In Reform Initiative to Harmonize Management of Organization’s Offices Worldwide,

Umoja Goes ‘Live’ at United Nations in Lebanon

 

After a long and intense journey, the Umoja design and build phases are coming to fruition.  Umoja (Foundation) was completed within the schedule, budget and functionality approved by General Assembly resolution 67/246.

Today, Umoja went live with a pilot deployment at the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL).  More than 400 staff in Lebanon and at United Nations Headquarters in New York are now working within the Umoja solution.

Umoja “will help build the United Nations of the future — a more effective instrument of service for humankind,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a special video message made for the occasion.

A state-of-the-art enterprise resource-planning solution using SAP software, Umoja will integrate and harmonize all transactions and use of data throughout the United Nations Secretariat.  It is being implemented because the Organization needs a new way to manage its resources in order to operate efficiently, meet Member State mandates and credibly report results.  Umoja represents an organizational transformation that will enable high-quality and cost-effective service delivery to the Organization’s many beneficiaries around the world.

Today, a special launch event was held jointly at United Nations Headquarters in New York and at the UNIFIL base in Naqoura, Lebanon.  On hand for the occasion were Yukio Takasu, Under-Secretary-General for Management, and members of the Umoja Steering Committee and senior United Nations officials such as Ameerah Haq, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support; Derek Plumbly, Under-Secretary-General and Special Coordinator for Lebanon; Major General Paola Serra, UNIFIL Force Commander; and Ernesto Baca, Assistant Secretary-General and Umoja Project Director.

Secretary-General Ban explained that “Umoja will harmonize the way we work in every UN office around the world by giving us a single databank and real-time information.  […] It is an integral part of management reform for the Organization.”

The pilot milestone is the beginning of a phased deployment, as all other United Nations peacekeeping missions supported by the Department of Field Support will also roll out Umoja (Foundation) by the end of the year, increasing the total number of Umoja end-users to more than 3,000 United Nations staff members.  All non-peacekeeping United Nations Secretariat entities will start adopting the Umoja solution (Foundation and Extension 1, which adds payroll, travel and entitlements) in 2014 and 2015.

By 2016, the Secretariat as a whole will have transitioned to Umoja as its central administrative tool, leaving behind multiple and fragmented operating models and enabling the organizational transformation that is possible with harmonized data, business processes and leading-edge technology.

Umoja thanks the hundreds of staff members, in particular those at UNIFIL, the Department of Field Support’s Information and Communications Technology Division, the United Nations Global Service Centre (Brindisi and Valencia) and the Office of Information and Communication Technology for their superb efforts, strong team spirit and effective support, allowing which facilitated this milestone after years of intense work and complex challenges.

For media inquiries, please contact Daragh Russell, Umoja Communications, at +1 212 967 5108 or russell1@un.org.  For more information, please see http://umoja.un.org; www.facebook.com/unumoja; twitter.com/UNumoja.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record