Umoja News and Updates

SECOND UMOJA ANNUAL DISASTER RECOVERY TEST IN JUNE

During the first part of the Umoja Annual Disaster Recovery test which took place the weekend of 6 May, several technical issues were revealed, which must be fully addressed before the second part of the test can be undertaken. The second part of the test is now tentatively scheduled for Saturday, 3 June. This will be confirmed and a reminder will be sent to the end-users regarding the unavailability of Umoja for about 8 hours on that date. 

In the meantime, all Umoja production systems are expected to remain operational and available. A reminder will be sent to end-users closer to the new test date. 

The Umoja Disaster Recovery System is tested on an annual basis, to ensure that in the case of a true emergency, the United Nations can continue to use Umoja Production Systems as needed. For additional updates, stay tuned to upcoming newsletters and visit the Umoja System Status page to view the maintenance plan and alerts.

UMOJA STARTS BUILDING EXTENSION 2

Prior to his departure, Mr. Yukio Takasu, Under-Secretary-General for Management, briefed the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly by providing an overview of Umoja during his tenure as the Umoja Project Owner. Mr. Takasu recounted the Umoja journey from the 2013 and 2014 pilots, through the implementation of Clusters 1 through 5, bringing the Umoja solution to its current usage by over 42,430 staff globally: "For the first time in its history, the Secretariat has a single administrative solution that is enabling efficient and transparent management of the Organization’s resources. However, Umoja is an extremely challenging project, affecting every staff member of the Secretariat.” To read more, visit the Umoja blog here.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT CHANGE IMPACT DOCUMENT

Change Impact Documents compare tasks and processes before and after Umoja. A list of over 100 CIDs is available in iSeek. 

The latest CID developed by Financial Accounting colleagues, details the new process for the preparation of Financial Statements. In February 2017, the new Financial Statements functionality was deployed for all non-peacekeeping operations, automating a manually-intensive, cumbersome process which used to involve multiple systems, spreadsheets and word documents across the UN. For a detailed description of the new and previous processes, take a look at the new CID here.

CLUSTER 5 USERS: WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK!

It has been over 6 months since the deployment of Cluster 5, bringing Umoja Extension 1 to national staff and individual uniformed personnel to 38 peacekeeping and special political missions across the globe.

In an effort to gauge user experience with Umoja, C5 users are being asked to provide their feedback through a user satisfaction survey. All C5 colleagues are encouraged to participate by accessing the survey here.

JOB AIDS

Umoja Job Aids offer the most up-to-date guidance to successfully run transactions using Umoja. Please visit the Job Aids page often to ensure you are using the most recent version of any needed document. 

Financial Accounting 
Updated Clearing balances and open items in GL 19401010 (AR Due to Due From) 

Grants and Project Management 
New Implementing Partner Process Analysis and Troubleshooting 
New FAQs on Grants and Related Transactions 

Travel management 
New BI Travel Report: Travel Cost Recovery 
New BI Travel Report: Advance Purchase Policy Compliance report

RELEASE NOTES

Are you interested in the latest enhancements to the Umoja solution? Visit the Umoja website for the most recent Release Notes, including improvements to processing personnel actions for initial appointments or reappointments lasting less than one year. For complete details on this and other changes, take a look at the latest Release Notes.