Abuse of authority is the improper use of a position of influence, power or authority by UNDP personnel against UNDP or external personnel or a group thereof. This includes situations when the person in question uses their influence, power or authority to arbitrarily influence the career or employment conditions (including, but not limited to, appointment, assignment, contract renewal, performance evaluation or promotion) of other UNDP or external personnel. Abuse of authority can include a one-time incident or a series of incidents. It may also consist of conduct that creates a hostile or offensive work environment, which includes, but is not limited to, the use of intimidation, threats, blackmail or coercion.
Components or systems described as accepted or supported are not primary options, but are considered fully in line with UNDP ICT standards. Accepted or supported components are not mandatory.
The AAA report is designed to provide Country Offices with a tool to analyze balance sheet accounts. The report gives details of all transactions from various modules for a given account and Operating Unit (OU) for a chosen period. The report selects activities from source systems (AP, AR, GL, etc.) within a fiscal year based on the posting date of the journal tied to the activity. The report can be run for the OU, specified on the run control. Country offices should run generally for one OU only. Upon select account 16005, this report provides all movements in the account by Operating Unit/ Project and or Fund for a specific accounting period.
Accountability is the obligation to (i) demonstrate that work has been conducted in accordance with agreed rules and standards and (ii) report fairly and accurately on performance results vis-à-vis mandated roles and/or plans.
An Accounts Payable invoice must be fully processed in order to be correctly recorded in Projects and the General Ledger (GL). An invoice needs to be fund reserved in order for it to record in budget control.An Accounts Payable (AP) voucher records a liability due to a vendor and expense against a given Chart of Account.
Ad-hoc services may be required or requested in certain circumstances, for instance the provision of legal advice or representation on an agreement or case,1 enhanced local security services for movement of cash in countries without banking facilities, or other services such as advisory support. Ad-hoc services are not included in the UPL and should be managed based on a Local Price List (LPL) or other locally negotiated prices using transparent, prevailing market rates or on the existing guiding costing methodology (Annex 1) and set out in a local price list and agreed locally between the parties.
Adjusted Risk Rating is defined as the Overall Risk Assessment derived from the Micro Assessment adjusted for other available information including: results of the Macro Assessment; past experience with the Partner, prior capacity assessments and micro assessments by other agencies.
Encompasses critical systems of internal control that complement and ensure the proper functioning of checks and balance, including financial ones. These include international civil service standards and incentives, ethics codes, criminal penalties, and administrative review.
Administrative leave is an exceptional status provided for by Staff Rule 10.4 in which a staff member may be suspended from performing his or her functions. A staff member may be placed on administrative leave, subject to conditions specified by the Administrator, at any time from the receipt of an allegation of misconduct and prior to the initiation of an investigation, through the course of an investigation until the completion of disciplinary proceedings as appropriate. Administrative leave can be with pay (ALWP), with partial pay or without pay (ALWOP).
Advance payments received by a staff member from the Organization that are authorized under the UN Staff Regulations and Staff Rules and relevant policies;
An Agency for which the Vendor Review Committee (VRC) has determined that Proscribed Practices took place in respect of one or more of its procurement activities.
Agency implementation is one of the four modalities available to UNDP for the implementation of projects and programmes. A UN agency may be either an Implementing Partner (accountable for the delivery of overall results in a programme or project) or a Responsible Party (accountable for delivery of elements of a programme or project).
Assigned UNDP individuals, acting as liaison with UNDSS CATSU and are responsible for responding to questions relating to air travel safety in accordance with the UNSMS Commercial Air Travel Safety Policy and these guidelines. Based on available information, ATSFPs prepare an analysis and provide a recommendation to UNDP units on the use of airlines not on UNDP booking list.
A financial authorization issued by the Administrator to an official or to a unit to incur commitments for specific purposes relating to the institutional budget and within specified limits, during a definite period;
Amortization is the systematic allocation of the amortizable amount of an Intangible Asset over its useful life. Amortization expenses the cost of the asset in equal instalments (Straight line method of amortization) over the life of the asset, rather than when the asset is paid. Amortization is the systematic allocation of the amortizable amount of an Intangible Asset over its useful life. Amortization expenses the cost of the asset in equal instalments (Straight line method of amortization) over the life of the asset, rather than when the asset is paid for. Amortizable amount is the cost of an asset, or other amount substituted for cost, less its residual value and Residual value of an asset is the estimated amount that would currently be obtained from disposal of the asset, after deducting the estimated costs of disposal, if the asset were already of the age and in the condition expected at the end of its useful life. In UNDP all intangibles will have a zero residual life.
