment of the repatriation grant at the single rate only, regardless of her/his family status in accordance with the data in annex IV to the Staff Regulations.

It is the portion of rent NOT subject to a subsidy by the UN at the duty station. The rental subsidy calculation is a complex formula using several main contributing factors: your duty station and what is considered to be the highest reasonable rent level you should pay in that location (maximum rent level), the actual amount of rent you pay (lease), your family composition and your income (grade level and step). The individual threshold is calculated as (monthly net salary + post adjustment) x threshold percentage rate. If your rent is less than your individual threshold, there is no rental subsidy. Your individual threshold can change with changes in base salary, post adjustment, or family situation.

The rental subsidy calculation is a complex formula using several main contributing factors: your duty station and what is considered to be the highest reasonable rent level you should pay in that location (maximum rent level), the actual amount of rent you pay (lease), your family composition and your income (grade level and step). The "dependant rate" is used if a staff member's spouse and/or child has been recognized as an eligible dependant by the Organization and the salary is at the dependency rate. If no spouse or child is recognized as an eligible dependant, the salary is at single rate and the "single rate" is used in calculating the rental subsidy.

In Europe and North America the rental subsidy period at a duty station is seven years from the date in which the person took up residency in the commuting area of the duty station, which is defined on a local basis. If you have lived in the commuting area of the duty station for more than seven years before being internationally recruited as a UN staff member, you do not receive a rental subsidy. If you have lived in the commuting area of the duty station for less than seven years, you may apply for the rental subsidy for the balance of the seven-year period.

You can get an estimate by using the Benefits at My Duty Station Calculator on the Pay and Benefits page of the HR Portal. (Link not yet available)

If you return to the same duty station the seven-year scheme starts anew only if you have spent six months or more outside of the duty station and if the return to the duty station required a change of residence.

The threshold percentage is published by the International Civil Service Commission on its website. From the ICSC homepage map, click on the country, the information icon, and from the data that opens about that country, click post adjustment classification. Rental subsidy percentage for that country is also provided on the screen.

If you have to delay your repatriation for compelling reasons, you can request for a deferral of your repatriation travel which will also defer your entitlement for relocation grant. Deferral is possible for up to two years and is subject to approval by the local HR official.

The non-removal allowance is paid for a five year period of active service as long as you remain installed at the same duty station.

For temporary appointments and temporary movements of less than one year the non-removal allowance is not paid.

When you were initially installed at your duty station, you should have received a relocation grant for $10,000, which is the amount at single rate (considering that your family did not travel with you at that time). Now when at least one of your family members travels to join you in the duty station, you will be receiving additional $5,000, which is the difference between the family rate and the single rate. Please refer to the guidelines for the implementation of GA Resolution 65/248 on the harmonization of the conditions of service for internationally recruited staff currently appointed or assigned to a non-family location for one year or longer that will become a regular family duty station. It is stipulated that staff members are eligible for shipment of personal effects of the eligible family members under Staff Rules or payment of $5, 000 relocation grant in lieu of shipment of personal effects.

No. Travel of family members in connection with a staff member’s appointment or assignment can be made only to the family duty station that the staff member is assigned to, as the purpose of the travel for the family is to reside with the staff member at the duty station.

A temporary movement between duty stations is moving to a different position for a limited period of time within the same Department or Office or in a different Department/Office. The temporary movement between duty stations can be either: a) temporary assignment, where you move to a new position and retain the lien to come back to the same position you left when the assignment ends; or b) temporary loan, where both you and your post are ‘loaned’ to a different organizational unit and supervisor for a definite period of time and at the end both you and your position return to the original organizational unit. Which option selected is a management decision between the two offices. For the staff member, each option has different implications regarding their conditions of service.

The clock counting five years for the purpose of mobility allowance will be stopped once you go on special leave without pay. The clock will resume once you return to active duty.

When two staff members are married to each other and each is entitled to themobility allowances, each shall be paid at the single rate. If there are one or more dependent children, the allowance is paid at the dependency rate to the staff member for whom the child or children are recognized as dependants.

If your appointment expires before the end of the school year, you must submit the claim one month before the date of your separation from service. 

You do not need to take any actions in Umoja when you change jobs within the same duty station. You will receive notifications about actions taken in Umoja by the offices involved. You receive a movement notification when your selection is finalized and the release date is determined. The notification is also sent to the Manager of the releasing office, and to the Receiving and Releasing HR Partners. If your change in job means moving to a different duty station, you will receive the notifications that tell you to take the necessary actions for shipment, travel, and the allowances related to the movement. Note: Starting 1 July 2014, Umoja will start to be deployed at various duty stations. If Umoja has not yet been deployed where you are located then you must follow the procedures currently in place.

You may combine education grant travel with home leave travel for your child provided the child spends at least seven days at the duty station, as well as seven days at the place of home leave. 

