Umoja expands to National Staff and Individual Uniformed Personnel

On 1 November 2016, the Umoja human resources and payroll functionality became available for over 11,600 national staff and 6,800 uniformed personnel from peacekeeping operations and special political missions. 

The Go-live event, held simultaneously in the field and at UNHQ, was led by the Chef de Cabinet Mr. Mulet, the Under-Secretary-General for Field Support Mr. Khare, the Under-Secretary-General for Management Mr. Takasu, the Assistant Secretary-General for Field Support Ms. Buttenheim, and the Deputy Umoja Project Director Ms. de la Piedra. 

Mr. Mulet, on behalf of the Secretary-General, reflected that “Umoja is change, and change is never easy, but let us take the next big step together. Let’s continue to be open to change and building a stronger United Nations for the people we serve.” 

Mr. Takasu reflected on the past deployments and the need to “encourage staff to embrace the new way of doing things, be open to learning and seek help when needed.” 

Mr. Khare recognized the field missions as “pioneers in the implementation of Umoja” and asserted that “all the changes Umoja brings to the UN are intended to better support critical operations in the areas of the world which benefit from the UN’s presence the most.”  

Over 600 DFS/DPKO personnel were mobilised in preparation for deployment. The missions’ site teams completed an incredible amount of data cleansing, enrichment and synchronization across multiple legacy solutions. It included intensive training, change management and strengthening of the helpdesks. 

Mr. Khare recognized that “field operations are by nature volatile; the phrase ‘business as usual’ does not apply when missions operate under constant threat. Consider, for example, major disruptions - including evacuations such as those in UNMISS and MINURSO – that our missions have experienced while preparing for this deployment. Yet our field personnel kept their focus and got the job done.”

Colleagues expressed their commitment and the appreciation to their teams, including the CMS of MONUSCO, Ms. Boly, the DMS of UNMISS Ms. Scheer, the CMS UNAMI Mr. Dias and the CMS for UNAMA Mr. Goncalves.

Ms. de la Piedra also expressed deep gratitude towards the colleagues who made this achievement possible.