Annual leave is granted by UNDP to provide staff members with periods of time off from work at full pay for personal reasons and for purposes of health, rest and recreation. Subject to the exigencies of service, staff members are expected to exercise their leave within the period in which it is earned.
In line with the UN Staff Regulations and Rules, an annual performance review (referred to in Paragraph 11) will take place to evaluate the performance of the staff members during the year, confirm the achievement of agreed goals and other performance expectations, demonstrated.
The annual planning process starts with the preparation of an Annual Business Plan, which establishes corporate annual priorities to achieve results established in the Strategic Plan. Annual Business Plan priorities cascade throughout the organization through integrated workplans.
The Application Development Lifecycle (ADL) typically encompasses a six-step process starting with analysis, then wireframing before moving into design and development followed by deployment and maintenance.
A subdivision of the appropriations for which a specific amount is shown in the appropriate decision and within which the Administrator is authorized to make transfers without prior approval;
The total amount approved by the Executive Board for specified purposes for the current institutional budget against which commitments may be incurred for those purposes up to the amounts so approved. The appropriations are divided into “appropriations lines”, for each of which a specific amount is shown in the appropriate decision adopted for each budget period by the Executive Board and within which the Administrator is authorized to make transfers without prior approval.
Deals with the preservation and maintenance of non-current records on a temporary or permanent/indefinite basis in accordance with an established retention schedule. The public record of UNDP should be electronic whenever possible, and should be stored in UNDP official systems.
Area Security Coordinators (ASC) are staff members appointed in writing by the DO, in consultation with the SMT, in areas of larger countries which are separated from the capital in terms of both distance and exposure, in order to coordinate and control security arrangements applicable to all personnel, premises and assets in their area of responsibility. ASCs are accountable to the DO for their security-related responsibilities, in accordance with their respective letters of appointment. ASCs may be UNDP staff members.
Is the process of collecting, preserving and securing basic evidence, and the evaluation of this evidence to determine whether an investigation into reported allegations of wrongdoing is warranted
In the HACT framework, these refer to planned activities used to determine whether funds transferred to implementing partners were used for their intended purpose and in accordance with the annual work plan.
The role of the Audit and Evaluation Advisory Committee (AEAC) as an independent body is to assist the Administrator in fulfilling responsibilities regarding oversight, financial management and reporting; internal audit and investigation, external audit; risk management; the evaluation and ethics functions, and systems of internal control and accountability. The primary role of the Committee is to advise the Administrator, taking into consideration the Financial and Staff Regulations and Rules as well as policies and procedures applicable to UNDP (including UNV) and its operating environment, as well as one of its affiliates, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). The AEAC makes recommendations to the Administrator, including on the strategy and workplans of the independent offices as well as on the appointment, performance evaluation, extension and dismissal of the heads of those offices.
Authenticity. An electronic signature is considered to be authentic if it can be proved that the electronic signature was not modified, altered or otherwise compromised after it was placed. The authenticity of an electronic signature is established by the following parameters: i. Association of the electronic signature with a signatory; ii. Indication of the date and time of the electronic signature.
“Authority” refers to the power or decision making rights of an individual by virtue of his/her appointment and/or as appropriately delegated to him/her.
Any authorized user of UNDP ICT resources. May be a staff member, contract holder, intern, UN Volunteer, a member of another UN agency using UNDP ICT resources or other any other third party using UNDP ICT resources.
A centralized process that auto-matches Quantum transactions against the bank statements loaded into Quantum via Treasury Management System (TMS) payment hub.
Azure DevOps collaboration tools includes customizable team dashboards with configurable widgets to share information, progress, and trends, built-in wikis for sharing information, and configurable notifications.
The language allowance (LA) is a monetary incentive meant to encourage staff members in the learning and use of the various official languages of the United Nations. The LA recognizes, through a cash payment, the proven ability to function, orally and in writing, in more than one official UN language.