Admissible expenses are tuition, textbooks, or tuition for the teaching of the mother tongue when the dependent child attends a local school in which the instruction is given in a language other than his or her own. All admissible and non-admissible expenses are explained in detail the relevant administrative instructions listed on the Education Grant HR Factsheet and found in the HR Handbook and may further be specified through periodic Information Circulars.When you submit a claim for admissible expenses you must also have the required documentation: a) You must have the P.41 form “Certificate of Attendance and Costs and Receipts for Payment” completed by the school. b) Substantiating documents—the invoices, receipts, cancelled checks and bank statements that document the education expenditures c) If you wish to claim for private tuition for education in the mother tongue, you must also have the teacher’s certification.

You can request the lump-sum option for education grant travel but only to cover the round-trip journey. Once the lump-sum is selected, it is not possible to request the travel be arranged by the Organization for the same trip. 

If a child attends different schools during the same academic year, the amount of the grant will be prorated according to the time spent at each academic institution, not to exceed the total entitlement (for more information see the relevant administrative instructions listed on the Education Grant HR Factsheet and found in the HR Handbook). Education grant travel is payable for one round trip journey by the child each scholastic year between the educational institution and the duty station. Regardless of the change in schools, only one round trip journey during that academic year can be claimed.

Boarding expenses can be admissible on exceptional basis when a child attends an educational institution beyond commuting distance from the area where the staff member is serving and in the opinion of the Secretary-General, no school in the area will be suitable for the child. Information on such exceptions can be obtained from the local HR Office.

The International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) is responsible for authorizing which duty stations hazard pay applies to. The authorization is normally for a period of up to three months at a time and subject to ongoing review. It is lifted when hazardous conditions are deemed to have abated. > Open the list of duty stations where danger pay is currently in effect.

For internationally-recruited staff, the danger pay allowance is currently US$1,600 per month. For locally recruited staff, the allowance is 30 per cent of the net midpoint of theapplicable local General Service salary scale (excluding long-service and longevity steps, if any).

There is no limitation to the number of times a fixed-term appointment may be renewed. Each new fixed-term appointment can be granted for a period of up to five years.

Since you are not changing duty stations, you will not receive the assignment grant at the time of the appointment.

For internationally recruited staff members holding an appointment other than a temporary appointment : “If an assignment of less than three years’ duration is subsequently extended to three years or more, a second one-month lump-sum is payable at the beginning of the third year”.

Staff members who have been authorized to proceed on travel involving relocation on initial appointment, assignment or transfer may receive an assignment grant. The amount depending on the type and length of appointment. The grant is not payable if you are recruited from the area within commuting distance of the duty station unless you can demonstrate that it was necessary for you to change accommodation as a direct consequence of the appointment with the Secretariat. Commuting distance is determined specifically for each duty station. For example, at UN Headquarters in New York, the area within a 50 mile radius from Columbus Circle is considered commuting distance.

Yes .Sickness and emergencies are unpredictable. The Organization continues to pay your salary while you are recovering as long as it is within your maximum entitlement limits and proper medical documentation is submitted, when required.

The Unite Service Desk is a global ICT help desk service comprised of service desks in Bangkok, Brindisi, Geneva, Nairobi and New York, functioning as a single source of support. The role of the Desk is to resolve ICT issues for Umoja and other key UN applications. While the OCHA focal points or the OCHA Umoja Technical Team should be your first point of contact for support, the Unite Service Desk is available 24/7, online at: https://unite.un.org/servicedesk

For technical support, including access issues, kindly contact the OCHA Umoja Technical Team (UTT) at uttsupport@un.org.

The Donor Code (given to the UN Secretariat by UNDP) of the UN entity paying the advance should have been entered in both the reference field and text field of the FV60 document. The remittance advance, which is automatically emailed to UNDP (loise.nganga@undp.org, jacques.van.engel@undp.org, nejat.ncube@undp.org, and fang.he@undp.org) when the payment is made by the Treasury Division,  contains the text field on the vendor line. UNDP use the Donor Code to identify who sent the advance. 

If this information has not been entered when raising the FV60 document (as per UNDP job aid 2-0, then UNDP will not be able to establish which entity sent the funds.

USD should always be used.

Ensure you have entered text into the Internal Note field of the line item.  Click on Internal Note, which is located on the Notes and Attachments tab of the line item. Please note that for POs with multiple service lines, users must enter all instructions (for all lines) on the first line for them to appear on the FA.

The source document for the FA needs to be modified first and the changes will then be reflected in the FA.

Note that the Remarks field can be used to add additional instructions for UNDP. But this should not contradict other instructions in the lines of the FA. 

Check to ensure that the detailed instructions are entered at the line item level of the Funds Commitment not the header level.

Please check that the vendor used is a UNDP Office.  Please refer to UNDP Job aid 1-0 with the list of UNDP Business Partners which should be used.

The funds center of the purchase order may not be mapped to a UNDP donor code (this can be checked using ZAP_DONORMAP, this T-code is mapped to finance roles). If the funds center is not mapped, an ineed ticket needs to be raised and assigned to Umoja Tier 2b-Financial Accounting in UNHQ.