In instances of collaborative procurement, or when more than one Agency is involved in a specific procurement action which results in allegations that the vendor has been involved in Proscribed Practices, the relevant Agencies will choose a “Lead Agency” to represent them all in data gathering and analysis, investigation, and the sanctions proceedings against the vendor. The Agencies involved shall decide amongst themselves which is to act as the Lead Agency for the particular case. The Lead Agency will normally be the Agency (a) most directly impacted by the vendor’s activities and the Proscribed Practice(s); and/or (b) with the most resources at its disposal. All involved Agencies will collaborate with the Lead Agency. The Lead Agency will apply its own regulations, rules, policies and procedures to its activities in this regard.
A Lease is “an agreement whereby the lessor (landlord) conveys to the lessee (UNDP) in return for a payment or series of payments the right to use an asset for an agreed period of time”.
Letter of transmittal contains payment instructions transcribed on UNDP letterhead; the letter is signed by two authorized signatories and delivered to the bank for execution.
The UNDP CO and/or the national government have adequate capacity to respond to the crisis but require only a one-time injection of additional support without any need for exceptional temporary measures at regional or corporate levels.
For situations that can be managed by the CO with some additional ad hoc support as needed from HQ. The CO manages all aspects of the response with the regular backstopping support arrangements from HQ.
The capacity of the UNDP CO and/or affected national government is inadequate without a significant scale-up of capacity to respond to the crisis. Any crisis that severely affects UNDP personnel or facilities will automatically be designated at least a Level 2 crisis.
For situations that require large-scale, day-to-day organizational support. The CO manages the response with expanded support from HQ in the form of a CB that directs the response, and the HQ SURGE Management Team that takes responsibility for day-to-day management of the support to the CO and reports to the CB.
The crisis significantly outstrips the capacity of the CO and/or the national government, requiring an exceptional level of corporate support, given the scale, complexity or urgency that may pose a serious reputational risk to the organization.
The difference between current assets and current liabilities. In the specific context of UNDP, this shall normally be taken to mean the sum of working capital and reserves.
The risk that an asset cannot be converted easily and rapidly into cash without a substantial loss of value. A security (i.e. investment) is deemed to be liquid if the spread between bid (buy side) and asked (sell side) prices is narrow and reasonable amounts of purchases and sales can occur at those prices.
Movement of a staff member from one organization to another for a limited period, normally not exceeding one year, during which the staff member will be subject to the administrative supervision of the receiving organization but will continue to be subject to the staff regulations and rules of the releasing organization. Depending on the agreement with the receiving organization, the receiving organization will either reimburse UNDP for all costs related to the loan or UNDP may agree to the loan being non-reimbursable, meaning that all costs related to the assignment are borne by UNDP. Loans for six months or will normally be granted with a specific lien to the position of the staff member. For longer periods approval is normally granted on a general lien basis
A.K.A. Non-standard ad-hoc services. Type of service for which cost recovery is required. Those services specific to a CO and requested by a UN Agency on an ad-hoc basis (not included in the UPL). Because the type and scope of service differ each time, these services cannot be standardized and need to be agreed on individually between the CO and the requesting UN Agency. The cost of these services is determined by the CO based on the True Hourly Cost Methodology. Costed locally based on local hour rates. The service fee for any non-standard services is be negotiated on an ad-hoc basis between each concerned UNDP country Office and the Agency receiving the service.
In addition to the standard services contained within the UPL, UNDP is often requested to provide additional services that are not standardized across different country offices or included in the UPL. As in the past the provision of ad hoc or non-standard services should be agreed upon locally, subject to capacity and pricing considerations in-country prior to the provision of services. To recover the full costs of these services, the UNDP Office can establish a Local Price List (LPL) for recurrent services, to be negotiated and agreed to locally by participating Agencies in advance of the service provision. A separate tool is available to facilitate local price formulation, the negotiation of which is the responsibility of the concerned UNDP office with the requesting agencies/UNCT. The cost drivers, as indicated under UPL above, should be reflected in the LPLs.
Low code is a software development method that allows colleagues to create fully featured applications with minimal coding. With low-code, non-technical users utilize visual point-and-click tools to build, modify and deploy custom software. At the same time, programmers and tech-savvy professionals can extend applications by injecting code. Microsoft PowerApps is an example of such Low Code development platform. Other low code platforms, namely Oracle VBCS, Salesforce APEX, and ServiceNow App Engine, which will be opened up to UNDP Business Units after Quantum implementation.
UNDP defines low-value grants (also known as micro-capital grants) as cash awards - selected via programmatic decisions - to civil society and non-governmental partners intended to generate and solicit development solutions for which no repayment is typically required.